Semantic Change in Arabic Religious Terminology Used in Igbo Muslim Communities in Enugu State

The growth of Islam among Igbo communities in southeastern Nigeria has introduced Arabic religious vocabulary into communities with no prior tradition of Arabic literacy or Islamic education, generating unique patterns of semantic adaptation and shift. This study examines semantic change in Arabic religious terminology as used by Igbo Muslim communities in Enugu State, focusing on how original Arabic semantic content is preserved, modified, or reinterpreted in the new linguistic and cultural context. The research employs a descriptive linguistic methodology combining participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and lexical elicitation sessions with 60 Igbo Muslim community members across Enugu North, Igbo-Eze South, and Udi local government areas. A corpus of 80 Arabic religious terms is compiled and each term's semantic usage in the community is compared with its classical Arabic meaning and its standardised Islamic usage as documented in authoritative Arabic reference sources. The study finds that a significant proportion of terms relating to worship, purity, and eschatology have undergone semantic narrowing or generalisation, while some terms have acquired locally specific connotations absent from their Arabic originals. The findings contribute to the emerging literature on Islam in southeastern Nigeria and demonstrate the creative sociolinguistic processes accompanying the spread of Islam into non-Arabophone contexts. Keywords: Semantic change, Arabic terminology, Igbo Muslims, religious vocabulary, Enugu State.