: I

COPTIC LEXICAL INFLUENCE ON

EGYPTIAN ARABIC

WILSON B. lUSHAI

Reprinted for private circulation from JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

Vol. XXIII, No. 1,january 1964 Copyright 1964 by the Unive";ty of Chicago

PJtINTED IN U .S.A.,

COPTIC LEXICAL INFLUENCE ON EGYPTIAN ARABIC

IVILSON B. BISHAI, School oj Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C.

E GYPTIAN Arabic has acquired numerous lexical items from practically all the languages with which it has come in contact. Coptic was among the more important of those languages to influence the Egyptian Arabic vocabulary, especially that of Upper Egyptian. In everyday life the Egyptians use a number of expressions without the slightest notion that they are repeating words which can be traced back to Coptic and ancient Egyptian. The following wintertime scene, typical of modern rural Egypt, provides a good illustration of this. As some peasant boys play their popular " Egyptian ball game"l they may repeat such common terms as .,:.-J), awwal senno, which means "the first (movement) of the second (round)." .,:.- senno, which refers to the second round of the game, is taken from Coptic c.t{~1!',

"two." While the boys are playing, they get into an argument and one says to the other ~ J)~ baliis.J!: tahgi{3, "quit bluffing."

~ is a noun derived from I.l"'~' which in turnisa borrowing from Coptic ~~25.:ooc., meaning "talkative." When the boys go home for supper they may eat cheese, and their mother may say I" j>. ~ ..s', di gibna

Ztalum, "This is cream cheese." I" j>., which means "cheese," is Coptic ~~l\.w..t...

The Coptic loanwords in Egyptian Arabic have been partially investigated by several writers among whom are G. Sobhy, W. Vycichl, and W. Worrell; 2 but

1 Egyptian peasant boys use balls made usually of Bocks stuffed ·with rags; they are frequently seen in streets and open fields pla.ying this native ball game

often referred to as ,,-:,,\.r! o.J~ Inira ~arlib. 2 G. Sobhy. Common ll'ords in the Spoken Arabic

oj Egypt, pp. 4-15; W. H. Worrell, Ooptic Texts, pp.

39

the validity of these words has never been determined. Many lexical items which have been listed by thesc writers as Coptic loanwords in Egyptian Arabic are plainly pure Arabic, while others can be attributed to Turkish, Persian, or one of the languages which came in contact with Egyptian Arabic after the Coptic period. The writer has collected two hundred and five lexical items, all of which were suggested by various scholars to be Coptic loanwords in Egyptian Arabic. Of these only the one hundred and nine items treated in this article are considered as valid loanwords. Fifty-eight are best explained as being of Arabic origin; eight as originating from sources other than Coptic or Arabic; fourteen are of uncertain origins; and sixteen have no reference to source in the standard Coptic dictionary by Crum.

The following one hundred and nineteen do not include proper nouns or words borrowed from Greek origins, since such items are not directly related to the study at hand. The items treated are arranged alphabetically according to the trans­literation of the Egyptian Arabic words into the English alphabet. When a certain writer is the only source of any citation, his name is quoted between parentheses.

VALID COPTIC LOANWORDS

T ii, "yes," SB ~~~ , "yea." Coptic ~ was dropped causing the lengthening of the vowel.

329-42. '\"orre ll includ ed material collected by ,Yo Vycichl. See also ,,', Spiegelberg. J\. optisches Hand· worterbuch, p. 339; ane..! A. Erm,an. Jrorteruuch der aegyptischen Sprac"e, VI, 222-42.

40 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

~i ajbiya, "a prayer book for the Copts," S A7l:m (pl.), "hours." ~i follows .wi, which is a broken plural in Arabic whose singular is J,.; , such as ~.J, raghif-arg!J,ifa, " loaf of bread ." The Coptic apparently was borrowed into the nearest Arabic broken plural pattern.

JT, ' iil, "a game of pebbles (Sobhy)," B A~, "pebble."

JJ~ bagrur, " frog (Upper Egyptian)," S n('.RpOTp with the definite article, "the frog." The Arabic followed the quadri­literal pattern J".t.; such as .J)OJ. tartur, "tassel. " It was first borrowed into Upper Egyptian Arabic, then taken over by Cairene Arabic as J.uL ba'rur.

lS-l:...i 'amandi, "hell ," dahya twadik(i) l'amandi (Sobhy), "May a tragedy take you to hell"; BF A.\\('.Ht, SA A'\\HT~, "hades" or literally "the western place." Egyptian Arabic amandi is not frequent in Egypt; ..,.,..,JI ~ gahannam(i) 19!J,arb, "the hell of the West," is very common and possibly a literal translation of the original meaning of A.\\HT('.. The voicing of t in lS-l:...i is quite normal after a voiced obstruent such as n.

