Egyptian Alphabet for the Egyptian People - Forgotten Books

fyh alifbé inglyzyja , we alifbé rfimyja , we alifbé<=

arabyjau j atara mu é mumk in jekfin fyh ali fbé mas

ryj a kemfin ?

wcigz'

é Cain, éu ll wciéi a’

j eéz’

éb wag e in j tsa i a’ °

a la

mzjgy El j o‘

m ell) ; fyk éu ll l en nds es kd é iny n°

a la l ny l

j zmé i fwum j zgr u we j iktiéu el Zz'

s cin ally j i téa llz'

mu fi we

j z'

f /éamu k .

el alifbé es s ahla H et ta°

lym we l il k i tfiba tig°

al

eé éa°

b nabyh ; we en nabfiha tig°

a1 eé éa‘

b qawy

we mabs fit.

Egypt ian Alph abet

for t h e

Egypt ian Peop le

a/if ée‘

call ! may .

a, a , e , e

,i , y, o , 6 , 11 , C1

10 W) , t (i f), W ei) , g (gym) , g h fllé) ;

hflzci), d d r (M) , z

S (W ) , é (W ), s fW) , q

k 1(14m) , m 11 (mi n) , w (wau) , j

T— r3

'

3

F lo ren c e

The Lan d i Pres s

1 3 22- 1904

Taélg of C ontem‘

s .

The Sto ry o f th e A lphabet

I . The A lphabet

II . Pronu n c iati on

III . Illu s trative Read ings

IV . Grammati c al A c c id enc e

I .

0

01

-wA rti c le

Prono u n

Su bs tantiveSu ffixes

A d j ec t iveNumeral

7 . V erb

V . Pro verbs and Senten c es

V I . Pu n c tu ation and Other S igns

The alphabet here represented and explained i s

that o f the l iving langu age o f Egypt . It co nsists o f

th irty-fo u r letters , o f wh ich the fi rst ten express pure

vowel sound s five short in their nature, and five long .

No exi sting to ngue possesses an alphabet embracings o wid e a vo cal range , and at the same t ime o f s o s im

ple a character ; and few nat io nal it ies c an bo ast of o ne

wh ich c an be s o rapid ly acquired , o r s o read ily applied

bo th in writ ing and pr inting . It may be generally d e

scribed as a mo d ificat ion o f the Lat in letters , devised

with no l ittle ingenuity , and ad ap ted with no l ittle skill

to the vo cabulary in use , at the present d ay , by the

inhab itants o f the Nile valley . Properly speaking,i t

i s no t to be regard ed as a system o f transcribing ,

o r transliterating , the elements o f any o ther alphabet ,bu t rather a s an ind epend ent ABC , special ly elabo rated ,

to express , in the clearest and mo st convenient manner ,the vo cal and co nso nantal art icu latio ns o f this newest

Egyptian to ngue . It i s to be treated as belo nging to

the Egypt ians , j ust as the German alphabet be lo ngs to

the Germans,or the Greek alphabet to the Greeks , o r

the Persian alphabet to the Pe rs ians . It i s no t intend

ed to be used in wr iting any o ther fo rm o f Speech ,

and ,in particular , it canno t be employed , witho ut ma

ter ial alteratio n and extensio n ,in writing the classical

o r Koran ic A rabi c o ften styled the O ld -A rabi c

wh ich is the~

parent of the mo d ern Egypt ian . Its c om

po nent letters are here arranged , to some extent , mo r

pho logic ally a metho d wh ich , as a no ted E ngl i sh

writer tell s u s ,“ i s ve ry co nvenient fo r the

’

learner ;letters o f sim ilar fo rm being bro ught into j u xtapo s it io n ,i t becomes easy to compare them, and to remember

minu te d i s t1n c t1ons in their o u tl ines .

I ) Bu t the clas

s ific atio n o f the letters i s no t a matter o f fgrave im

po rtance . The O ld -A rabic a lphabet , as i t has been ,

in the co u rse o f t ime , ad op ted and ad apted by vario u s

A siat ic nat io ns , d iffe rs mo re o r l ess,in each co u ntry ,

in o rd er and extent , from i ts prim it ive . We have grown

accu stomed ,to o ,

in these d ays o f investigatio n , to seeall alphabets arranged , by the grammarians , fo r the ir

special pu rpo ses , in d iffering gro ups in acco rd ance with

varying schemes o f co llo cat ion o r o f classificat io n .

Thi s new alphabet s o simple yet s o complete

owes i ts o rigin to that mo st ard ent friend o f the Egyp

t ian peo ple that mo st z ealo u s and mo st succes sfu l

o f all'

s tu d ents o f the Egypt i an d ia lect ,

W i lhelm Sp i tta ,

who wa s bo rn Ju ne 1 4 ,in the l ittle Hano verian

town o fW ittengen , and d ied at the baths o fLippsp ringe ,in the pr1nc ipal ity o fLippe ,

September 6 , I 8 8 3 . With in

the narrow l im its o f an exis tence o f three d ecad es it

has rarely happened that a single bra in has wro ught

I ) The Alphabet by Isaac Taylor (Lond on ,I,p . 1 89 .

T/ze Egypfi an A lpkaéa‘

3

s o much andwrought so well . Bu t that bra in was fo r

tu nate eno u gh to d iscover its pro per field of stu dy and

energy -at an extrao rd inari ly early age . Whi le st ill

young, Wilhelm lo st hi s father , the lyri c po et , Philipp

Spitta , from whom he inherited the qu i ck intelligence

and early men tal matu rity wh ich enabled him to begin

hi s Orienta l stu d ies even d ur ing hi s gymnasial years .

These were pas s ed at Hild esheim , the pictu resque

crad l e o f North-German art , whence , after a brilliant

exit-exam inat ion , he entered the u n iversity o f Go tt ingen at the E as ter term o f 1 8 7 1 ; bu t u l t imately , havingmeanwh ile u nd ergo ne hi s year o f m il itary service , he

tran s ferred hi s stu d ies , fo r the sake o f the A rabic in

stru ctio n o f Heinrich Fle ischer , to the u n iversity o f

Le ipsic , at wh ich great scho o l he to ok hi s d o cto rate

early in 1 8 7 5 . So evid ent and s o em inent were hi s

qual ificatio ns fo r the po st that , through the effo rts

and recommend at io n s o f hi s teacher , Fleischer , and

o f the Egypto logi st , Geo rg Ebe rs , he was appo inted ,

wh ile st ill an u nd ergrad uate in the un iversity , the successo r o f Lu dwig S tern as d irecto r o f the Vicerega l

L ibrary wh ich had been found ed at C ai ro in 1 8 7 0 by

the khed ive I sma°yl . . H e assumed the d u ties of this

o ffice April 5 , 1 8 7 5 no t yet twenty-two years o f age .

The following year he’

pu bli shed at Leipsic hi s valu able

tractate , Z u r Gesch ichte Abu C

I-hasan al A s c hari s

a pape r first d rawn u p in ord er to se rve a s hi s d o ctor’s

d is sertation . This was su cceed ed later on by variousco ntribu t io ns to the Oriental j ournals o f E u ro pe ; i t was

fo llowed , a s well , by nu mbe rless ho urs o f ready and

ungru d ging he lp to s tud ents and o thers, who so u ght

hi s scho larly a id , and by genero u s co u n s el and assis t

Tke Egyptian A lpfiaéet

ance in all und ertakings .

prom is ing to be o f advan

tage to Egyp t , its people o r i ts letters . Bu t to all

o u tward appearance h i s heart was , mo st o f all, in h i s

official wo rk . When,on April 1 9 , 1 8 8 2 , he was d e

prived by the m i n i ster o f ed u catio n o f the po sit io n he

had s o ably fi lled a co nsequ ence o f the o l igarch ic

fanat i cism whi ch had ra i sed the igno rantc

A raby and

hi s fe l low conspirato rs to power he could write to

a learned compatrio t thu s : In truth , the exist ingo rganizat io n o f the L ibrary , in all i ts d epartments , is

my wo rk'

. I have re-arranged and catalogu ed , with

my own hand , i ts E u ropean sect io n ; o f the Orienta l

d ivision I have compiled a card -catalogue by autho rs ,with s helf-l i sts, and have -very nearly ready fo r the

press two big vo lumes o f a s c ientific ally-c las s ified c at

alogu e . I have brought the co llectio n from

volumes to o fwhich are A rabic , Pe r

sian and Tu rkish manuscripts . The present personnel

is my creation , and I have even tau ght the art o f cata

logu ing to my successor . A ll this has been the labo u r

of seven hard years . These seven hard years

were more fru itful fo r Egypt , a s we shal l hereafte r

see , than were the Pharao n ic seven years o f greatplenty.

Tho se who had the go o d fo rtune , as d id the

write r o f these pages , to see Spitta be engaged at

hi s wo rk in the impo rtant C a i rene co l le ctio n o f bo oks ,Were amazed at bo th the qu an t ity and the qu al ity of

the labou r he was accomplish ing: He seemed to themthe mod el l ibrarian — a combinat ion of the

,h ighest

intelligence with the highes t facu lt ies o f adm in istrat io n and ind ustry . L ittle d id many o f hi s interested

Tée Egyptian A Z/fiéaéet

vi sito rs d ream that tho se lo ng ho u rs o f d il igence rep

resented the less valuable po rtio n o f the task he had

assigned h imself. Few, certa inly , o f hi s E u ropean

asso ciates , und erstoo d that o u tsid e o f that no t verywholesome ed ifice in the d arb el

‘

gamamyz ,in wh ich

were ho u sed the precio us vo lu mes u nd er hi s charge ,

he was bu ild ing himself (d u ring ho u rs which sho u ld

have been ho u rs o f res tfu l le i su re) a mo nu ment wh ich

c an never d ecay . He mad e hi s home , from the be

ginn ing ,in an A rabic ho u seho ld ,

and d u ring much of

h i s u no fficial t ime came into co ntac t o nly with na

tives , taking d own from their mouths,with unti ring

assid u ity , glo ssaries , id iomati c say ings , proverbs and

popu lar tales . Am id these s u rro u nd ings , o r arrang

ing, d uring hi s summer vacat ions , the abund ant ma

terial thu s accumu lated ,he at length brought to a

co nclusion , befo re the earl iest five o f h is seven ha rdyears had comp le te ly elapsed , hi s systemati c i nvest i

gat i ons into the l iving speech o f Egypt . The resu lt

was , as has been mo re than o nce remarked ,the first

scient ific treatment o f a mo d ern A rabi c d ialect ; and

no t o ften has a fi rs t treatment been s o exhau stive .

