ABSTRACT
The idea that the West is Christian and that the East is Muslim has a beginning in western history. In the last chapter, I suggested that the radical cleavage between East and West that defines orientalism has been conveyed in a specific language with a distinctive vocabulary. Like all language, orientalism has a vocabulary and syntax that evolve through radical changes yet remain recognizably the same. When, and how, did this language arise? When, to put it another way, did orientalism begin?