..:...,:..i amnut, "sexton (Vycichl)," SBAF .\\HOTT, "porter, doorkeeper." The hamza in Arabic is prosthetic.

t.,;i anba, "title for Coptic priests," B

A'&'&A. S AnA (from Aramaic). The phonet­ic change is most likely caused by partial dissimilation which developed this way: 'abba> 'amba > ' anba. However, ' amba is also used . It is possible to attribute t.,;i to Aramaic abba, "father," or any other Semitic language cognate, but since it is used only with Coptic priests, it is most probable that it was borrowed from Coptic.

.34 biig, "the portion of the field left for cultivating clover or beans, " possibly from S nocr('., nOR('., nM~('., "fragment." The change in meaning involves specialization, but the sound changes are normal.

Jp baglUla, "bubble," SB n('.R('.~W~ with the article "pitcher " or " jar. " Possibly the relationship in meaning is due to the air bubbles caused when a pitcher is filled with water. The Coptic was borrowed as a collective noun whose singular .. ~ refers to one of the kind, such as ~ §!!:ajar, "'trees," and ~ §!!:ajara, "one tree."

J.~ bagu!i, "small basket," used mainly in Middle Egypt, S nROT with the definite article n(('.). The unaspirated value of Coptic t at the close of a syllable ap­parently sounded to the Arabic ear as #. ~ balham, "to bluff," S .&A~~'\\OT,

"Blemmye, name of some barbarian people dwelling in the Christian period on the East of the Nile south of Philae." The Blemmye people were known for their bluffing.

i A baliJ1um, "heron," S n('. ~crw.& with the definite article, "the heron." The change of .& to i is normal since both are voiced bilabials.

r::-'--: barsim, "clover or alfalfa," SB '&('.pC.I.\\, "clover." The Arabic vocalization followed the pattern with a quadriliteral root, such as ..::...;.,)!<. 'afrit, "devil."

"':'J P. baiJ1aro§!!, " flamingo" (Spiro), S nn-~p('.WpwW, "the thing which is red," made up of n('.T, "that which (is)," and Tp('.WPWW, "red." Worrell suggests that bas...!!:arosh developed from *bashsharo~ < *bad§!!aro~ < *badraiJ1ro~ < *badtras...!!:­ro~ < nn-~p('.WpwW. 3

t bikh, "a word used by children when they try to frighten each other," B m;5, "the demon."

~ J birba, "site of a ruined temple," S npn('.; "the temple," which is pn('. with the definite article n( ('.).

'.J w bisiira, "cooked beans," possibly from *n('.c.Apw a compound of ntc. (con­struct form of nlc.~) , "to cook," and APW,

"beans." The Arabic followed a regular JW pattern such as "!.~.J , riwiiya, "story."

3 Worrell, op. cit ., p. 333

COPTIC LEXICAL INFLUENCE ON EGYPTIAN ARABIC 41

<>--.J biskha, "part of a plough" (Vy­cichl), "edge of a plough" (Sobhy), B mc.;5o with the definite article, "plough handle. " Coptic final 0 was assimilated to the feminine termination -a with the shift of stress to the first syllable . The pat­tern is .w, such as '.,r(:. fikm, "idea."

.?P. b~obe~, "a call of 'welcome during country weddings," SB nwonc. (with the definite article n( ('.), "reception, entertainment." This example indicates the progressive assimilation of Coptic c. to Arabic ..,:. which rendered the word bshObesh . A parallel example of this is ;J ~-;;ms, "sun':' which in Upper Egypt is pronounced ..;..::' ~arn~.

,-S.J.J~ buri, "a kind of fish," S '&wp('.,

"fish, nurgil cephalus" (Crum). The sound changes are normal; and the Arabic equated well with the pattern J1 U:i plus the nisbe <.,?) of a hollow root such as dJ.J, rumi, "a turkey."

"':'J. bur~ , "mat made of palm leaves ," nwpw, "to spread" or "something which is spread," such as a mat. Possibly nwpW is related to Semitic pr~, or Arabic ..,:.; with the same meaning. However, "':'J. can­not come from ..,:.;, and therefore a Coptic origin for it is clearly indicated.

