How much Ancient Egyptian survived into modern Coptic & Egyptian Arabic?
Upvote:0
The Arabic name for Egypt closely resembles the Arabic word for ‘East’ making them cognates. This is interesting because Egypt lies to the west of the Arab world and so you would expect Egypt to be called after the West as the cardinal direction in which the Arabs would locate Egypt. The word Africa is most probably based on a Semitic word for West. Egypt as a word is said to come from Hwt-Ka-Ptah (a temple in Heliopolis). Heliopolis lies to the East of the Egyptian delta and the ‘temple of the Ka of Ptah relates to the sun, which rises in the East and so it is probably a cultural reference which resulted in the Arabic word for Egypt being based on the word for East. Although the Ancient Egyptian words are not used, the Ancient Egyptian sun cult ideas seemingly survived in the choice of name for Egypt which is remarkable since the Abrahamic moon oriented cultures were not compatible with the sun cult ideology until Christianity united the two by merging the texts that now respectively form the Old and New Testaments.
Upvote:12
Being an Egyptian myself, I have some information about this subject. But my information is also supported by an Egyptian Egyptologist called "Ossama Al-Sa'dawy" who has a PHD in the Ancient Egyptian language.
My sources are his research papers and his dictionary, and he states (And again, me being an Egyptian I can confirm) that a lot of words that modern Egyptians use come from the Ancient Egyptian language.
We actually use these words on a daily basis and most of us Egyptians do not even know that these words come from Ancient Egypt, but what everyone knows for sure is that these words are not Arabic in anyway.
In Modern Egyptian language, if the word's origin is not Arabic, then it can be English, French, Italian, Latin, Turkish, Spanish and of course Ancient Egyptian.
I cannot say how much exactly of the language now comes from Ancient Egyptian, but from my own experience and being born and living in Egypt for 28 years (And using Dr. Ossama's research), I can say that there are no more than 50 words that today's Egyptians (actively) use that come from Ancient Egyptian directly. Including names of areas, cities, towns and villages.
Some examples:
-We use the word "Nannus" as a cute way to refer to a baby, Ancient Egyptians used that word to say "The beautiful one"
-We use the word "tata" to encourage a child to take his first step, Ancient Egyptians used the word "titi" that means "Pace" or "tread"
-We use the word "Embu" to refer to drinking water, and Ancient Egyptians used the word "embe-mo" which means "from the water"
-We use the word "Bahh" to say "finish" or "end", and Ancient Egyptians used the word "phh" which means the same "to come to an end"
-We use the word "haba-haba" which means "easily easily" or "bit by bit" and Ancient Egyptians used "hbhb" which means "tread" or "trample"
Unfortunately most of his work is in Arabic, but you may find some interesting information in his messages and his dictionary.
You will find some great information about this very subject written by him here as well.
A great book written by the American University in Cairo in a story format that uses a lot of Ancient Egyptian words that are still in use today in Egypt:
"From Pharaoh’s Lips:Ancient Egyption Language in The Arabic of Today - Ahmad Abdl-Hamid Youssef"
More post
- 📝 Why is artist Heinrich Kley's death date unknown?
- 📝 What is the first recorded dog name?
- 📝 In World War 1, why were the Australian and Canadian troops so good?
- 📝 Did the Allies ever seriously contemplate a "Northern Intervention" in Russia during World War II?
- 📝 Group term for the Celts around the Alps?
- 📝 In a challenge to duel, what happened if a thrown gauntlet (and later, glove) was refused?
- 📝 Is it correct to refer the Victorian Era outside of the UK?
- 📝 What transit restrictions were in place in Occupied Germany limiting military and civilian movement between the four occupation zones?
- 📝 Was Alexander the Great undefeated in every battle?
- 📝 Did being a "Philhellene" in ancient times mean you were not a Greek?
- 📝 Why didn't China assist in the Vietnam War like they did in Korea?
- 📝 Are there any exemplars of the 'trope of the exiled poet' prior to CE 8?
- 📝 Knights relieving vows and deeds of arms
- 📝 When the British left India, who authorized standstill agreements between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu?
- 📝 How did a nomadic minority group the Manchus come to rule over China?
- 📝 Is there any historic record of using a wooden bow as a club?
- 📝 Have any spies ever managed to keep their identity secret from their handlers?
- 📝 Where did a ship's navigator usually work?
- 📝 How were 19th century American diplomats paid?
- 📝 How were diplomats and their staffs treated when World War II was declared?
- 📝 What was the Japanese or Axis motivation to drag US into the War?
- 📝 Who painted snow melting in Kitzbühel in the Albertina gallery?
- 📝 The meaning of Pan-India Character?
- 📝 Why did the recorded history of Poland start after the reign of Miezsko I?
- 📝 Was the fall of the Inca Empire inevitable?
- 📝 Why didn't the Romans set up breeding mechanisms as a main source to supplement their population of slaves instead of relying on defeated enemies?
- 📝 Was hay invented only in the Middle Ages in Europe?
- 📝 Where did the idea of a Pharaoh originate?
- 📝 Why is Jewish God so Popular?
- 📝 How did medieval architects determine sizes and numbers of pillars, buttresses etc?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How much Ancient Egyptian survived into modern Coptic & Egyptian Arabic?
- 📝 When did the term "Nationality" first come into use? How did ancient civilizations refer to themselves? By ethnicity?
- 📝 How much did it cost to attend events at the ancient Roman colosseum?
- 📝 How could Jews integrate into Western modern society back when Saturday was a normal working day?
- 📝 How much did a ship cost in Ancient Greece?
- 📝 Comparison of Ancient Greecian and Egyptian schools and methods of studying to modern day
- 📝 Before modern banking, how did government-issued coins get into everyone's hands?
- 📝 How did the Egyptian engineers of the Third and Fourth Dynasty construct the Pyramids and Sphinx without modern science and mathematics?
- 📝 In modern terms (for example the 2017 US dollar), how much purchasing power is 50,000 (French) Francs in 1829?
- 📝 How did thieves get into Egyptian pyramids?
- 📝 How much of what we know about ancient philosophers comes from oral literature?
- 📝 How much of a effect did linguistic relativism play in ancient Europe?
- 📝 How was the Ancient Egyptian name 'God is Gracious' written?
- 📝 How were ancient Indian mathematical texts found to modern scholarship?
- 📝 How could the Roman sestertii/sesterces be converted into modern terms (say 2017 US$)?
- 📝 What's the Ancient Egyptian phrase/word for “Royal Road of Life”? And how would it have been spelt?
- 📝 How did people distinguish slaves from free people in Ancient Rome?
- 📝 How much smaller were medieval farm animals in England than today?
- 📝 How did they cook on ancient ships?
- 📝 How do ancient Chinese "mirrors" such as these in the National Museum function?
- 📝 How did the ancient Romans count with their fingers?
- 📝 How much evidence is there regarding the naval punishment of keelhauling?
- 📝 How and when was the modern company ownership structure invented?
- 📝 Are modern Greeks related to the ancient Greeks?
- 📝 How did the ancient Greeks synchronize time?
- 📝 How much would 300 pounds (money value) weigh in Medieval England?
- 📝 How prevalent were recreational drugs in the ancient world?
- 📝 How much were telegraphists in the 1950s paid?
- 📝 How would slaves have addressed their masters in Ancient Greece?
- 📝 How were books published in Ancient Greece?