From Pharoah's Lips: Ancient Egyptian Language in the Arabic of TodayFrom the most distant past to the modern day, some things never change including words. The modern Egyptian Arabic dialect is one of the most distinctive in the Arabic-speaking world precisely because of its illustrious heritage from the country's ancient past. Ahmad Abdel-Hamid Youssef spends a day in the Egyptian countryside, taking note of the many expressions that once fell from the lips of the ancient Egyptians and that continue to be heard on the tongues of the modern Egyptians in their everyday speech. His charming tale of Bayoumi, a farmer, his wife Sawsan, and their baby provides the backdrop for tracing the persistence of these words and phrases. What these average Egyptians do, what tools they use, what they eat, how they organize their life, even how they interact all can be described with words that hark back to the age of the pharaohs. In telling his story, Dr. Youssef integrates the ancestry of these common expressions, with the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and Coptic and Arabic words appearing alongside transliterations and translations into English. Both entertaining and instructive, this volume includes a series of glossaries in Egyptian, Coptic, and Arabic. With an introduction by Fayza Haikal, an Egyptologist who specializes in Egyptian language, and illustrations by cartoonist Golo, this book is sure to appeal to anyone who has an interest in Egypt, ancient or modern. |
Contents
Introduction by Fayza Haikal | |
The Ancient Egyptian Alphabet | |
Bayūmi | |
Glossaries compiled by Mary Knight | |
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Common terms and phrases
ajana alphabet amsha ancient Egyptian ancient woman's name Arabic Alphabet Arabic expression atāri aysh aysūn Bāba baked brick Bakhūm Banūb Baramhāt Bashans basket Bastet battāw Bayūmi beans Bīsa Bisāda Bishāy bread brsm Coptic alphabet Coptic expression dabbūs Demotic Dosa Egyptian Arabic Egyptian word English equivalent Arabic fahlawa found in Arabic gold Greek Greek alphabet ḥaba habhaba Haikal Hatūr hawsa hbhb hieroglyphs hnhn hõb jallabiya Jamjām Jamjūm karta kāsi KHNE kind of Nile Kiyahk knkn kunāfa language majūr MAKPO man's name mayyit metaphor midammis mīn Mīt month nāni nannūs Nefertari Nefertiti NOYB nūnu nūri perhaps derived perhaps origin pharaoh Qulta revived for modern sakhkha Sawsan shabshaba shakūrya shanna wa-ranna Sharābi šhb Shenūda shinf Shirbi shirsh shishni shubb shughl al-nõb sound Sūna swnt Take your salary tbtbt tilapia tiyāb tūt umbū Upper Egypt waḥawy woman's name revived woman's nickname yaḥlēla yamm yiḥamḥam توت طوية هوب ياحليلة