"':'Y. Mi§!! , " porridge" (Vycichl) , S ITIOOTW, B nWOTW with the definite article "gruel." The Arabic followed the pattern of a media-weak noun such as ..5.". ful, "beans."

'-,,:,' damiTa, "time of inundation ," S T('..\\HP('. with the feminine article T~, "high water, inundation." The Arabic followed the ~ pattern such as ~.J. !ariqa, " way." The voicing of t is normal (cf. 'amandi) .

~ rj.abbah, "a wooden door lock," S T('.nw with the definite article. Egyp­tian Arabic follo\\'s t he .Li pattern after doubling the Coptic second consonant in order to form a triliteral root . Coptic T is expected to yield Arabic .i., !: the voicing of ! to if, is anomalous.

.:J.; falt , "buttocks" (Sobhy), SB .&I~ TI, "thigh, hip ." The Arabic followed the "'~ pattern such as if.J' daTs, "lesson." Coptic .&I~ TI is uncertain; it occurs once.' ;; farfar "to flap the wings, especially

" 'hen the bird is falling down," B qopq('.p, "to fall , rush down. " However, it might be a metathesized form of Arabic 0j.J mfmf (see below).

.k.i fa!? , "to jump or run, " SAF nWT, "to flee. " The velarization of T is normal owing to its unaspirated nature; and the Arabic followed the pattern of a double Cain verb such as .r rnarr, "to pass." From the root jH, .i.l1j faUat is derived meaning "spring­like."

.1.". fu!a, "towel, " S qWT('., "to wipe." The changes are normal (see under ~)O tuba).

. ..,.:..; gas..l!:wa, "a fish" (Crum), S RAWOT,

"among fish." RAWOT was apparently borrowed first as .P gaiJ1w, which is a collective noun form, such as ~ naml, "ants." The feminine of such a form is usually a singular noun such as .L.; namla, "an ant." Accordingly, ga~wa can be derived from gas..l!:w to mean "a fish."

",lj gil, "a kind of fish," B RH~, "a fish." The borrowing is quite normal. JL.:. iEiil with the same meaning developed from the Sahidic form 7l:H~. V"~ hajjii~ , "garrulous" or "talkative"

as in ' inta wiid hajjii~, "You are a talkative boy," ~A7l:00C. , "the one who tall,s ." The Coptic expression is made up of ~A, " pre­fix for first perfective," 5 7l:00 "to say (bound form)," and c., "it." The Arabic followed the pattern of the intensive participle I Conjugation Jt:i such as ..,.,~ kazziib, "liar." A root hj~ was formed and other words were derived such as

., W. E . Crum, A Coptic Dict'ionary, p. 38. 5 1b1"d., p . 635; and also \V. E . Crum. "Some

Further Meletian Documents," JEA, XliI (1927), p.21.

•..• J

42 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

~, "to bluff by talking," and ~, "bluffing. "

.r..,J.. kallUs, "cobweb," SB ~'" '2\o~c, "spider's web." Coptic ~ may be borrowed in Arabic as either lJ, or h. The Arabic followed the J;:i pattern such as .rJ.(;,

"the holy one." ..iJ' hamrnas or hemmis, "to sit (Vy­

cichl)," S ~ ..... ooc, "to sit, dwell, remain ,. Hammas is a regular II Conjugation 'form such as y;:' sharrab, "to give to drink"; hemmis is a dialectal variant of hammas.

J.:-Y' hawjal, "anchor" (Sobhy), B ~"'~O""'~ or ~"'~2I:"''2\. The Arabic fol­lowed a quadriliteral pattern such as ~~ bakraj, "tea pot."

.rY' hawwasJ!, "to bluff, mostly by talking roughly," S ~oo~W, "to abuse or insult." The Arabic followed the II Con­jugation pattern of the root hw§!!:, from which other words were derived such as ;:,.;i, "bluffing," and J;);, "bluffer."

":-:" Mba, "a bird" (Sobhy), SF ~I.&WI, "the ibis bird."

"iJ' hnayye, "matter, affair," ~Olt{\:,

"some(thing)." Metathesis of Coptic y and n renders honye which became hnayye following a diminutive Arabic pattern such as ~ bnayye, "small girl."

j ~ lJ,alum, "cream cheese," SAB ~",'2\w""" "cheese." The change of Coptic o to Egyptian Arabic u is normal.

