Talk like an Egyptian
From Pharaoh's Lips: Ancient Egyptian Language in the Arabic of Today, Ahmad Abdel-Hamid Youssef, Introduction by Fayza Haikal, Illustrations by Golo, Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2003. pp129
Language is not exactly one of my strengths. For years I followed in my elder brother's language-learning footsteps -- sharing books, teachers, cassettes and classes. The culmination of those years of learning, however, left him fluent in three, and me still struggling at a relatively elementary level with two. That may be why the process of reading this book instilled in me the sensation of relative satisfaction -- because within one of the languages I labour in vain to master, the author reveals that there are elements and origins of what I will take opportune to consider my fourth.
From the Pharaohs Lips: Ancient Egyptian Language in the Arabic of Today looks at the Pharaonic roots of the modern Egyptian-Arabic dialect, and how the tradition and culture of our ancestors was passed down in words in tandem with the country's evolution.
"A language includes more than just grammar and vocabulary," writes Egyptologist Fayza Haikal in the introduction to this new book. "In order to really understand it, 'to live in it, all those meanings that go beyond grammar and the dictionary have to fit somewhere' ... There are expressions and metaphors that passed from Egyptian to Arabic such as 'fat on honey', to indicate harmony and good relations, which is one of the examples in this book. Sometimes, when these expressions reflect a reality common to most people, they pass unnoticed. But when they reflect the particular environment and experience of the people who created them, they can sometimes be very local. You have to live their culture to be able to appreciate them and they can be difficult for a foreign translator to apprehend."
Appropriately, the first chapter, "The Past Remains Alive," starts with the common Egyptian proverb, "Lost is he who deserts his past", which stems from one spoken by our Pharaonic ancestors thousands of years earlier: "Any knowledgeable person is one who will listen to what the ancestors said."
"This little book," Youssef writes, and indeed the book is little at just 129 pages of illustrated text, "is about what our ancestors said -- and what we will say." They said St (pronounced set or sit), for example, while we say sitt (woman).
After a look at the technicalities of the Ancient Egyptian, Coptic, and modern Egyptian alphabets, and their transliterations and pronunciations, the story "book" begins.
In a skillful storyfication of words and phrases which are commonalties in modern Egyptian, Coptic and Ancient Egyptian, Youssef weaves together a tale of a day in the countryside. Through the lives of Bayumi, the farmer, his wife Sawsan, and their baby (nunu in modern Arabic, NOYNE in Coptic, and nni in Ancient Egyptian), Youssef highlights modern day Egyptian words and phrases, and traces them back to ancient times.
The text plays a dual role, not only tracing the origins of common words and phrases -- as represented through day-to-day life of this family -- but it also provides an insight into the life of the average Egyptian farmer and his family, their customs, daily habits, and social structures.
The art of the book lies in its intricate weaving of the author's academic tendencies, Egyptology expertise, and evidently pure passion for the subject. Not quite the pleasurable weekend read, but worth at least a browse now and then to pick up an interesting fact or two -- an indulgence for the knowledge- seeking historian, linguist, or simply fact-enchanted individual.
Reviewed by Yasmine El-Rashidi