His Grammatik d es arabischen Vu lgard ialec tes von

Aegypten was pu bl ished in the latter half o f 1 8 80 ,

and wa s fo llowed by its supplementary vo lume , the

C o ntes A rabes Mo d ernes in 1 88 3 almo st in hi s

dying ho u rs . These two wo rks fo rm , perhaps , the

mo st remarkable contributio n to O riental l ingu ist i csd uring the last quarter o f the nineteenth centu ry , and

are, in every respect, mo d el s o f ph ilo logi cal research

and statement . No o ne who has read the d eeply- i nte r

esting p reface to the Grammatik c an d o u bt the

6 7 726 Egyptian Alpfiaéez‘

warmth o f the hope which he enterta ined that the wo rka s h i s biographer expresses i t m ight contrib

u te to the elevat io n of the spoken d ialect into a?

written langu age , thereby bridging over that d eep

chasm between the id iom of the peo ple and the id iom

o f l iterature , whi ch i s the greatest obstru ct ion in the

path o f Egyp tian progre ss .

The str iking and fo rcible paragraph wh ich c lo ses

the preface ha s been frequ ently'

cited ,bu t a trans la

t ion o f it here c an hard ly be o u t of place : ; ‘ Fi

nally , I wi ll ventu re to give utterance to a hope whi ch ,

d u ring the compilatio n o f thi s wo rk , I have co n stantlycherished ; i t i s a ho pe wh i ch co nce rns Egypt i tself,and to u ches a matter whi ch ,

for i t‘

and its people ,

is a lmo st a qu est ion of l ife o r d eath . Every o ne

who has l ived,fo r a consid e rable perio d ,

in an A ra

b i c —speaking land knows how serio u s ly all its act iv it iesare affected by the wid e d ivergence cf the wr itten .

language from the spoken . U nd er su ch circums tances

there c an be no tho ught o f po pu lar cu ltu re ; fo r how

i s i t po ssible , i n the brief per io d o f pr imary in s tru c

t io n,to

‘

acqu i re even a half-way knowledge o f s o d if

fic u lt a tongu e a s the l iterary A rabic , when , in the

seco nd ary scho o ls , yo u ths u nd ergo the tor ture o f its

stud y d u r ing several years witho ut arr i v i ng at o ther

than the most uns atisfy ing resu lts ? Of co u rse the

u nfo rtunate graph ic med ium the comp lex alphabet

i s in great part to blame fo r all th is ; yet how mu ch

easier wo u ld the matter become if the stu d ent had

merely to write the to ngu e wh ich he speaks , instead

of being fo rced to write a language wh ich i s as strange

to the pr esen t generatio n o f Egypt ians as the Latin

Tba Egyptian A lp/mag i 7

i s to the peop le o f I taly , o r the O ld -Greek to the

inhab itants °

o f Greece a langu age wh ich, witho u t

be ing the popu lar speech , is no lo nger even the c las

s i c a l A rabi c ! A real literature canno t be thu s d eve loped ; fo r o nly the lim ited cu lt ivated class knows howto u s e a bo ok ; to the mass o f the people a bo ok is

really a thing u nknown . If he have.need to write a

lette r, o r execute a d o cu men t , the o rd inary man o f the

peop le must pu t h imself blind ly into the hand s o f a profes s ional s cribe ; he must trus t ingly s ign the m o st im

po rtant papers with a seal which he canno t read , and

wh ich may be and i s eas i ly imi tated . W hy c an this

lamen table co nd it io n o f th ings no t be changed fo r the

be tter ? Simply because there i s a fear,if the lan

gu age o f the Ko ran be who l ly given u p , of incurringthe charge o f trespassing u po n the d oma in o f re ligio n .

Bu t the Ko ranic langu age is now nowhere written ; fo r

wherever yo u find a written A rabic i t i s the M id d le

A rabic of the o ffices . Even the d u biou s un ity o f the

I slam iti c peoples would no t be d is turbed by the ad op

t ion of the spoken ve rnacu lar , s ince the langu age o f

prayer and o f the ri tu al wo u ld s till rema in everywhere

the s ame . It is also as serted that the N ew-A rabic i s

who lly u nfit to become the langu age o f the pen becau se

i t o beys no fixed laws , and flows o n witho u t any syn

tactic restrictio ns . I ventu re to be lieve that the present pu bl icatio n proveS

'

that the speech o f the peo p le

i s no t s o comple tely in c apable o f d i scipline ; that , o n

the contrary ,it po s s esses an abu nd ance ofgrammat ical

n iceties ; and that it i s precisely the S implici ty o f i ts

syntax , the plast i c i ty o f i ts verbal co nstruction , which

will make i t a mo st serviceable instrumen t . D id the

8 7 716 Egypz‘z

'

an A lgfiéaéet

Italian seem any more promising when Dan te wrote

hi s Divine C omedy ? And wo uld a commissio n o f the

mo st learned and mo st expert men o f Egypt no t be

able to d o infinitely better that which i t has no t ap

peared to me , a fo reigner , t o o d iffic u lt to u nd ertake ? ”

The d ist inguished E d uard Meyer — h imself a s ad

loss to the ranks of Germany ’s o riental ists befo re he

had reached hi s real maturity -was Spitta ’s mo s t inti

mate asso ciate in hi s u n iversity years and afterward s .

He thus d escribes Spitta d uring hi s Leipsic d ays He

had an aspect fu ll o f Vigo r and comel iness ; the weakness

wh ich had affected h im in hi s boyish years had c om

pletely vanished ; and no o ne who lo oked at him co uld

have d ivin ed that he was d o omed to be a victim of

pu lmo nary d isease . The stro ng mo ra l serio u sness and

lo fty nobi lity o f hi s nature were evid en t in every

thing he d id o r sa id . The same friend affectingly

ad d s : Perso nally I know no t how to d o him o ther

ho no r than to d eclare thu s pu bl icly that the greater

part o f whatever I may eithe r in tend , o r accomplish ,

will be based u pon principles wh ich we un ited ly d e

veloped . As early as the last mo nths o f 1 8 7 7 h i sphysical appearenc e already showed slight changes ,bu t in the winter o f 1 8 80 -8 1 he was sti l l a strikingand attract ive p erso nage - perhaps hand somer be

cau se o f the hectic flu sh wh ich t inged h i s cheeks , and

presaged the su re fate awa iting h im . In s o cie ty he

was often mo d estly reticent , bu t when he d i d talk

the l istene r so o n recogn ized the d epth and bread th

o f hi s knowledge . H e was fam i l iar with mo st o f the

languages o f Europe , and with all o f tho se o f the

E ast wh ich have ad opted the Old -A rabic alphabe t,

T/ze Egyptian A lph abet 9

altho u gh hi s Oriental s tud ies began with the Sanscrit .

In the l iterature o f b ibliography , and o f bibl io thecal

management he was well vers ed . L ike all h i s fam ilyhe was fond of mu sic , which was almo st h i s onlyd ivers i o n ; and hi s finely

-tra ined ear sto od him in

go o d s tead in tes ting and fixing the flu ctu at ing and

u ncerta in vowel-sound s o f Egypt ian speech . One may

o ccasio nally d oubt the co rrectness o f his transc riptio n ,

bu t after hearing the wo rd in questio n pro nounced bya d o zen d ifferent native vo ices the d ecis io n i s generally

in favo r o f the Spitta o rthography .

Lo oking back upo n the ho u rs o f intercou rs e wi th

hi m, and recalling a tho usand in s tru ct i ve i ncid ents in

d i c ating hi s extrao rd inary intellectual capacity, i t i s im

po ssible no t to wo nd er what a sco re o f years , ad d ed to

hi s scanty score and a half, m ight no t have enabled himto

’

accomplish . Bu t whatever hi s ad d itio nal achieve

ments m ight have been i t is cer ta in that they wo uldhave large ly benefited the Egypt he s o loved how

d eeply and tru ly may be j u dged from the co nclu d ingwo rd s (the very last he wro te) o f the intro d u ction to

hi s C o ntes A rabes Mod e rnes : Au moment on

j’

éc ri s ces lignes , j e vai s qu itter l’Egypte probable

ment po u r to u j o u rs , assurémen t po u r longtemps . Je

sera i s co n tent si , par les pages su ivan tes , je gagna isqu elques no uveaux am i s a la vie i lle Egypte po pu laire ,

humble et cachée , mai s ' fo rte par la chaleur intérieure

d e s a vie , par l’

intim i té et la na'

i’vete d e s es s en ti

ments — a ce tte Egypte inconnu e d es financiers et

d es d iplomates, qu i , d epuis les Pharao ns ju s qu

’

a ho s

j o u rs , a‘

s u rvéc u a to u tes.

les civilisat io ns .

1 0 Tée Egypt ia n A lp/zaéet

Prec ed ing S teps an d S tu d i es .

What the Ge rmans style the Transcriptions

frage”

which may be lo o se ly d efined as the ques

tion o f writing extra-European langu age s by means

o f a E u ro pean o r mo d ified E u ropean alphabet has

pro d u ced a co nsid erable l iterature . The histo ry o f thi s

branch o f ph i lo logical wo rk canno t , o f co urse ,be po r

trayed here at any length . The effo rts o f Engl i sh scho l

ars hip , s o far as th is kind o f research is co ncerned ,

have been ch iefly limited to the langu ages o f Ind ia .

