Egypt Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Names==<!--linked--> <!--Needs to be recycled--> <div>The English name "Egypt" is derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] "{{transliteration|grc|Aígyptos}}" ("{{lang|grc|Αἴγυπτος}}"), via [[Middle French]] "Egypte" and [[Latin]] "{{lang|la|Aegyptus}}". It is reflected in early Greek [[Linear B]] tablets as "a-ku-pi-ti-yo".<ref>Breyer, Fr. A. K. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=JpNY7VPn1WUC&dq=%22a-ku-pi-ti-yo%22&pg=PA381 Morgenländische Wörter im Deutschen: Die ägyptischen Lehnwörter]". In: W. Raunig/St. Wenig. ''Afrikas Horn: Akten der Ersten Internatio-nalen Littmann-Konferenz 2. bis 5. Mai 2002 in München''. Meroitica 22. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005. p. 381. {{ISBN|9783447051750}}.</ref> The adjective "aigýpti-"/"aigýptios" was borrowed into Coptic as "{{transliteration|cop|gyptios}}", and from there into [[Arabic]] as "{{transliteration|ar|qubṭī}}", back formed into "{{lang|ar|قبط}}" ("{{Transliteration|ar|qubṭ}}"), whence English "[[Copt]]". Some scholars suggest that the Greek forms were borrowed from [[Late Egyptian]] ''([[Amarna Period|Amarna]]) Hikuptah'' or "Memphis", a corruption of the earlier [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] name <div style="display:inline-block;"><hiero>O6-t:pr-D28-Z1-p:t-H</hiero></div> ({{angbr|{{transliteration|egy|ḥwt-kȝ-ptḥ}}}} [[wikt:Special:Search/𓉗|𓉗]] [[wikt:Special:Search/𓏏|𓏏]]𓉐𓂓𓏤[[wikt:Special:Search/𓊪|𓊪]] [[wikt:Special:Search/𓏏|𓏏]] [[wikt:Special:Search/𓎛|𓎛]]), meaning "home of the [[Egyptian soul|ka]] (soul) of Ptah", the name of a temple to the god [[Ptah]] at [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}</div> "{{Transliteration|ar|Miṣr}}" ({{IPA-ar|misˤɾ}}; "{{lang|ar|مِصر}}") is the [[Classical Arabic|Classical Quranic Arabic]] and modern official name of Egypt, while "{{transliteration|arz|Maṣr}}" ({{IPA-arz|mɑsˤɾ}}; {{lang|arz|مَصر}}) is the local pronunciation in [[Egyptian Arabic]],<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Il-Malti |last=Z. |first=T. |date=1928 |volume=2 |issue=1 |language=mt |publisher=Il-Ghaqda tal-Kittieba tal-Malti |title=Il-Belt (Valletta) |edition=2 |url=http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Il-Malti/Il-Malti.%20004(1928)2/01.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417234107/http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Il-Malti/Il-Malti.%20004%281928%292/01.pdf |archive-date=17 April 2016 |page=35 |url-status=dead }}</ref> with the full official name being "{{Transliteration|ar|Jumhūrīyat Miṣr al-ʻArabīyah}}" and "{{transliteration|arz|Gomhoreyyet Maṣr el-ʿArabeyya}}" in Standard and Egyptian Arabic, respectively. The name is of [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] origin, directly [[cognate]] with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] "{{Script/Hebrew|מִצְרַיִם}}" ("{{Transliteration|he|[[Mizraim|Miṣráyim/Mitzráyim/Mizráim]]}}"). The oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] "mi-iṣ-ru" ("miṣru")<ref>The ending of the Hebrew form is either a [[Dual (grammatical number)|dual]] or an ending identical to the dual in form (perhaps a [[locative]]), and this has sometimes been taken as referring to the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. However, the application of the (possibly) "dual" ending to some toponyms and other words, a development peculiar to Hebrew, does not in fact imply any "two-ness" about the place. The ending is found, for example, in the Hebrew words for such single entities as "water" ("מַיִם"), "noon" ("צָהֳרַיִם"), "sky/heaven" ("שָׁמַיִם"), and in the ''[[Qere and Ketiv|qere]]'' – but not the original "ketiv" – of "Jerusalem" ("ירושל[י]ם"). It should also be noted that the dual ending – which may or may not be what the ''-áyim'' in "Mitzráyim" actually represents – was available to other Semitic languages, such as Arabic, but was not applied to Egypt. See ''inter alia'' Aaron Demsky ("Hebrew Names in the Dual Form and the Toponym Yerushalayim" in Demsky (ed.) ''These Are the Names: Studies in Jewish Onomastics'', Vol. 3 (Ramat Gan, 2002), pp. 11–20), Avi Hurvitz (''A Concise Lexicon of Late Biblical Hebrew: Linguistic Innovations in the Writings of the Second Temple Period'' (Brill, 2014), [https://books.google.com/books?id=p1AMBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA128 p. 128]) and Nadav Na'aman ("Shaaraim – The Gateway to the Kingdom of Judah" in ''The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures'', Vol. 8 (2008), article [http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/article_101.pdf no. 24] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017233422/http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/article_101.pdf |date=17 October 2014 }}, pp. 2–3).