.rJ.J;.,... lJ,andUs, "lizard" (Sobhy), B ~M{TO~C with the same meaning. The voicing of T is normal.

..l.,la:.- lJ,antur, "carriage drawn by horses," SF ~TWWP, "horses." Possibly Coptic unaspirated t sounded to the Arabic ear as a doubled sound which later developed to nt.

IS~J idda, "he gave," IS ~ yiddi, "he gives," IS~J 'iddi, "give (imp.)," SB t, "to give." The form IS~J is rather problematic in Arabic because it does not fit any of the known verbal patterns. If it is considered a corrupted form of classical Arabic

~l 'aCta with the same meaning, 'aHa or 'anta is expected; the latter form is used in Iraq. Moreover, Egyptian Arabic vocabulary includes ~ Cata, "to give." If IS~J is considered original in Arabic stemming from roots such as IS' I or <!~, the form of the imperfective doe~ not seem to fit any of them. On the other hand, a Coptic origin from t is feasible after certain normal changes that might have taken place. S t ti (unaspirated) may have become di and possibly was first borrowed in Arabic as an imperative 'iddi with ' i as a prefix (which is a normal feature of Arabic) and with doubling the d to equate it with a triliteral tertia weak root such as j..lJ ' irmi, "throw" (imp.) . The imperfect yiddi was also formed such as 'h_ yirmi, "he throws." The perfect form, however, is problematic; IS" dada like 1.I..l rama is the form which is ex­pected, but such a form (with a double ,j root) is very uncommon in Arabic. There­fore, a IV Conjugation form IS~! 'idda was used for the perfect form. ~~ jalliibiyya, "garment, the main

dress of the Egyptian fellahin," S <5"o'2\&E, "garment of wool." Here is a case where Coptic .& was borrowed as Arabic Y;

Coptic <5" may be borrowed as Upper Egyptian (.. The Coptic word supplied a root y J (. in Arabic from which a .noun was formed after the pattern ~t:; such as .'J(k, "blanket." . -

It;- niight be noted here that classical Arabic has y~ julbiib, "garment." However, there is no need for Egyptian Arabic to change it to ~~ since its pattern occurs frequently such as y0, "slippers," and Jd: "ankle bracelets." It is possible that yL,I; might have been derived from ~)~. if jay, "a call for help" such as jay ya

'wliid jay, "help, boys, help!" 0"8'21:(\1, "safety, health." The Arabic did not borrow the first syllable in Coptic perhaps

COPTIC LEXICAL I NFLUENCE ON EGYPTIAN ARABIC 43

because it was considered the Arabic conjunction J , or the Coptic indefinite article O~. ~ juk§, "crepitus ventris." "This

utterance is used in Upper Egypt; ~ gi§ is its equivalent in Lower Egypt. The Coptic origin is B 21:01'.0, "crepitus ventris" (Crum). The last i vowel was eliminated in Egyptian Arabic, perhaps it was considered a case ending; the velarization is anomalous.

.s:...s kacka, "cake" S R"'R\: . This word is problematic owing to the existence of the C sound. It may be attributed to Coptic as well as to Persian !.lIS", "biscuit or dry bread," which may be related to the Indo­European origin of English "cake. " Clas­sical Arabic dictionaries list .!1S but indicate that it is foreign. The writer is inclined to attribute .s:...s- to Coptic and consider the existence of C a kind of hypercorrection in Arabic perhaps en­couraged by other Coptic pronunciations such as <5""''''<5"~ (Crum), with a double vowel.

J.,f1S" kakula, "outer garment," S RO~R'2\\:, "hood, cowl of monks." The Arabic followed the pattern Jyu such as «!rL. §amula, "screw nut." ~ kalaj (present tense ~ byukluj) ,

"to limJil ," SB RW'2\2I:, " to be bent." The Arabic followed a regular I Conjugation pattern from the root k l j.

L.}f kaLUlJ" "the corn cob after it is beaten to gather the kernels," S Rw'2\2, "to strike. " The Arabic followed a J~ pattern such as j J~..l ralJ,um, "merciful. "

...,..IS" kiis, "misfortune" or "pain," usually used by women during a funeral such as ...s-lS" 4 ..},.J 4, "0 my distress, 0 my misfortune," SB RHC, qualitative of "burial or corpse" (Sobhy mentions R"'C, "pain" with no reference).

t! kekh, "dirty," S 1'."'2, "soil, earth." The borrowing of Coptic ~ as Arabic t is very unusual, a fact which casts some

doubt on this otherwise satisfactory etymology.