They began with an essay by Si r William Jo nes

a .man memo rable in'

many ways On the Ortho

graphy o f A siat ic Wo rd s in Roman Letters ”

His observat io ns showgreat in s ight , te c hn i c al and o therwi se , fo r he obj ects to the use o f d o uble letters

to express a single vowel so u nd ,and to the inter

m ixture o f Roman and Italic letters in the same

wo rd , wh i ch ,he remarks

,bo th in wr iting and p rint ing

would be very inco nven ient . H e'

d id .no t however

ad opt thro u gho u t the principle o f o ne sound , o ne

letter ; and the l ittle he a ttempted in the transcriptio n

o f Arabic , evinced a marked d eficiency o f knowled ge

in regard to the pho no logy o f that to ngue . He insist

ed o u giving to the Euro pean vowels their Italian

valu es , bu t in the cru d e co nd it io n o f ph i lo logical stu d

ie s , at that t ime , he fa iled to s ee that the Engl ish c o n

so nanta l sys tem i s , in many re spects , a s barbaro u s as

its°

vowel scheme . On the who le , however , he exh ibit

ed qualit ies wh ich we re hard ly aga in united in the

same mind u nti l the appearance,mo re than two gen

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 2 The Egyptian Atohahet

bu t some of the o thers cl i ng i ng to the c lumsy d o u ble

con s o nants (e special ly ch and sh).In France the acu te

, bu t no t a lways pro found Vo l

ney was the first to take up with ser iou sness the subj ect

o f expressing A siat i c and A frican vo cables by means

of European letters ; he d id thi s in co nne ct io n with the

pu bl icat io n o f the resu lts o f the Napo leon ic scient ific

survey o f Egypt and , at a subsequent period

(1 8 1 p resented a mo re carefu lly elaborated scheme .

In hi s earl i er metho d he employed two characters to

represent a single sound in o nly a single case , bu t

h i s mixture of Greek and Lat in letters , and some o f

h i s pecu l iar graph ic mo d ificat io ns o f the Lat in alpha

bet i c al signs mad e a writ ing at o nce u nseem ly and c om

plicated ; h i s final alphabet was an improvement , bu t

hi s m ingled Ital ic and Roman letters,hi s s u perlinear

letters , h i s retent io n o f severa l Gre ek letters , a s well

as some o ther features o f h i s alphabet , kept h i s text

sti ll far from S ightly . The Germans were late in the

field , bu t , as in s o many o ther po rt io ns o f the lingu ist ic

d oma in,the ir labours were mo re fru itfu l . In h i s Lat in

t ranslite rat io n o f Sanscrit word s B o pp (1 8 3 3) led the

van in fo rsaking the unsystemati c mo d es o f transc rip

t io n , bu tw as so o n fo llowed by Bro ckhaus , Benfey and

the who le Sanscrit scho o l — o ne o fGermany’s greate st

glories wh i le , in treat ing in the same way the O ld

Arabi c alphabe t,the late Karl Pau l C aspari and Fle isch

er were no t slow to make impo rtan t innovat io ns in the

r ight d irect io n .

In the meantime physio logy had come to the aid

o f ph ilo logy , and the new s cience o f phono logy was

growing u p . Thi s led to a treatment o f the su bj ect on

The Egyptian A lphabet 1 3

a wid e r scale as well as by ju s ter metho d s . Mo reovera new st imu lus from a no ve l so u rce was given to thesealphabeti cal stud ies . It was in 1 848 that the Rev.

Henry Venn , the secretary o f the C hurch M i ssio narySo ciety in Lo nd o n , i ssu ed his “R ules fo r red u cingunwritten Langu ages to alphabe ti cal Wr it ing ,

”

fo r the

benefit mo re particu larly o f m i ssio naries in var io u s

parts o f Afri ca . In many o ther qu arters the subj ect

wa s now taken up with energy. The accomplished

C hrist ian Bu nsen — then P russian ambassad or in England enl isted several noted ph ilo logi sts and o ther

scho lars in the movement, summo n ing them to a c o n

ference in Lo nd o n . Amo ng tho se participating were

Trevelyan , who st ill supported the a lphabet ical id eas o f

Sir William Jo nes , and Max Mulle r , I ) who d evised and

advo cated an entirely new scheme , to wh ich al lusion has

alread y been mad e , bu t wh ich was so o n overshad owed

by that emanating from Berlin . In that city Richard

Lepsiu s , incited by the m i ss ionary o rgan izat io ns, inter

es ted himself in the matter , fo r the treatment o fwhich

hi s previo us s tu d ies had specially fitted h im , so o n pro

d u c ing h i s Stand ard A lphabet (1 and ultimately

a seco nd ed itio n (1 863)w. ith mo d ificat io ns . 2) B etween

these two issu es came hi s treat ise U eber d ie Au s

1 ) Pr opos a ls f o r a Mi s s i on ary Alphabet by Max Muller (Lond on , 1855 ,

w ith a folio vo lume of alphabets). As late as 1 867 , when hi s Outline D ictionary ” was publ ished

,Professor Max Muller , in hi s transliteration of foreign

a lphabets , s til l made use of both I ta lic and R oman letters .2) Stand ard Alphabet f or r ed u c ing u nwr i tten Langu ages an d f oreign

graph i c Sy s tems to a u n iform Or thogr aphy in E u r opea n Letter s , by C . R .

Lepsius (London , 1 863 , bu t prin ted in Berl in). The slight historical sketchof the subj ect here given i s greatly indebted, for its facts and dates, to th issecond edition of the treati se of Lep sius .

The Egyptian A lphabet

sprache u nd d ie U mschrift d er arabischen Lau te (Ber

l in , The Stand ard A lphabe t i s a vast c on

trivanc e o f nearly e ighty so nant express io ns , no table

beyond all preced ing effo rts fo r i ts techn ical exellen c e ,

and fo r the evid ence o f commo n sense , a s well as of

scho larly rese arch,wh ich character i zes it . Five d iph

tho ngs are expressed by d o uble vowels ; nine lette rsare e ither d erived from the Greek alphabet o r are ar

bitrary signs ; and the rema i nd er are all Latin le tters

mod ified by d iacrit ical marks . It inclu d es a d ist inct

representat ive o fevery po ssible varie ty o f human art i c

u lat io n . Bu t i ts ch ief u til ity i s in fu rnish ing a written

med ium fo r the who lly uncu ltivated tribal to ngu es

u nco nnected , even remo te ly , with any fo rm o f wr itten'

speech and in wh ich it seems u nl ike ly that any great

prin ted l i te rature wi ll ever ex i st ; i n that aspect i t ha s

u nd o u bted ly been a bo o n to the m is s io narywo rld . Fo r

o ther purpo ses it has proved less u seful ; and it has

never been generally applied to any co nsid erable lin

gu i s t ic group .

Sp i tta’

s W o rk .

With all that had thus be en d i scussed and d o ne

by the preced ing scho lars Engli sh ,French and Ger

man — who s e names have here been cited ,and by many

o thers to whom no reference has been mad e , Spitta wa s

m inu tely fam i l iar . H e appro ached the a lphabeti cal

part o f hi s task , however, with the so le id ea o f evo lvingthe simples t and clearest med iu m o f expressio n fo r a .

langu age wh ich wa s , as yet , unend owed with any , and

which was the d aughter o f a to ngu e po ssessing o ne

to o cumbersome fo r nat io nal u s e , to o complex in its

The Egyptian A lphabet 5

character fo r the pu rpo se s o f mo d ern life . A ltho u ghstill an

.

u nwritten speech the vu lgar d ialect wa s d es

tined ,unless al l o u r stu dy o f the h i sto ry of lingu is tic

d evelopment be m islead ing , to blo ssom o u t, at .no re

mo te d ate , into the flowery freshness of a new l ite

ratu re Spitta was , perhaps , the o nly ava ilable persono f hi s

‘

d ay ,who co u ld lo ok at h i s u nd ertaking, as i t

grew into real ization , from every po int o f v iew. He

po ssessed all the imaginable qual ificat io ns fo r hi s task— no t a few o f wh ich ,

as has already been stated

had been no tably lacking in those who had he re to

fo re o ccupied themselves with the invent io n o r d e

sign ing o f alphabets , o r with the evo lu t io n o f schemes

o f transl iteratio n . H e was no t o n ly an able philo log ist

and pho no logist , bu t he perfectly u nd ersto o d everyphas e and feature even tho se techn i cal s u btlet ies

general ly known o nly to the expert o f the arts o f

writing and print ing . Th i s is a most impo rtant c o ns id

erat i o n,fo r an alphabet must serve three very d i s s im

ilar end s i t has to be read , i t has to be wri t ten

and i t has to be printed . A s cho lar may know whether

the alphabet be s u ch that , through i ts proper expres

s io n o f the proper sou nd s , the langu age c an be s at

i s fac to ri ly read , bu t o nly the'

calligraph i s t c an d ecid e

whe ther it be fit for the purpo ses o f ch irography , o nly

the printer c an j u dge whether it be available fo r the

a ims o f typography . Want o f thi s techn ical ava i la

bi lity has recently resu lted in the speedy co nd emnation

o f a method of transcribingArabi c,ad opted , after mu ch

learned trava il, by a co ngress o f Oriental is ts a meth

o d wh ich, at a glance , shows the absence o f any prac

t ical , arti sti c o r mechanical expertness in the comm ittee

1 6 The Egyptian A lphabet

which d evised i t ; fo r i t employs signs inco nvenient in

call igraphy and nearly impo ssible in typography .

