Romanceisms in the structure of Muwashshah and Zajal

Abstract

Muwashshah and Zajal are important sources on the Mozarabic historical dialect. These poetic forms, unknown to classical Arabic versification, were created in Muslim Spain (al-Andalus). They often contain Romance words written in Arabic script (in Alhamiado). Many muwashshahs end with harjs (couples) in the Romance language. In zajals, there are also not only individual Roman words, but also entire lines in Roman. The most famous writer of zajals is the Arab poet from Cordoba origin Ibn Kuzman (c. 1080–1160). In muwashshahs, words in Romance are found in the last couplet, called kharja, and perform a structure-forming function. In zajals (developed from muwashshah), romanticisms are found throughout the text and perform a stylistic function.