</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title = On the So-Called Ventive Morpheme in the Akkadian Texts of Amurru|url = https://www.academia.edu/371050|website = www.academia.edu|access-date = 18 November 2015|page = 84|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160118112500/http://www.academia.edu/371050/On_the_So-Called_Ventive_Morpheme_in_the_Akkadian_Texts_of_Amurru|archive-date = 18 January 2016|url-status=live|df = dmy-all|last1 = Izre'|first1 = Shlomo}}</ref> related to ''miṣru/miṣirru/miṣaru'', meaning "border" or "frontier".<ref name="akkadian">{{cite book|title = A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-qIuVCsRb98C&pg=PA212|publisher = Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|year= 2000|isbn = 978-3-447-04264-2|first1 = Jeremy A.|last1 = Black|first2 = Andrew|last2 = George|first3 = J.N.|last3 = Postgate}}</ref> The [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] used the derived term [[File:Rassam cylinder Mu-s,ur.jpg|60px]], ''Mu-ṣur''.<ref>As in inscriptions such as the [[Rassam cylinder]] of [[Ashurbanipal]]. For transcription, the word being written Mu-s,ur [https://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P421807]</ref> <div>The ancient Egyptian name of the country was <div style="display:inline-block;"><hiero> km-m-t:O49 </hiero></div> ([[wikt:Special:Search/𓆎|𓆎]] [[wikt:Special:Search/𓅓|𓅓]] [[wikt:Special:Search/𓏏|𓏏]]𓊖) '''{{transliteration|egy|km.t}}''', which means black land, likely referring to the [[Soil fertility|fertile]] black soils of the [[Nile flood]] plains, distinct from the ''deshret'' ({{angbr|{{transliteration|egy|dšṛt}}}}), or "red land" of the [[desert]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Rosalie, David |title=Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt: A Modern Investigation of Pharaoh's Workforce |publisher=Routledge |year=1997 |page=18}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZWuVAL2GooC&pg=PA43 |title=Ancient Civilizations of Africa |author=Muḥammad Jamāl al-Dīn Mukhtār |page=43 |access-date=28 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131155854/https://books.google.com/books?id=gZWuVAL2GooC&pg=PA43 |archive-date=31 January 2017 |url-status=live |isbn=978-0-85255-092-2 |year=1990 |publisher=Currey }}</ref> This name is commonly vocalised as ''Kemet'', but was probably pronounced {{IPA|[kuːmat]}} in ancient Egyptian.<ref>Antonio Loprieno, "Egyptian and Coptic Phonology", in ''Phonologies of Asia and Africa (including the Caucasus). Vol 1 of 2.'' Ed: Alan S Kaye. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1997: p. 449</ref> The name is realised as ''{{transliteration|cop|K(h)ēmə}}'' ({{Lang-cop|ⲭⲏⲙⲓ|label=[[Coptic language#Dialects|Bohairic Coptic]]}}, {{Lang-cop|ⲕⲏⲙⲉ|label=[[Coptic language#Dialects|Sahidic Coptic]]}}) in the [[Coptic language|Coptic]] stage of the Egyptian language, and appeared in early Greek as {{lang|grc|Χημία}} (''{{transliteration|grc|Khēmía}}'').<ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, Χ χ, χεσι^φωνέω, Χημία |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:alphabetic+letter=*x:entry+group=20:entry=*xhmi/a |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2002/crabb/history.html|title=A Brief History of Alchemy|publisher=University of Bristol School of Chemistry|access-date=21 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005180735/http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2002/crabb/history.html|archive-date=5 October 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> Another name was {{angbr|{{transliteration|egy|tꜣ-mry}}}} "land of the riverbank".<ref>{{cite book|title=Ancient Records of Egypt |last=Breasted |first=James Henry |author2=Peter A. Piccione |year=2001 |publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-06975-8 |pages=76, 40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bT0q7nt1-gUC}}</ref> The names of [[Upper and Lower Egypt]] were ''Ta-Sheme'aw'' ({{angbr|{{transliteration|egy|tꜣ-šmꜥw}}}}) "sedgeland" and ''Ta-Mehew'' ({{angbr|{{Transliteration|egy|tꜣ mḥw}}}}) "northland", respectively.</div> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page