I )

1 ) A diacritical sign frequently u sed in the sys tem of tran sl iteration forArab ic

,reported by a comm ittee to a late (1 894) C ongress o f O rientali s ts at

Geneva (“ Km e C ongres international des O rien tal i s tes Session de Geneve .Rappor t de la C omm is sion de Transcription , pp . 7 and 14 i s made bythe awkward process of a s troke backward , fo llowed by a stroke forwardan operation which w il l not commend it self to the cal ligraph i s t . What wouldthe writer of E ngli sh th ink , if instead of d otting the i he were constan tly obligedto complete thi s double s troke ? Among the letters to which thi s diacritica lwonder mus t be subscript i s the g (to represent the gen) but the downwardex ten sion of the prin ted g a lread y goes as far below the line as i s pos siblew ithou t' impinging upon the type below it . H ow do the as tute devisers ofthi s scheme propos e to get the type-found ers to cas t , or the prin ters to use suchan impossible type ? U n les s they in tend to cu t o ff the lower end of the letter ,and put the sign under the tai l of the g a s i t were , the mark mus t at bes t bemade too minute to remain long unbroken . Bu t when the stud en t ha s fairly‘decided to l earn and to employ th i s congres s i onal method of tran scription hew il l find that, after a ll , he n eed not feel him self ob liged to adhere to i t , forhe i s told that , in many cases , in place of the transliterating letter the s u bs titu ti on of a comb ination of two other letters i s perm i ssible . F o r ins tance ,in place of the g ,

wi th the d ouble backward and forward stroke und er it , hemay write for ge

‘

n the combination gh ; instead of s , w ith the same subscriptdo ubl e s troke

,he may, at h i s own swee t w ill , w ri te sh . Again ,

if i t does notplease h im to put two d ots under a t (to expres s ta‘

) he i s allowed to pu t on lyone . Bu t i t i s hard ly 'worth wh i le to mention the other absurdities of thi sscheme

.of wh ich there are many . The eviden t d i ssati sfaction w i th the report

of the commi ttee felt by that high Arabic au thori ty , the late Albert So c in , i s notstrange , although h i s expression of i t seem s n o t by any means a s cri tically s e

vere as it might wel l have been a forbearance whi ch may po ssibly have arisenfrom h i s persona l relation s to the

.

comm i ttee . The same may be said of thes trictures upon the Geneva scheme in a more recen t brochure

,

“ D ie Transcription fremd er Alphabete (Leipz ig , 1 897) by Professor Erns t K uhn and

the d i stinguished l ibrarian , H ans Schnorr von C aro l s feld ,ofMuni ch . Thi s little

work i s in tended particularly for the use of book-cataloguers , that i s for calli graph i c purpo ses . O therwi se usefu l , i t i s perhaps marred by giv ing too l ittleconsiderat ion to the exigen cies of typography . It seems to gran t the impropriety of j z s o ft g ,

but decides to use it ; and i t aband on s , w i th reason ,the

permissible variants of the Geneva report . Both the Rappor t and theessay by the two Munich scho lars are cr i ti cized in the G i

'

orn a le d el la Soc /eta

As i a ti ca Ita l i an a Le nuove Proposte di Trascrizione , vo l X,1 896

-7) byF . Scerbo , but no t from a typographical point of view .

H


The alphabet o f Spitta u ses a single Latin char

acter to express a simple pho neti c e lement an abs o

lu tely essent ial cond itio n — such combinations a s ch,

gh, hh, sh find ing no place i n i t , and ind eed no literal

combinat ions whatever being u sed except those repre

sent i ng the d iphtho ngal a t and a u . Thi s avo id s everychance of obscu rity , for if yo u u s e s as o ne so nant sign ,

h as ano ther , and sh fo r a th ird sound ,how are yo u to

know when the two letters are to be pro no u nced ind i

v id ually and when together , in o ther terms,whether

yo u are to read a sha l as a s -ha l o r a sh—a l ? C onsid ered

from the o utset a s a genuine alphabet , and no t as a

mere artificial co ntrivance fo r transl iterating ano ther

alphabet , i t , o f course , adm its o f no co nfusing alterna

t ives , such, fo r example , as allowing eh o r hh to be

written at the wi ll o f the transcriber fo r h. E ach Latin

character , to o , re ta ins i ts id entity ,its personal ind ivid

u ali ty , its pure Latin ity , s o to speak , withou t d i sfigu re

men t by o ver-heavy o r wrongly -placed append ages ,The letters are mo d ified so lely by ad d itions , no t by

o rgan ic charges o f fo rm ; and tho se ad d it io ns are o f the

simple s t and slightest so rt — d o ts and s trokes — s u ch as

c an be read and written with the u tmo st ease, and

printed with the utmo st facility and d i stinctness . These

d iacriti cal marks, as they are u su al ly styled , are all

superscript o r subscript,never lateral adj u ncts , d is turb

ing the letter ’s perpend icu lar s implicity and obscu ringits o u tl ine . In Spitta , to o , there was the sense o f the

artis t a s we ll as the wi sd om o f the scho lar and the

cunn ing o f the craftsman— ano ther e s sential fo r the

pro fession o f the alphabetis t,if we may co in that term .

No u s eemly , o utré, no n-homogeneo u s o r non-accord

I 8 The Egyptia n A lphabet

ant letters (l ike those with which many who attempt

to follow in the fo o tsteps o f C admu s are s o apt to

d i sfigu re their text) break the neat uniform ity o f the

lines , paragraphs and pages wh ich are written o r

printed with these Egypt ian characters . 1 )

One marked instance o f Spitta ’s scho larly , prac

t ical sagacity — u nu sual becau se bo th scho larly and

pract ical in an extreme d egre e is hi s treatment o f

what may po ssibly be styled the i -gro u p . His em

ployment o f the j — the t ru e co nso nantal i fo r the

so u nd expressed by the final letter o f the O ld -A rabi c

alphabet i s warranted on h i sto rical , ph i lo logi cal and

typographical ground s . It i s sanctio ned also by gen

era l u sage , s ince a co nsid erable maj ority of the peo

ples making use o f the Latin alphabet in any fo rm

have ad opted i t a s the representat ive o f that pho net i c

element . In fact o nly the Engl ish ,the French and

Po rtu gu ese , and the Spanish g ive to the j ano ther

value,and those nat io naliti es all d iffer from each o ther

i n the character of that va lue — the E ngl ish so u nd ingi t l ike so ft g , the French and Po rtuguese like eh

,and

1 ) If any curious person desire to see a notewor thy example of alphabeti cal uncouthnes s let h im exam ine either of two works one by an Aus trianand the other by an Engli sh professor . The first has l ittle to d o with thenewer Egyptian speech , i s entitled D ie Transcription d es Arabi schen Alphabetes ”

(Wien , and i s by Profes sor H . A . Barb . The other is AH andbook of Mod ern Arabic (London , the au thor of which i s Profes s or F ran cis W . Newman . Both are curios ities

,each in its own way . Of

that class of works which attempts to reprod uce Egyptian sound s by the unaideduse of the English a lphabet there are no end of specimens . The method theyfavour may be styled the d ragomann i c sys tem of transcription for many ofthem are compiled by ambitious Syrian or Egyptian interpreters . Bu t whatever be the national ity o f their compilers they are a lmos t equally en tertainingto the or thographical student .


Someth ing mu st be said in th is place o f the fo u r

sem i-vowels to whi ch Spitta had reco u rs e in red ucingto writing the

‘ spoken Egypt ian , in o rd er to express

the mo re obscure vo cal ar t icu lat io ns . .These find no

place in an alphabet fo r permanent practica l and popu lar u s e . That i t i s hard ly the p ro v ince o f suchan alphabet to i nd icate the mo re d e licate shad es o f

in certain fields of l ife o r activ ity ; or mayhap an equal ly uninten t ional confessionof slowness of comprehen sion beyond certain in tellectual l im its . An examplein po int i s the tard ines s of the who le Ang lo-saxon world in accepting the mett ica l sys tem — long since natu ralized even among our s i s ter Germanic peoples .That thi s English trai t i s as s triking in l inguistic matters as el sewhere thepages of N o tes an d Qu er i es — to ci te o ne particular wi tness — abundantly and

cons tantly testify ; and everybody w il l recal l the case of the American diplomatis twho thought that al l foreign governmen ts should pass strenuous laws forbidd ingtheir subj ects to speak any language bu t Engl ish . A s tu d eht of almos t anyrace but our own

,w ith the fine early training g iven in so many con tinen ta l

s choo ls,can readily comprehend that no Latin character so fittingly represents

the consonantal i —sound as does the letter j , but anybod y who peruses the Engl i sh ph i lo logical literature of the d ay w il l frequently have occasion to observethat even experienced Engli sh-speak ing writers on l inguis tic science cannotwho l ly ri d themselves

,i n thi s respect

,of their in tellec tu al in sularity ; while in

the case of less learned people the prej udice agains t the hi s torica l and true orthograph ic -use of j ari ses as much from a felt lack of menta l quickness , train ingor adaptabi l ity

,as from any other sentimen t . N othing seem s simpler to the

average foreigner , when he i s authoritatively told that j i s the best represemtative of the Arabic j e

‘

than to so u s e it ; bu t the average Anglo- saxon w il lnone of i t . H e says

,or feel s Let the b lamed fu rriner d o what he pleases

Bu t the same obstinate Englishman ,w ith hi s j s , I am going to s tick to myy s .

when he und ertakes to learn German mus t of necessity acqu iesce in th e fact thatour y -sound i s to be expres sed by j . Why should he find it more d iffi cult tou tter the Egyptian j a

‘

(oh than the German j a (yes ) the two being pronouncedvirtual ly a like ? On the other hand

,in acquiring F rench , he mus t perforce be

content to know that j , in that language , i s pronounced l ike our 2 in a zu r e,

for h e wou ld hardly in s is t that the F rench be ob liged to write z’

a i (instead off at) to suit hi s English eye and ear . In view of the d ifferences in the orthographyof the various mod ern tongues wh ich mus t be mastered in these d ays of intern ationa l in tercourse

,i t ought no t to require either a great brain or an extrao r

d inary patien ce , to fix in ' oue ’ s m ind the fac t that the learner must write,in

the idiom of Egypt, j zgy (not y igy ), j ztha l /im (not y i tha ll im), j om (no t y bm ),


so und Spitta wa s h imself aware . He expres s ly states

that , in transcribing , he has large ly co nfined himself

to the s imple vowels , a ,i, and u

, instead o f always

end eavouring to repro d u ce with exactness the obscu rer

vowe l-tones , “ d a e ine s the i ls s o lche fe ine Nti anc en d o ch

wied er nur d u rch c o nventio nelle Z e ichen wied erge

Carabyja (not C a rabyy a or c

ar abiy a). This letter j i s , in truth , one of the manyconfusing elemen ts in our hybrid English alphabet . We write gem , g in and

George , but a l so j am, j el ly and j ames . After the same fashion we articulatethe initia l consonants of get and gen ia l , of g ip sy and g i r d le qu i te d ifferently,while the two varying orthographical forms

, ga o l and j a i l , are sound ed exactlyalike . The same i s to be said l ikewise of the character y . We treat i t as aconsonan t in y ou , y el low,

s teely a rd , y ond er ,and as a vowel elemen t in qu ay ,

hey , s tray ,try ,

r ely ,whi le d i e and dy e , like l i e and ly e, are as similar in pro

nun c iation as they are d iverse in orthography . It i s an alphabet like thi s whichthe unlettered — and som e who style themselves lettered m - desire to offer toany s til l unwritten language in search of a l iterary med ium ! In reviewing thel iterature which con cerns itself more or less intimately w ith the curren t Egyptianspeech i t w i ll be found that it i s the produc t of two c onfl i c ting