,r.,J labis, "a kind of fish," S '2\"''&HC, "fish cyprinus niloticus" (Crum). The borrowed form is normal.

r! lajj, "to be persistent," S '2\00", "be impudent, persistent." The Arabic fol. lowed a double Cain pattern such as .r marr, "to pass."

':'U liMn, "ship 's cable," SB '2\E&ML The Arabic followed a Jl..i pattern such as yl.::.S"" kitdb , "book." The Coptic word itself, however, is of obscure origin.

..;.J lubsh, "a kind of prayer" (Vycichl), SB '2\w.&W, "a crown," used to refer to a final stanza in certain hymns. The vocalic change is regular.

..lyl.. majur, "a pot for kneading," perhaps S ..... "'2I:Wp which is made up of ..... "', "place," and 2I:WP, "scatter. " Although ..... "'2I:Wp does not appear in Coptic dic­tionaries as one word, it is possible that ..lyl.. might have developed from a col­loquial Coptic term which was not stated in any literary record. The phonetic transition is regular and it must have been borrowed in Upper Egyptian Arabic and then taken over to Cairene as magur. ~.r manSt, "southerly," used for

wind, SBF ..... "'pHC, "southern country." This is a clear case in which the Coptic noun was borrowed with the addition of the Arabic relational suffix i to form an adjective.

.r.' mbu, "water to drink," usually said to children, S n ..... oo~ with the masculine definite article n(E), "water. " Here there is a clear case of metathesis between n and ..... after the voicing of TI.

'-"'~ .mihyii,§, "fanfaron, boaster, blusterer," perhaps * ..... \:21i.'WC, "full of hurry, " which is made up of ..... \:2, "full," and li.IWC, "speed" or "hurry. " It is possible that Ii. dropped, thus leaving ..... \:2 IWC , which may have become Arabic '-"'~. The Arabicfollowed the pattern J4,

: . .'."J

44 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

such as J~ mikyal, "measure." Other related forms were derived such as J::A hayya§ (II Conjugation), "to make noise," and ~ he§a, "a noise."

J l:.. mnaw, "thither" (Sobhy), B .... HH, "there." The diphthong aw was possibly caused by the influence of AHA '5', " there."

lSl:.. mnay, "hither " (Sobhy), B .... HAr, "here. "

lS.J!.,; nabari, "the winter crop of maize," S HAnpE, "grain." Arabic nabari is the broken plural of .J'} nabr, such as ..,.;) -~~\ ' arrJ,-' a'TarJ,i, "territory." Possibly the Coptic was borrowed first as singular from which the plural was derived and became more common.

-.jL; naj, "yoke" (Sobhy) SAB HA~&, "yoke." The h-sound dropped and the preceding vowel was lengthened.

,..,.., nagra (Upper Egyptian), "heat of the day," perhaps from *HAKpH, "strong sun," from S HAl'., "strong" and PH, "sun."

<.1"";'; nannils, "delicate, nice, mignonne," SAF HAHO'5'C, "it is nice," made up of HAHO'5', "nice or fair" and the suffix c., third person feminine used impersonally.

J"'; nils..!!:, "big" (Sobhy), S HOG', "great" or "big." The Arabic followed a ~ pattern of a hollow verb such as .JY sur, "fence_"

..;,.,; nULha, "fever, especially typhoid," S HOO)!lE. with unknown meaning but parallel with "stinking of disease. " The Arabic pattern is .u:r of a hollow root such as '.J§ kura "ball ."

Ju.;.J rajtaw, "a measure of grain which is one-fourth of a Mla, used only in distant Upper Egypt," S pMJTOO'5', "fraction of four or quarter." The velarization of T is normal as well as t he vocalic change from 00'8' to aw.

r J..r'.J ramrum, "small fish" (Sobhy) , possibly related to S pA .... I1, "fish, tilapia" (Crum). The borrowed Coptic stem was duplicated in Arabic and followed the

J.)..j pattern such as .J)')' tartur, "tassel. "

<.S~ ray, "a kind of fish," SB PHI, "a fish, alestes dentes" (Crum), ~J rita (also pronounced rita) , "a plant,

sapindus," B PITA, "a plant, flower of laurus nobilis."

