Wikipedia's first sentence called it “scholar of islam and introduced the field of arab culture studies to the united states”. Today it says “lebanese-american professor and scholar at princeton and harvard university”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Lebanese-American academic and authority on the Middle East (1886-1978)”. It now reads “Lebanese-American professor (1886–1978)”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Lebanese-American academic and authority on the Middle East (1886-1978) Philip Khuri Hitti ( Arabic : فيليب خوري حتي ; 22 June 1886 – 24 December 1978) was a Lebanese-American professor and scholar at Princeton and Harvard University , and authority on Arab and Middle Eastern history, Islam , and Semitic languages . He almost single-handedly created the discipline of Arabic studies in the United States. His grandniece was the now deceased NASA astronaut and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe . The New York Times . Hitti, who was the first director of Princeton's Near Eastern Studies program, was considered a leading authority in the United States on Arabic and Islamic culture and one of the first persons in any American university to appreciate and promote the importance of the Arab world in this country. History of the Arabs, first published in 1937 and now going into its tenth edition, is probably the single most important book ever published in America on the subject of Arabs. "There is no comparable book on the subject," an Arab historian in Beirut said recently. "On the Arabs alone, nothing in the West since 1937 has matched Hitti's contribution." Lazkani, Souad (13 February 2021). Her maternal grandfather was of Lebanese Maronite descent and she was the great-niece of the renowned Lebanese-American historian and Harvard professor Philip Hitti.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1253014473.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Philip Khuri Hitti ( فيليب خوري حتي in Arabic ),(1886 - 1978), born in Shimlan , Ottoman Mount Lebanon, now Lebanon ), was a scholar of Islam and introduced the field of Arab culture studies to the United States. He was of Maronite Christian religion.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370827113.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Philip Khuri Hitti ( فيليب خوري حتي in Arabic ), ( Shimlan 1886 - Princeton 1978) was a Lebanese American scholar and authority on Arab and Middle Eastern history, Islam , and Semitic languages .He almost single-handedly created the discipline of Arabic Studies in the United States.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667385818.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Philip Khuri Hitti ( Arabic : فيليب خوري حتي ), ( Shimlan 22 June 1886 – Princeton 24 December 1978) was a Lebanese-American professor and scholar at Princeton and Harvard University , and authority on Arab and Middle Eastern history, Islam , and Semitic languages . He almost single-handedly created the discipline of Arabic studies in the United States.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964131476.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Lebanese-American academic and authority on the Middle East (1886-1978) Philip Khuri Hitti ( ; Shimlan 22 June 1886 – Princeton 24 December 1978) was a Lebanese-American professor and scholar at Princeton and Harvard University , and authority on Arab and Middle Eastern history, Islam , and Semitic languages . He almost single-handedly created the discipline of Arabic studies in the United States. His grandniece was the now deceased NASA astronaut and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe .Hitti, who was the first director of Princeton's Near Eastern Studies program, was considered a leading authority in the United States on Arabic and Islamic culture and one of the first persons in any American university to appreciate and promote the importance of the Arab world in this country.History of the Arabs, first published in 1937 and now going into its tenth edition, is probably the single most important book ever published in America on the subject of Arabs."There is no comparable book on the subject," an Arab historian in Beirut said recently.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1177330273.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “scholar of islam and introduced the field of arab culture studies to the united states”. Today it says “lebanese-american professor and scholar at princeton and harvard university”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Lebanese-American academic and authority on the Middle East (1886-1978)”. It now reads “Lebanese-American professor (1886–1978)”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
scholar of islam and introduced the field of arab culture studies to the united states
Now
lebanese-american professor and scholar at princeton and harvard university
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