'

c las s es of persons , al l of whom ,

a s friends of Egypt,are quite w il ling that the Egyptian s

shal l learn to read and wri te . Bu t each class attaches to i ts good wil l its ownuncompromis ing condition . The firs t group consists of those who have passedsafely through the wearisome hours necessary to be spen t in ord er to makeone ’ s self master of the O ld -Arabic alphabet ; they kindly w i sh to make theres t of the world und ergo the same ord eal ; and they thus insist upon applyingthis antiquated and incommodious alphabet to everyth ing that can possibly bestyled, in any sense , Arabic . In other words they say to the mass of thepeople of Egypt Spend al l the schoo l time — al l the in tellectua l labourwhich you c an afford to spend

,in the doubtful endeavour to familiarize your

self with thi s tediou s alphabet then go plough your fields,gather your crops,

support your fam il ies,and thank God al l the res t of your lives that you know

the Arabic alphabet when you s ee it ! Then there i s the second class of Egypt ’ sbenefactors , wh ich cannot conceive of any a lphabetical d ress for the Egyptianspeech other than that ungainly one so unfortu nately and so inconvenientlyworn by the Engli sh language . These benevo len t people d eclare that i t i s quiteimpos sible to u nd ers tand j zhtzb and j z

’

ms/h ,unless you write them y zhtz

’

b and

y im s zh, or to read j asmy n or j emy n un less yo u write them y a smeen and y e meen .

Between these two classes the unhappy Egyptians , who s tand waiting , wi ththe untiring patience bred of centuries , for the blessing of a broad er culture ,may indeed feel that salvation lies only in getting ri d of al l their friends .

2 The Egypti an A lphabet

geben werd en k o nnen , d ie d as Trans c riptions sys tem

sehr c ompli c i rt machen wii rd en ,and ererse its man bei

richtiger A rt icu lat io n d er C o ns o nanten von se lbst sein

er Stimme d ie Biegung giebt , welche d er A u sspracheam bequ emsten i s t . Ano ther wri ter ha s perhaps

expressed the same id ea mo re fo rcibly by s ayihg that

“ An alphabet intend ed fo r pract i ca l purpo ses c an nev

e r a im at giving ,a s i t were , a minu te image o f the

varying so u nd s o f language . Letters are meant to

ind i cate the sou nd s o f wo rd s , and no t to pho tograph

every‘shad e o f so u nd , that o ccu rs in spoken langu a

ges .

1 ) Su ch characte rs as have been refe rred to are

natu ral ly o f u t il ity in a d i s sertation marked ly phono logical in. its purpo se . To reta in them in j o u rnal s and

books d esigned me re ly fo r general read ing , o r ele

men tary in stru ct io n , wo u ld be l ike attempt ing to em

ploy ,in writing o u r own language , the mu lt itu d e o f

sign s , symbo l s and figu res mad e u s e o f by E ll is in

h i s i nvalu able sc ient ific treat ise o n Engl ish Pronu n

c iatio n ; o r l ike try ing to print o ne o f the principal

Romance o r Ge rman i c to ngu es o f E u rope by means

o f the Stand ard A lphabet o f Lepsius . In the s ame

way i t appears al lowable , if no t ad vi sable , to aband o n ,

in practica l usage , the employment o f Spitta ’s sem i

vowels in their character o f Z wi s chenvo c ale ,that

i s , with the obj ect o f fi ll ing the hiatu s (o r cessat ion

o f u tterance) cau sed by to o many sequ ent co nso nan ts .

Thi s h iatu s , although ce rta inly mo re marked i n the

pro nu nciatio n o f the Sem it ic d iale cts , i s also s u ffi

1 ) Ou tl i ne D i c tion ary f o r the Use of Mi s s i onar ies , Exp lor er s and S tu

d en ts of Langu age, by Max Mu ller (Lond on , p . XXIV .


c iently no t iceable in some o f the Latin langu ages , in

whi ch'

no exped ien t o f avo id ing i t has ever been generally ad o pted . In Ital ian , fo r instance , the ru le

wh ich requ ires [spagna (instead o f Spagna), after a pre

ced ing conso nant , i s fast falling into d i su se . In su ch

fo rms a s go o ver and wasps s ting in E ngl ish ,

a s im ilar h iatu s is obs ervable . It mu st then be al

ways remembered ,in stu dying the two impo rtant pro

d u c tio ns o f Spitta,that they are in a great d egree

pio neer wo rks . He was end eavo u ring to pu t on rec

o rd , fo r the first time in an inte ll igible way , and at

the same t ime in a final shape , the principal pho

netic peculiari ties o f the C a irene d ialec t . Bu t he

never,in d o ing this , lo st sight o f the fact that h is

ma in and greatest pu rpo se was , a s has been said , to

provid e a proper means o f writing that d ialect

that i t m ight become an effic ac eo u s instrument fo r

the ed u cat io n o f the who le Egyp tian commun i ty.

Th e A lphabet.

It i s to be no ted first o f all that the new Egyp

tian alphabet has o ne featu re in commo n with the

o ld alphabet o f the written A rabi c and with all

other Orien tal alpabets i t knows no thing o f capital

letters . In thi s re spect,to o ,

it fu lfils the d ream o f

the ph ilo logi st o f men l ike the fo u nd ers o f mo d ern

German i c l ingu is tic s tu d ie s , the bro thers Grimm ,in

who se noble lexi co logi cal wo rk capital s have beend iscard ed . They , a s many o ther pro fo u nd stu d entso f langu age have d o ne ,

lo oked fo rward to the d ay

when written and printed speech everywhere shall be

24 The Egyptian A lphabet

simplified by the to tal abo l itio n o f the uncial alphabet .

The co ntinued use of capitals , after the exigencies o f

cu rrent writing had led to the ad optio n o f the smaller

o r technically-styled lower-case letters , IS a heritage

from the med imval scribes,who loved va riety mo re

than simplic ity, o rnament mo re than uti l ity , elabo rate

d ecorat ion mo re than beau ty unad o rned . Without

capitals large or small — the co st and to il o f typo

graphy would be sensibly d im in ished no t to speak

o f the eco nomy o f labo u r effected in teaching and

learn ing . In th i s latte r regard , it would be intere st

ing to u nd erstand exac tly the feelings of a ch i ld ,

when , after co nvincing h imse lf, through a perio d o f

much d istress , of the ind ivid ual ity and id ent ity o f A ,

B, C ,D

,E

, he find s h imself co nfro nted by ano ther

lo ng se ries of characters — a , b ,c,d

, e , very d if

ferent in appearance , wh i ch he is to ld are po sit ively

the same th ing, having the same names and powers ,altho ugh he speed i ly find s that he ha s to begin to

exercise all over again h i s no t yet very robu s t menta l

facu lties befo re he c an fu lly complete h i s alphabe ti cal

knowledge . The Egypt ian alphabet po ssessing no

capitals , init ial wo rd s o f sentences, as well as names

o f pe rso ns and places , begin with the same kind o f

characters as all o ther word s as there is ind eed

no reason why they should no t and s o there is o ne

perplexing o rthograph ica l ru le the less to learn and

apply.

C ompared with the Old -Arabic alphabet , the Egypt ian A B C has 34 characte rs instead o f the 1 3 0 o r

mo re necessary to represent, by the fo rmer , all the

consonan ta l and vo cal elements . The s o —called chan


cery Arabic that bar to Egyptian progress — in

i ts j ournals and o ther pu bli shed wo rks , is obl iged to

employ th is huge O ld -A rabic conglomeratio n o f alphabeti c al signs . Imagine a compo sito r in an English,French o r German p ri nt i ng-o ffic e co nd emned to hand le1 3 0 d i stinct types (wh ich d o no t even inclu d e any u p

per-case characters , no r any marks of punctu ation,no r

any nume rals) ! Bu t the evil d o es no t end with the

printer . The read er likewi se suffe rs ; and , above all ,

ed u catio n suffers . Nobo dy c an fa il to be .struck bythe irregularity and d i sto rtio n o f the A rabic prin tingalphabet , s o far removed ,

in that respect , from the

graceful symme try and uprightness o f the Ku fic and

o ther early fo rms o f writing ; wh ile the eye i s wea

ried by the ind istinctness o f the finer lines , the m i

nu tene s s o f the vowel-marks , and the imperspicu ity

o f the variou s d iacritica l po ints and strokes all o f

which are s o li able to be shattered o r mangled bya l ittle usage as o ften to make half a d o zen wo rd s , in

a page o r co lumn ,nearly illegible . N o ed u catio na l

to rture c an be mo re cru el than to subj ect the tend er

eyes o f child ren to s uch a typography . Many west

ern scho lars , a lthough commencing their Arabi c stud

ies in adult years , c an test ify , by s ad experience ,

to the inj ury infl icted by the Arabic call igraphyu po n human eye

-sight ; and the typograph ical char

ac ters are even mo re hurtful, becau se much smaller

and less clear . To be co nc i se , i t may be sa id that

the O ld -Arabic alphabet , especially as i t i s u sed in

the press,s e ems d esigned to promo te i llegibi lity ,

and to lim it the spread o f knowledge . With i ts c on

t inned service , as the handmaid o f speech , the highes t


stage o f general, o r popu lar , enlightenment c an never

be atta ined in the E ast . Bu t sober sense,u n influenced

by the fad d i shness of the scho last ic special ist o n the

o n e hand ,and the sentimental i sm o f the religiou s big

o t o n the o ther , wi l l so o ner o r later bring abo u t

the substitu t i o n everywhere o f a be tter med ium bo th

fo r the pen and the press .