¥ samit, " special bread made of fine flour ," SB C.A.,\\IT, " fine flour." The more common Arabic form (also Persian) ¥ samid, "white bread," appears to be a borrowing from Syriac s'mida (itself from Akkadian samidu). Since the word is Semitic, Greek aEfLLSaALS is a borrowing, as is perhaps Latin simila. The Egyptian Arabic form samit must, because of the t, be from the Coptic, which in turn is a loan from some Semitic source.

<.1"L.. sas, "oakum," S C.AAC.E, "tow." The Arabic form is the colloquial of the classical ~ pattern of a media-hamza root; the hamza is lost and the preceding vowel lengthens, cf. Ji.; ja' l , "omen," which becomes in colloquial JL; jal.

y senno, "the second round of the Egyptian peasants' ball game," SAB C.NA '8', "two." Perhaps the doubling of n was caused by the contraction of the diphthong.

'.JY. §!!:abbura, "fog," perhaps from *)!l&pH, "the change of the sun," from )!l1&E., "change" and PH, "sun." This is a case where & was borrowed in Arabic as y ; the Arabic apparently borrowed a root ~ *~br from which '.JY. ,Lhabbura was derived according to the pattern .1;'-; such as '.J~ ballura, "crystal."

Jl.O i!J:al , "fish"; see under j; gil. w~ §!!:allut, "a kick ," B O'A '2\.02£,

"foot." Possibly, ~allut is a later pro­nunciation derived from Lhalluj (in Kena) and ,Lhallild (in Far~iit); the former is the closest to the Coptic origin, which was borrowed first perhaps as a noun C~ i!J:alilj, and then the Arabic used the denominative form of the II Conjugation to serve as a verb .:.L. §!!:allat, "to kick,"

COPTIC LEXICAL INFLUENCE ON EGYPTIAN ARABIC 45

from which the secondary noun w..,e ~llut was later derived.

./- ~amar or .JL';' shamar, "the fennel plant," S C." .... A~Hp, "fennel." The change of Coptic s to Arabic sh is un­common, but sometimes distant Upper Egyptians pronounce the regular s as sh ,

such as ~ §!!.ams, "sun," which becomes .;l- shamsh, and sa'al, "to ask," which bec~es JG §!!:a'al. C.A"\\A~ Kp was possibly borrowed first as -C:"L.':' Lhamahir, which is a broken plural form, the singular of which is .JI¥' §!!.amhar, such as 01}J qatran, "tar," and its plural cOl].; qatarin. The h in §!!.amhar, being weak, was dropped leaving shamar; -0:.amar is possibly a shortened form of §!!.a­mar. Although the original of C.A .... A~Hp is as yet unknown, it is quite distinct from later Coptic )!lA.,\\AP, a reborrowing from Arabic.

L.:.l.O §....hai!J:ii, "to rise ," usually applied to the moon, stars and dawn, S )!lA, " to rise." The Coptic origin was duplicated in Arabic. Apparently §....hiis..J!:a was first borrowed as ~a'§....ha (which is still used) of the quadriliteral by duplication pattern.

yy §!!:aw§!!.aw, "beat with a whip," SB o '8'0)!l 0 '5'E.W , "strike, thresh." The word has undergone a metathesis of the reduplicated root element w~ to §!!.w. The Arabic form is that of a quadriliteral by duplication pattern.

.Jt,..: -0:.biir, "wonder" used in saying ~ Jt,..:.JL! i!J:biir §!!.bar ' alayya, "I have become a freak or a wonder" (Sobhy), S wnE.p~ , "wonder." "'~ ~gilgil, "bell" (Vycichl) , S

wI'. 1'2\.1'. I '2\. , " bell." -.,l! ,~ilba , "a kind of fish ," S <3''2\.&00'5',

"fish, siluTUS mystus" (Crum), Sometimes Coptic & is borrowed as y such as 2S:E&pO, ~hich appears in Arabic as \~ 0.ubra,

a place name," ..;.;.! §!!:inj, "sack for straw," S 2S:HOq

or 2S:E.NOq, "basket or crate." The Arabic

followed the ~ pattern such as J:;:'

0.ibr, "a measure of length. " Otherwise the changes are regular. 0~ 0.intyan, " large drawers out of

mode" (Sobhy), B )!lE.!'ITW, "robe of linen" (cf. Greek aLvSwv). The Egyptian shndyt appears more original.

yy ~ob , "heat of the day," B won~ or wo~n, "fire aT to scorch." Usually Coptic W becomes u in Egyptian Arabic and not 0, but in this case 0 was pro­nounced on account of the guttural ~,

which requires a back lower vowel. Otherwise the form is normal. ~y §!!.una, "store house for grains,"

B WE.H1.E. pronounced approximately §!!.ewne. The change of ew to u seems regular, and the final a in Egyptian Arabic is the sign of feminine gender.

