Arabic Language Blog
Menu
Search

Ancient Egyptian words used today Posted by on Aug 23, 2012 in Arabic Language, Culture, Vocabulary

Do you know that all speakers of Arabic use colloquial dialects which have Arabic as the main source, but many other sources exist that are derived from other languages? For example, in colloquial Arabic dialects nowadays, many people use English words like ‘hi’, ‘OK’ and ‘thank you’! Egyptian colloquial Arabic has many sources in addition to the Arabic language itself, e.g. ancient Egyptian, Coptic, English, French, Turkish, among others. In this post, I am going to list some ancient Egyptian words that have managed to survive and remain in use in Egyptian Arabic until today.

فوطة (fouTa) = towel

نونو (nou-nou) = baby

فاس (faas) = axe

دبش (dabsh) = small stones

مم (mumm) = eat

امبو (umbou) = drink

واوا (waawaa) = pain

كخ (kukh) = dirt

ياما (yaamaa) = many

كانى ومانى (kaani we maani) = butter and honey

صهد (Sahd) = heat

شونة  (shouna) = grains store

سك (sak) = closed/locked

كركر (karkar) = giggled.

We do use these words like any Arabic word in sentences, e.g.

الفوطة نظيفة  = the towel is clean.

الولد كركر   = the boy giggled!

النونو شرب امبو  = the baby had a drink.

الصهد شديد  = the heat is very strong!

أحمد سك الباب  = Ahmed locked the door.

Source: http://maddodo.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/blog-post_25.html

Tags: , , ,
Keep learning Arabic with us!

Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. Available anytime, anywhere, on any device.

Try it Free Find it at your Library
Share this:
Pin it