In the pho net ic , a s in the inflexio nal fo rms o f

the Egyptian d ialect , there . are many d eviat ion s from

the mo ther-tongu e . Just as in the case o f the verb,

the pass ive vo i ce and vario us mo d al peculiar it ies , a s

in the case o f the n o u n , the d ual, the feminine plu ra l

and the case—end ings have d ropped away , s o in the

pro nunciat io n three sound s , o nce expressed by the

O ld -A rabi c lette rs s and . le have d i sappeared , and ,

o f co u rse , require no written o r printed rep resenta

t ives . Three o f the exist ing Egypt ian co nso nanta l

e lements (t, d and s)—i — and po ssibly a fo u rth (h)— are

no t u nl ikely to fo llow, at a no t very remo te peri o d ,

since thei r enu nciat io n ,in some specia l wo rd s , at

least , no t infrequ en tly go es over to the so u nd s o f t,

d , s and h res pect ive ly . Mo reover , most o f the at

tributes fo rmerly belo nging to the first letter o f the

O ld -A rabi c alphabet have ceased to be exercised ;and i ts po sitio n

,as a d i st inct pho neti c expression , has

thu s been greatly weakened . It i s fo r th i s reaso n that

it seems no t improper to give i ts place to the vowe lgrou p , wh i ch head s the living Egypt ian alphabet .

1 ) J o i s stil l heard in a limited number of C airene words, but its placeis general ly supplied by ze

’

n (z). Were it necessary to represent its soundi t would be done by 2 w ith the subscript dot .


has reference to that subtle law o f ord erly beau ty,

wh ich makes a to o symmetrical symmetry, s o . to speak

,

repulsive ; and ' to that o ther law, wh ich proves an

unbroken ser ies o f th ings to be less striking , and

therefo re less easily fixed in the memo ry,than an

interrupted series . In all the arts the mind shrinks

from a successio n o f u nvary ingly similar obj ects ; a

l ist o f wo rd s all end ing in -ti on i s more d ifficult to

acquire by heart than if, now and then , wo rd s o f

d ifferent term inat ions in tervene ; and an a lphabet o f

letters all round , o r all quad rangu lar , in their external

l ines , wo u ld be neither a ttractive no r o f facile acquire

ment . Bu t this d igressio n i s perhaps ru nning to o

near the bo u nd ary-l ine o f fancy to be co ntinued .

A s to the consonants , the unusual , o r no n -Roman

characters are e ight in number , represent ing sound s

no t expressible by single letters o f the Latin alphabet .

Of these , fo u r , t, d , h and s are the graph ic repre

s entatives o f so nan t elements d iffering merely in a

l ight d egree from tho se expressed by t,d,h and s

respect ive ly . Thi s d ivergence co u ld no t be d enoted

by d iacr it ical marks above the first three o f these c on

sonants becau se o f their height , wh i ch i s s o great a s to

o ccu py all the space above the l ine ; wh ile, in the case

of the s,that character, with a su perscript sign , has

ano ther o ffice, that i s

,to d e signate the English sh

sound The d o t is the S implest form o f d iac rit i

c al d ist in c tio n ,and i s thus pro perly significant o f the

sl ightest shad e o f vo cal d is s im ilarity . Placed below

the Lat in le tters represent ing s o und s o f an analogo u s

character, it thu s completes the ad d it ional characters

required . Ano ther lette r , the h, d escribes an articu latio n

The Egyptia n A lphabet 2o

o f the vo ice which the principal Euro pean a lphabets

are able to po rtray only by the cumbersome d evice

o f a combinat i o n o f letters as in the German bych . Some o f the mo t ives fo r the employmen t and

po s i t i o n o f the d istingu i sh ing subscript cu rved strokeare id ent ical with those a llu d ed to in speaking of the

circumflex lo ng-vowel mark . ItS co nven ience , bo th

in writ ing and printing , wil l be evid ent from a c om

pariso n with the o ther d evi c es ,'

in the vario u s transl iterat ion schemes , fo r d eno ting the sound in qu est io n .

The le tter s’y n (s’

) represents the Engl i sh sh-s o u nd , o r

the German s ch-sound . Being a pu re sibilant it was

almo st inevitable , in d evising a proper character fo r i t,

that i ts base Sho u ld be the Lat in s . The ad d it ion

o f the customary acute-accent S ignwas a clever cho i ce ,

partly because o f i ts ease i n writing and Simpli city

in fo rm , partly becau se i t i s mad e u s e of nowhe re

e lse in the Egyptian alphabet . The le tter is , o n th is

account , immed iately recogn izable , and simple as i s

its d i stinguish ing adj unct i t i s p la inly d ifferentiated ,

being su perscript , from i ts near relat ive , theIt appears to be much mo re appropriate , in everyway , than the representat ives o f the same s o u nd in

the Lepsiu s alphabet , and in some o ther s chemes .

The two remain ing a lphabet ical forms requ ired no lit

tle amo unt o f reflectio n . They are the gen (g‘

) and

thet

en (C). The fo rmer d escribes a so u nd , which, to

some ears , i s nearer an r, than a g, and fo r i t , in

some o f the transcript ional metho d s , an r, with a d iac rit

ical mark,is employed . Bu t the highest linguistic

au tho rit ies are un ited in treat ing i t as a gu tt u ral rather

than a labial . The Latin g was , therefore , preferred

O The Egyptian A lphabet

as the base-letter . The Shape of the g mad e the d iac ri t

i ca l mark necessari ly superscript , and again the s im‘

ple s t o ne wa s cho sen ; aga in , to o , the superscript i s

in a certa in respect u n iqu e , fo r no o ther letter,rep

res en tat ive o f a no n-Latin so u nd , bears i t . The re

are thu s three d otted letters — the i , the g and the

j . The charac ter used fo r theC

e"

n -so und i s really a

mo d ification o f the u pper half o f the O ld -Arabi c lette r (5 ). In the Grammat ik o f Spitta the German

printers u sed fo r i t the inverted comma, whi ch ,

tho u gh

s im ilar in fo rm , i s to o inco nspicuo u s , bu t in the C o ntes

A rabes ”

th i s was replaced by a Specially mad e and

mo re d i stinctly observable type . Dr . Spitta , a s i s

known from h i s (jwn l ips , d id no t accept th i s so lu

t io n o f the d ifficulty witho ut some reluctance . The

marked d issim ilar ity o f the en to any Lat in sou nd

mad e the cho ice of a graph i c representat ive a matter

o f embaras sment . A s u su al it was d esired to pay

heed to i ts typographi cal u n ifo rmity with i ts fel lows ,bu t many su ggestio ns to effect thi s purpo se were one

after another rej ected — a ll for impo rtant reaso ns . The

so u nd i s the stro ngest o f the vo cal utterances mad e bythe almo st una id ed breath (faucal so u nd s, as they are

styled ), and l ike a ll the se breath-letters has someth ingo f the characte r o f a vowel . Ho ld ing thu s a po si tio n

half way between a co nso nant and a vowel , i t may be

lo oked at from the po int o f v iew o f either as only half

a letter , and ,as su ch , the type employed i s no t who lly

inapt . Glancing d own the pr in ted page the letter pro

d uces something o f the effec t o f the qu o tatio n-marks

i t i s however rarely d o u bled — in Euro pean typography ,and i s therefo re neither anomalous , no r d isagreeable to

The Egypti an A lphabet 3 1

the European eye . It i s assu red ly less o ffensive thanthe character u sed in its place in some o f the trans li t

erating me tho d s a slightly co nvent ional ized bu t still

who l ly u nlatin ized fo rm of the Old -A rabic letter °

eh .

Of the rema ining 1 6 le tters there i s l ittle to besa id . They are each fam il iar to the eye

— as their

so und s are known to the ear — o f a ll who are accu s

tomed to u s e the Roman alphabe t. The gaf (o) has inEgypt a d o u ble pro nunciatio n , d iffe ri ng i n i ts valu e in

d ifferent sectio ns , bu t these are o nly d ialecti c var iatio ns, and d o no t make two separate characters at all

essential . The h, with an und er-wri tten d o t , sometimes

us ed to express thi s element , as wel l as the o ther char

ac ters o ccasio nally ad op ted fo r thi s pu rpo se ,d o es no t

seem to fo rm any bette r represen tat ive than the g,

which has , at any rate , the advan tage o f be ing pu relyRoman . Of the j e

‘

we have Spo ken fu lly elsewhere .

The Egyptian d o es no t employ the Latin c , wh ich , evenin many o f the Eu ropean alphabe ts , i s red u nd an t ; i t is

replaced ,i n the transcrip t io n o f foreign proper no u ns ,

by the sy n (S) o r the hdf (k). B o th the p-so u nd and 7/

so u nd o f E ngl ish speech are u nfami l iar to the Egyptian

tongue ; in writing fo reign names conta in ing these let

te rs recourse mu st be had to the o the r labials , be (b)o r/e

‘

(f). In the same way the fo reign x i s separated

into its two elemen ts , and expressed by hs .

It Should ,finally ,

be und ers to o d that the o rd er o f

the alphabe t, as given in these pages , is no t the wo rk

o f Dr . Spitta . He wro te and treated the vowels apart ,as is usu al in the case o f the O ld -A rabic vowel-sign s ,and he gave the rema in ing letters in the o rd er o f the

co rrespond ing co nso nants in the earlie r alphabe t . Fo r


his immed iate purpo se th is was d o ubtless wi se, bu t , if

the alphabe t be generally u sed , and par ticularly if i t be

used in the schoo l s,a mo re ratio nal grouping appears

ad vi sable ; and there need be no hesitatio n in ad opt ings u ch an arrangemen t wh i le the alphabet i s sti ll in the

in itiato ry stage o f i ts existence . The o rd er, a s here

printed ,lays no cla im to perfectio n , bu t i s merely an

attempt to make the a lphabet a l itt le mo re easy o f

acqu isit io n to young learners , and a l ittle more c onve

nient to all l ikely to fam il iar i ze themse lves with i t . It

i s no t to o much,pe rhaps , to ho pe that the o ppo nents

o f a S implified or reformed alphabet wi ll refrai n , o n

this po int , from obj ections . Fo r even i n applyingthe O ld -A rabi c alphabet to the d ialec ts d e rived from

the ancient tongu e ,ce rta in changes wo u ld necessarily

be mad e , Since some o f its letters have become to tal lyobso le te , and wo u ld natural ly d rop o u t . It i s , in any

case , the lette rs o f the new alphabet wh ich are of im

po rtance — and no t the arrangement o f them .

C onc lu s i on .

