Wikipedia's first sentence called it “scottish historian”. Today it says “scottish historian and orientalist”.
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 October 6, 2023 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 October 6, 2023
Scottish historian and Orientalist (1909–2006) William Montgomery Watt (14 March 1909 – 24 October 2006) was a Scottish Orientalist , historian , academic , and Anglican priest . From 1964 to 1979, he was Professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh .1Watt was one of the foremost non-Muslim interpreters of Islam in the West, and according to Carole Hillenbrand "an enormously influential scholar in the field of Islamic studies and a much-revered name for many Muslims all over the world".2 Watt's comprehensive biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad , Muhammad at Mecca (1953) and Muhammad at Medina (1956), are considered to be classics in the field.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1160974737.
The opening as it stood in 2010
William Montgomery Watt (14 March 1909 – 24 October 2006 ) was a Scottish historian, an Emeritus Professor in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh . Watt was one of the foremost non-Muslim interpreters of Islam in the West , was an enormously influential scholar in the field of Islamic studies and a much-revered name for many Muslims all over the world." Watt's comprehensive biography of the Islamic prophet , Muhammad , Muhammad at Mecca (1953) and Muhammad at Medina (1956), are considered to be classics in the field.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 369210248.
The opening as it stood in 2015
William Montgomery Watt (14 March 1909 – 24 October 2006 ) was a Scottish historian, an Emeritus Professor in Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh . Watt was one of the foremost non-Muslim interpreters of Islam in the West, and according to Carole Hillenbrand "an enormously influential scholar in the field of Islamic studies and a much-revered name for many Muslims all over the world". Watt's comprehensive biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad , Muhammad at Mecca (1953) and Muhammad at Medina (1956), are considered to be classics in the field.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667844259.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Scottish historian and Orientalist (1909–2006) William Montgomery Watt (14 March 1909 – 24 October 2006) was a Scottish historian, Orientalist , Anglican priest, and academic.From 1964 to 1979, he was Professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh . Watt was one of the foremost non-Muslim interpreters of Islam in the West, and according to Carole Hillenbrand "an enormously influential scholar in the field of Islamic studies and a much-revered name for many Muslims all over the world". Watt's comprehensive biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad , Muhammad at Mecca (1953) and Muhammad at Medina (1956), are considered to be classics in the field.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963395866.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Scottish historian and orientalist (1909–2006) William Montgomery Watt (14 March 1909 – 24 October 2006) was a Scottish historian and orientalist. An Anglican priest , Watt served as Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh from 1964 to 1979 and was also a prominent contributor to the field of Quranic studies . Watt was one of the foremost non-Muslim interpreters of Islam in the West. Watt's comprehensive biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad , Muhammad at Mecca (1953) and Muhammad at Medina (1956), are considered to be classics in the field.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1292038649. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “scottish historian”. Today it says “scottish historian and orientalist”. 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
scottish historian
Now
scottish historian and orientalist
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.
