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 \u2018hi\u2019, \u2018OK\u2019 and \u2018thank you\u2019! 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.<\/p>\n
\u0641\u0648\u0637\u0629 (fouTa) = towel<\/p>\n
\u0646\u0648\u0646\u0648 (nou-nou) = baby<\/p>\n
\u0641\u0627\u0633 (faas) = axe<\/p>\n
\u062f\u0628\u0634 (dabsh) = small stones<\/p>\n
\u0645\u0645 (mumm) = eat<\/p>\n
\u0627\u0645\u0628\u0648 (umbou) = drink<\/p>\n
\u0648\u0627\u0648\u0627 (waawaa) = pain<\/p>\n
\u0643\u062e (kukh) = dirt<\/p>\n
\u064a\u0627\u0645\u0627 (yaamaa) = many<\/p>\n
\u0643\u0627\u0646\u0649 \u0648\u0645\u0627\u0646\u0649 (kaani we maani) = butter and honey<\/p>\n
\u0635\u0647\u062f (Sahd) = heat<\/p>\n
\u0634\u0648\u0646\u0629\u00a0 (shouna) = grains store<\/p>\n
\u0633\u0643 (sak) = closed\/locked<\/p>\n
\u0643\u0631\u0643\u0631 (karkar) = giggled.<\/p>\n
We do use these words like any Arabic word in sentences, e.g.<\/p>\n
\u0627\u0644\u0641\u0648\u0637\u0629 \u0646\u0638\u064a\u0641\u0629\u00a0 = the towel is clean.<\/p>\n
\u0627\u0644\u0648\u0644\u062f \u0643\u0631\u0643\u0631\u00a0\u00a0 = the boy giggled!<\/p>\n
\u0627\u0644\u0646\u0648\u0646\u0648 \u0634\u0631\u0628 \u0627\u0645\u0628\u0648\u00a0 = the baby had a drink.<\/p>\n
\u0627\u0644\u0635\u0647\u062f \u0634\u062f\u064a\u062f\u00a0 = the heat is very strong!<\/p>\n
\u0623\u062d\u0645\u062f \u0633\u0643 \u0627\u0644\u0628\u0627\u0628\u00a0 = Ahmed locked the door.<\/p>\n