C arefu l study o f its d e tai ls especially if sup

plemented by a Sho rt perio d o f u s e — c an hard ly fa il

to co nv ince the investigato r that i t wo u ld be d ifficu lt,to s ay the least, to create an alphabet better ad apted

to i ts pu rpo se than that o f Spi tta ; in tru th— as was

s tated in the fi rs t paragraph o f these observat ions

the re are few if any existing fo rms o f speech , wh ich

po ssess o ne at o nce s o complete and so simple , s o

a va ilable fo r all the exigencies o fwriting and print ing .


Its general applicatio n to the nat io nal d ialect o f Egypt

would fo rthwith immensely facil i tate the extension o f

knowledge , and inestimably lessen the task o f the teach

er thro ughout all the Nilo t ic land s ; and this may well

be brou ght about without , in any measu re , affect ingthe po sitio n o f the Old -A rabi c alphabet as the med ium

of the venerated classical l iterature . No r wo u ld su ch

a step d etract from the sanctified character o f that

alphabet , with whi ch the sacred Koranic scriptu res are

written . The Bible o f the Ru ssians is printed by means

o f the C yrillic alphabet , no tably d iffer i ng from that

mad e use o f in the mo d ern Russian . Our own Engl ish

B ible,in its exist ing versio n , has many verses and

phrases wh ich c an hard ly be pronounced to be strictlymo d ern English . The C atho l ic chu rch regard s o nlythe Lat in vulgate scriptures a s au tho ritative , bu t the

C athol ic natio ns all have secu lar literatu res in the i r own

vernacular . The C o pts d a i ly use the O ld -A rabi c a lpha

bet , and the C hancery Arabi c , in the ir c o rrespon

d ence , whi le speaking the Egypt ian“id iom , altho u gh

their ho ly bo ok s are in the ancient C opti c, having i ts

own alphabet . There are o the r instances , even in the

E as t , o f sim i lar alphabeti cal and l iterary evo lu t io n s andrevo lu tions ; and there seems no goo d reaso n why the s e

examples should no t be fo l lowed to advantage by na

t io nali ties o f whatever race o r creed . Religio n in no

wis e s u ffers thereby , while the progress o f the people

i s immeasu rably accele rated .

With su ch a graph ic med ium as the Egyptian al

phabet there is little need o fwa iting fo r the new Dante ,

who se advent Spitta ,in the clo sing phrases o f the pre

face to hi s Grammat ik , seems to hint at . O the r


efficient forces are already at hand . Hu nd red s of

yo ung men are now constantly receiving an excellent

tra i n i ng i n the higher scho o ls of the Egypt ian cit iesschoo ls wh ich are yearly growing bette r . These sons

of Egypt are both inte lligent and patrio t ic . Le t all

these youth o f the newer gene rat ion pu t their should ersto the wheel . Let them give their influ enc e great ,if properly applied — to the d evelopment of the popu

lar tongue , and there wil l so on follow the u nappro ac ha

ble bless i ng of un i versal ed ucatio n , with its inevitable

result o f a bro ad l iterature fo r the people , o f the

people and by the people . The present government

of Egypt might well lend its a id — as it i s at last i n a

po sition to d o — to such an effo rt . An American writer

has characterized the marvello us financial , commercial ,agricu ltural and moral transfo rmatio n of Egypt , effect

ed in these later years , as the mo st splend id Anglo

saxon ach ievement o f the centu ry . W hy canno t the

men who have been the potent facto r in bringing about

th is benefic ent material revo lut ion , now open the gate ,as well , to the Spir itu al d evelopment of the people

they rule so ably and so ho nestly ? There is bu t one

path that passes thro ugh that gate , and that path c an

be traversed o nly by a nat io n ed ucated in the langu age

i t und ers tand s . That language is al ready the d ai ly

speech o f so cial interco urse , o f the fam ily , the sho p

and the farm . W hy sho uld it no t become the med ium

o f an ed ucatio n , d estined no t o nly to elevate the nation

wh ich has i ts home und er the palms o f' the N ile , bu t

perhaps to revive , u nd er a nobler fo rm , the ancient

glo ry of the whole Saracenic world ?

I . The Alphabet .

(alifbé).

M ( g )

dal ( o )

6.1d ( ob )

r e“

( J )

( s )

Sy n ( w )

5M

sa‘

d ( 00 )°

én ( e )

f f e‘

( U )

56“

( 9 ) q ( 0 )

ff ( 0 ) k ( 93 )

a ( l o 1 ( 5 )

gym ( 6 ) m mym ( r )

gen ( 6 ) mi n ( u )

he‘

wan ( 3 )

1262 ( 5 ) J I? ( cs )

The fo l lowing names have been u sed o r sugges ted

fo r the vowels :i

nasba fo r a ; hef da for e ; hij da fo r i

rryr c

a fo r o ; and r uf°

a fo r u

I I . Pr onu nc iation .

(el lafz).

VVowels (hu’

ruf'

bala sot).

l ike Engl ish a in at, had , man ,

EXAMPLES . ab , fa ther ; abad an ,never ; afan

dy , Mn , gentleman ; ana , 1 ; balad , vi llage , town ;

talagrz’

i f, telegr am , ,teleg r aph ofi ce ; d ahab, gold

samak , fi sh ; fal lah ,pea s ant ; mad rasa ,

s chool , col

lege ; mac

laqa ,spoon ; nahl , date-pa lms ; nad ah ,

he ha s ca lled ; naddara ,specta cles , ey egla s s es , opera

gla s s ; wara , behi nd ; wac

ad ,he ha s prom i sed

j i tkallimu,they speah , wi ll speah ; j i s tannak , he

wa its for y ou wala ,or .

like Engl ish a in ah,ba r , f a ther .

EXAMPLES . ala ,tool ; bab ,

door ; éaj rf, s eeing ;

saf,he has s een ; la , no ; maward , r os ewa ter ; my

dan , s qu a r e, pu bli c place ; mylad ,C hr is tma s ; nar ,

fi re ; namfisyj a, mosqu i to-net ; wadih, c lea r , d i s tinct,

pla i n ; j afa , f afla .

Like the other long vowels a i s pronou n ced as if Short when fo llowed by two consonan ts , and in certain other well-d efined posi ti on s .Bu t for orthographi cal reasons the long vowel s all retain their originaland proper diacriti cal signs even when subj ected to transient or localphoneti c changes . In the sam e way , the short vowels mu st occasiona llybe enun ciated as i f they were long .


6 l ike E ngl ish e in bed ,ell

,s end .

EXAMPLES . el , the ; esna , E s na ; ketyr , mu ch ;

brymo , fir s t ; gedyd , new ; hena,her e ; mega

wir , s tu dent ; we, a nd .

(D)

like Engli sh ey in they ,o r ay in s ay ,

layer .

EXAMPLES .

— etnén , two ; es , wha t ; bed , eggs ;°

éb ,shame ;

°

éé, br ead ; fen , wher e ; qarét , have

rea d ; lé , why ; lél , n ight, even ing .

i l ike E ngl ish i in beg i n ,

‘

s ip,ti ll .

EXAMPLES .

— ibn ,s on ; i sbitalj a ,

hospi ta l ; iswid ,

bla ch ; inglyz , E ngl i sh ; imta , when ; inta ,y ou ;bint, gi r l ; kilma , wor d ; misik , he ha s s eized

,

gra sped .

y l ike E nglish ie in fiend , ea in s tea l, o r ee in eel .

EXAMPLES .

—

yd ,hand ; imSy ! go away ! byr ,

well ; byra, beer ; Sittyn , s ixty ;c

yd , f es tiva l ; ma

lyja , finance ; myn ,who ; naggaryn ,

ca rpenter s ;wazyr , vizi r .

0 l ike E ngli sh 0 in not, offer

, y onder .

ExAMPLE s .

— aho ,ther e he i s ; obéra ,

opera ;ogo s to s , A ugu s t ; bo rtu qan , or ange ; bo d ! tahe l e

c

o smanly , Ottoman ; mo qattam ,Moha ttam . ,

0)

l ike Engli sh 0 in note, over ,s o

,throne .

E XAMPLES .— 6da ,

r oom ;c

6m ,swimm ing ;

bo rd 6 , Bord eau x , c la r et ; g6z ,hu sband ; bfis ta ,

pos t, pos t-ofi ce ; rosto , roas t ; k6m ,h i ll

,mou nd ;

n6ba ,time

,on ce ; j6m ,

day ; j6mén ,two day s .

The Egyptia n A lphabet 4 1

l ike E ngl ish u in f u ll , pu lley , pu t.

EXAMPT.E S .- u l3t , s i s ter ; umm , mother ; um

mal, of cou rs e , then guru al , newspaper ; tu lt , thi rd ;d ukkan ,

shop ; qumsan ,shi r ts ; karak6n ,

police s ta

tion ; kutub ,boohs ; mu slim ,

Mos lem ; mu ftah, hey ;wust, m id d le .

l ike Engl ish 00 in f ool , ooze, s oot, s tool .

EXA MPLES . bargfit ,fiea ; bulaq ,E on/ah ; gu

wa ,i n

,wi thin ; huwa , he ; dud ,

worms ; ffil , beans ;

malbfis , d res s ; kalun , loch ; nfir , l ight.

C o nsonants (huruf laha sot).

I) l ike Engl ish b.

EXAMPLES .— abryl , Apr i l ; arnab,

r abbi t ; ib

tad a ,he ha s begu n ; basa , pa sha ; balt6 , over coa t ;

bijfit, hou s es ; t ibn , s tr aw ; sabab ,ca u s e ; kitab,

booh ; matbac

a ,pr inting-ofi ce, pr es s .

t like Engli sh t.

EXAMPLE S .— etnééar , twelve ; itkallim ,

he ha s

spohen ; banat , gi r ls , da ughter s ; bintfi ,N apoleon,

twen ty/fr anc piece ; tau fyq, Tewfih talat , three ;

talaf6n ,telephone ; t6r, ox

,bu ll ; bagat , things ;

kittan ,linen .

t l ike English t, bu t with a round ing o f the l ips

(as in fo rming the letter and with slightly

greate r stress .