"'.Jr 0.uriya, "censor" (Sobhy), SBF W0'5'pH with the same meaning. The final ya might be for the purpose of giving a feminine ending to the Arabic word since the original Coptic is feminine.

";y §!!.ils_ha, "small window," SAB W0'5')!lT, "window." Possibly the final T

was considered a feminine ending in Arabic and was levelled to a, rendering 0.u§....ha after the pattern .:r..; of a hollow verb such as '.J§ kura, "ball."

..... y §ll:u~, "tuft of hair, crest," S 2S:12S:WI, "single lock or plait of hair." Sahidic 2S: may be borrowed in Arabic as J such as 2S:d"po, which becomes I~ "a place name." The Arabic followed the pattern J1 of a hollow root, such as '.J.>-" §iira, "picture."

... <:::.- sikka, "plough" or "plowshare," C.KAI, "to plough or ploughing." The Coptic utterance developed to fit the Arabic pattern 4.; of a double 'ain verb such as .,J liMa, "seed or kernel."

-"::"" §ir, "salty." 2S: IP, "brine." The change of 2S:: to ./ is common, such as 2S:AAN:T, which becomes .::~, "a place name."

,J

.. .... !

46 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

..;.; tafj, "to spit," S TMI· The second Coptic consonant was doubled in Arabic to make a triliteral double cain root from which other parts of speech are derived such as tefaf, "spitting," and matfuf caleh , "spat upon."

f takhkh, "to become drunk," A TA2.I;.,

"be drunken." The Arabic followed a regular double Cain verb.

(.w" timsal;" "crocodile," SB TI;...\\.c.Ae,

"the crocodile." Arabic borrowed the Coptic word with the feminine definite article T~; thus the word fell into the pattern J\J;. such as Jl!i timthal, "image." 6

';;'y tut, "gather," used only in the expression .sJ~ 4 ';;'y tut ya lulwi, "gather (for) the magic player," S ,001',1;., "be gathered or collected." ~ tablJ,a, "prayer" (Sobhy), SABF

,w'&2., "pray." The final a in Arabic is perhaps a sign of a feminine noun .

.}11 tash, "border" or "boundary," especially of a field, SAF 'A!y (Sobhy), "limit, boundary." There is no problem with this word because Coptic t is Ull­

aspirated and its representation in Arabic as t is normal.

~lJ. tayab, "east wind," S '01'1;.1~&' from ,Hl', "wind," and I;.IC&T, "east." It followed the Arabic JL.i pattern such as y~ sa7;,ab, "clouds."

-.....J. tohma, "invitation" (Sobhy), S ,w2.E...\\., "to invite." The Arabic pattern is ..w; and Coptic w became Arabic 0 instead of u because of the guttural h.

~). tUba, "a brick," S ,w&l;.. This is a normal change, since Coptic 0 is usually borrowed in Arabic as u. The Arabic form with the article is the source of English (from Spanish) "adobe" < at-tuba.

";»). turya, "axe," SA 'WPI, "spade" or "pick." The word is normal except that it

• See W. F. Albright, The Vocalization of Egyptian Syllabic Orthography, p. 151, and T. O. Lambdin, "Another Cuneiform Transcription of Egyptian m.s~," JNES, XII (1953), pp. 284-85.

received an added feminip.e ending in Arabic, possibly because it is feminine in Coptic.

J) 'uni, "mill sound," B l;.1'tU,

"mill." The leveling of the Coptic diph­thong w to Arabic 'ii, is normal.

<>-~ walJ,a, "oasis," S 01'A2.E. with the same meaning. Regardless of the origin of this Coptic word Egyptian Arabic <>-~ walJ,a is most probably derived from it. It became so common in Egypt that classical Arabic included it in its vocabulary, as it did with lexical items of other languages with which it came in contact, e.g., ifJ'; firdaws, "paradise," from Persian, and if." sijnun, "prison," from Latin.

Lr"J wal;,wal;" "to cry with pain, to bark," SB 01'A2.&I12., "bark, growL" The phonetic changes are normal.

..>r)~ war~ii,r, "wood saw" (Sobhy), B &A!y01'P, "saw." Although )y)\.. war§!!ur is related to mirLLhar in meaning it is difficult to trace it back to the root .? nsJ!:r. Possibly &A!y01'P itself is a loanword in Coptic from Semitic (Hebrew ii1Z7~), nevertheless it may be con­sidered as the origin of Egyptian Arabic war§!!ur. However, the extra r in the latter is problematic, but it can be paralleled by other examples where internal doubled consonants are resolved into r, l, or n + a single consonant. ~J wiiba, "a grain measure (two kiilas

or one-sixth of an 'ardab)/' S Oln~, B WinE., "measure of grain, less than an 'ardab." It is apparent that the two words are related; the Arabic apparently was vocalized by analogy with .J,f kela, "a grain measure one-twelfth of an ' ardab, considered the unit of grain measuring in Egypt." It may be noted here that a measure of grain ilO'N 'efah exists in Hebrew,7 and possibly in other Semitic

7 See T. O. La.mbdin, Egyptian Loanwords and Transcriptions in the A ncient Semitic Languagea, pp. 13, 14.

COPTIC LEXICAL INFLUENCE ON EGYPTIAN ARABIC 47

languages, but these cannot be considered an origin for Egyptian Arabic ~J weba simply because the latter Arabic form does not exist anywhere outside Egypt. More­over, Hebrew ' efah is expected to become Arabic ~l 'ifah and not ~J wiiba.

)J)J wirwir, "fresh," used especially with fresh radishes such as ~ 4 )J)J

wirwir ya fijl; SA &pPE. or '&HPI1, "young or fresh." The two consonants of Coptic were duplicated in Arabic to follow a quadriliteral pattern such as ~ ~ib~ib, "slippers."

..>;.j zir, "large water pitcher," B CIP,

"jar." The change is normal. 4).; ?G-rta, ''flatus ventris," S CAPC5"A'C.E.

with the same meaning. The last sound of the Coptic word was left out in borrowing, and possibly the word became CAPC5"AT

sarchat. The final T was considered in Arabic as ; (ta marbuta) which is a sign of feminine in classical Arabic and which is usually left out in Egyptian Arabic, and the word became sarcha. The ch sound being a palatal stop, was changed to an alveolar stop t, thus rendering sarta. The s was voiced possibly owing to the Coptic feminine article 'E. which preceded s causing the combination t + sar- to sound like an affricate ts which may be rendered as Arabic j,; . A root ?rt was formed from which other words were derived such as .J.).; ?G-rrat (II Conjugation), "to blow wind."

The above one hundred and nine valid loanwords were mostly taken into Egyptian Arabic according to standard Arabic patterns. In many cases Coptic supplied only the triliteral roots from which other Arabic words were derived.

Coptic loanwords included items peculiar to Coptic worship such as L;I 'anba, "bishop," and ~i ' ajbiya, "book of prayer." They also include items that are used in remote villages not common to the main Egyptian popUlation such as ~ hnayye, "a thing," and }w) raJ taw, "a measure of grain." This leaves the number of Coptic loanwords used com­monly in Egyptian Arabic smaller still; they mainly include names of various kinds of fish, vulgarisms, and names of cooking utensils and foods not used in Arabia .

It might be mentioned here that Turkish, which was never a vernacular of Egypt, left more lexical items in Egyptian Arabic than Coptic did. This is indicated by a partial survey of Turkish loanwords in Egyptian Arabic by E. Littmann, 8

which includes two hundred and sixty­four words.

The limited influence of Coptic on Egyptian Arabic can only be explained as lack of widespread bilingualism in Egypt during the transition from Coptic to Arabic. This leads to the conclusion that the Copts who were converted to Islam at anyone time must have been a minor segment of the population. Again 9 it may be said that Egyptian Muslims today are right in claiming a predominant Arab ancestry.

R See E. Littmann, "Turkisches Spra.chgut in Aegyptischen," W .. toestliche Abhandlungen, 1954, pp. 107-27.

9 See ,"~ilson B. Bishai, "Notes on the Coptic Substratum in Egyptian Arabic," JAOS, LXXX (1960), pp. 225- 29; "Nature and Extent of Coptic Phonological Influence on Egyptian Arabic," JSS, VI (1961), 175-82; and "Coptic Grammatical In­fluence on Egyptian Arabic," JAOS, LXXXIII (1963),285-89.