EXAMPLES . i tta la"

,he ha s s tu d ied ; tanta ,

Tanta ter , bi r d s ; tyn ,c lay ,

s oi l ;c

atsan ,thi r s ty ;


qu tta , . ca t ; lahbata ,confu s ion ; j i tla

c

, he a s cend s ,

he comes ou t.

l ike Engli sh g in bag ,dagger , g ive, go .

EXAMPLE S — agrfimyj a, gramma r ; tagi r , mer

chant ; gamal , camel ; gamb ,s i d e, bes ide ; hagar ,

s tone ; faggal , rad i sh-s eller ; figl, rad i sh .

l ike a stro ngly-aspirated , gu ttural r .

ExAMPLE s .

— aga ,aga ; bagl , mu le ; gad a ,

breahfeas t, lu nch ; gasal , he ha s washed ; Sugl ,bu s ines s

,worh ; luga ,

langu age ; magrib,even i ng ;

j igs il , he wa shes .

l ike E ngl i sh 71, in have,hea r

,a i m .

EXAMPLES — allah,God ; azhar , Azha r mosna c ;

giha ,d i recti on ; hyj a ,

she ; hum ,they ; zahr ,fl ow

er s ; mu hand i s , engineer ; jahfidfl /ews .

l ike E ngl ish h in hor d e, bu t slightly more aspi

rated .

EXAMPLES .

— ahmar , red ; ti ftah, y ou open ;habl , r ope ; hét, wa ll ; ihna ,

we ; humar , d onhey ;s fihiby ,

my fr iend ; mahall , pla ce, spot.

l ike German ch in a ch,d och

,Sa che

,or Sco tch

ch in loch .

’

EXAMPLES .— tabbfih, cobh ; habar , news

,in

f orma ti on ; hamsa , fi ve ; d uhhan ,toba cco ; haj if,

af r a id ; ku tu bbana ,l ibr a ry ; mahzan ,

maga zine,

wa r ehou se .


5 like Engl i sh s, bu t with a ro und ing of the l ips

and somewhat greater stress .

ExAMPLE s .— asfar , y ellow ; bass , he ha s loohed

a t, ga zed a t ; rabys , cheap ; sala , pr ay er ; suga ijar,

sma ll,li ttle ; sot , vo i ce ; masr , C a i r o , Egypt ; wasfa ,

des cr iption ; wu sfil , a r r iva l .

C an explo sive a rticulation , mad e by compressingthe a i r-passages d eep d own in the throat .

EXAMPLE S .— i t

°

allim , he ha s lea r ned ; gy°an

,

he i s hungry ; za°°

aq ,he ha s c r i ed ou t ;

c

azym ,

glor i ou s , splend id ;c

aly

i

,high , A li ;

c

en, ey e, spr i ng

neby",we w i ll s ell ; j i

c

m il,he mahes , he d oes .

f l ike E ngl i sh f in after , fi nd .

ExAMPLE s .

— afryqa , Afr i ca ; a lifbé , a lphabet,

AB C ; far, mou s e ; febraj i r , F ebru a ry ; fihimt ,

have u nder s tood ; kaff, pa lm of the hand ; nafar ,pers on

,pr ivate s old ier ; nafs , s ou l , s elf .

i s in C a i ro a catch ing (or quick , fo rced expu l

s ion) of the breath : in o the r parts o f Egypt

l ike the E ngl ish g i n gou r d , bu t somewhat d eeper

and stro nger .

EXAMPLES . baqar , cows ; d aqq ,he ha s s tr u ch ,

hnoched ; suq ,marbot ; qauwas , cava s s , cons u la r

mes s enger ; qu nsu l , cons u l ; maa sa ,br oom .

k l ike E ngl i sh i .

EXAMPLES .

- ak l ,f ood ; hanak , mou th ; s ikkyn ,

hn ife ; katfilyk , C athol i c ; kalb,d og ; kan , wa s

kull,a ll

,the whole ; lakin , bu t ; makkar , s ly , sha rp .


l ike Engl ish 1.

ExAMPLE s .— atkalli m , [ speah ; almanj a ,

many ; tall , h i ll ; lau , a; laban ,m i lh ;

n ights ; luqsor , Luxor ; julj a , J u ly .

l ike Engl i sh m .

EXAMPLE S . a cma ,blind ; embareh, y es terday

had d am ,s er vant ; sama , heaven ,

shy ; lamma ,when

,

after , s o that ; maksur,br ohen ; m in , f r om ; myl ,

mi le ; m inja ,.lld in ieh ; n6m ,

s leep ; jomaty ,da i ly .

like English n .

EXAMP1 .E S .— embu

,whi ch ; tfiny , other , s econd ,

aga in ; nabo litany ,N eapoli tan ; nar , fi re ; nas ,

people ; fingan ,c up ; j asmyn, j a smine.

l ike Engl i sh w .

EXAMPLES — uwagi , r ooms ; tawyl , long ; sawa ,

together ; maswaqa ,wh ip ; wabur , s team-engine,

s teamboat,locomotive, tr a in ; wahry ,

late ; wah id ,

one ; widn ,ea r ; j igawibu ,

they answer .

j l ike Engl i sh y in y et, y es terday , y ou th .

EXAMPLES — italja ,I ta ly ; yjam ,

day s ; ta

manja ,e ight ; hyja masryja , she i s a C a i r ene ;

c

asfija ,s ti ch

,cane ; lyj a ,

to me ; ja syr, pr i s oner ,

captive ; j éku l , he ea ts ; j egyb ,he br ings ; j equl ,

he say s ; j igu , they come ; j itkallim ,he speahs ; ma


j i drabs, he d oes not s tr ihe ; ja salam ! good gr ac iou s ! j ek uhhu ,

they cough ; j imla , he wi ll fi ll ;

jfis if, f os eph.

Diphthongs (a i we au )

l ike E ngl i sh i in i ra te,lye, r ight, o r ei in height.

ExAMPLE s .— a iwa , y es ; i s tara lj ah,

he ha s res t

ed ; baij ad , he ha s whi tened , wh i tewa shed ; tu ltfii,

two thi r d s ; haiwfin ,an ima l ; s aij ib,

he ha s let go,

let loos e ; i ll,

s i ch ; kuwa ij iS , pr etty ,n i ce

,

good ; mitba ij in ,showing , appea r ing ; jedaij a

°

,he

wi ll los e.

A i i s somtimes in terchangeab le with the long vowel e,as in s‘a ij a C

or be‘j a c , to s end , and fa ifa‘

l or be‘j e‘

l,porter

,ezza ifah or ez

atfah, how are you ?

like Engl i sh on in ou t,s ou nd

,or ow in now.

EXAMPLE S .— au réq , paper s , d ocuments ; auwi l,

firs t ; bauwab,d oor heeper , ha ll-por ter ; ranwah ,

he has gone away , gone home ;c

auwaq , he wa s

delay ed ; fauwal, dea ler in bean s ; mauwit,he ha s

hi lled ; med auwar, r ou nd ,c i rcu la r ; mes tau fy, com

plete ; waraq meqauwa ,pa s te-boa r d ; nauwar , blos

s oms .

The Egyp tian word for wa ter varies greatly in i ts phonetic expression — ma i/a , mozya , m o

‘

j a . The second of these form s seem s to be an

almos t unique example of a third diphthongal combinati on , namely , o i ;

bu t the mos t recen t grammati cal,work (W i llmore , p . 5) ci tes besides

moij a ,alzo i s tugu mm o ifa (a game resembling hid e-and -seek) , and c

o ij a‘

g

(for Cyj aig, the plural of ca

‘

j ig, mean ing fop , larkspur

a d e é i y o o‘

u u b t tgg h h h d d r z s s’

sc

f g h l m n w]

The Egyptia n A lphahet 47

To the Eng lis h Learner .

Those who are fami l iar o nly with the English

alphabet have merely to bear in m ind that

j is a lways pro no u n c ed like E n

glish y in the wo rd s yes , you r , y ield ,

yeoman ,s teelyard ,

as , fo r example ,in the Egypt ian vo cables — agru

myj a , (gr amma r) , italja (Ita ly) , gamc

yj a (s oc iety ,a s

s emé/y) , lyj a (to me) , myj a (hu nd r ed) , jallah l (go

ahead jerfih (he goes , he wi ll go) , j emynak (y ou r

r ight) j igy (he comes) , J l srab (he d r i nhs , he wi ll d r i nh) ,

jom (clay) , jfis if (f os eph) , jfinja (l u ne) .

L ikewi se i t mu st be remembered that

y i s a lways pro no u n c ed l ike ie in

the E ngli s h wield ,o r ee in s teel, o r e

in me,

as , fo r example ,in the Egyptian wo rd s : yd (hand) ,

battfilyn (had ones) , byr (well) , tyn (figs) , ta ij ibyn

(good ones) , tawyl (long) , kebyr (gr ea t, 62g) , ketyr

(mu ch, very) , myl (m i le) , myladyj a (A nno D om in i) ,

myn (who) , nyl (l le) , j esfifny (he sees me) .


Il l . [llu s trative Read ing s .

(tamrynat).

Phrases and Sentences (gumal).

ana we inta ,I and y ou . qul ly l tel l me bi

kz’

im er ratl ? for how mu ch a pou nd ? kull j ém we

jom ,every other d ay . myn d i ? who i s that? imsy

min hena , jfi walad ! go away f rom her e,boy garak

myn ? who i s y ou r neighbou r ? rah fy betob,he went

in to hi s hou s e. 16 la ? why not ? kalb el bé k ebyr

qawy , the bey’

s d og i s very big. myn min es syn ?

who i s f r om C hina ? a iwa, ja sydy ! y es , s ir / el

haqq wa ijak , y ou a re r ight. manys gany ,I am not

r i ch . ma lohs sugl candy , he has nothing to d o wi th

me . hyj a zétha gat , she her s elf came . d ic

éb, tha t

i s a shame , lak alej a ,am ind ebted to y ou . fyh é

ger kid a ? wha t els e i s there ? fat°

a lej a fil bét, he

ca lled a t my hou s e . fyh fu lfis? i s ther e any money ?

13 , m5. fyhs, no , there i s none. gara é ? wha t has happened ? ma garas hfiga ,

nothing ha s happened . suf el

banat dol ? looh a t thos e gi rls! ana mu s fahim ,

C

au z

é ? d on’

t u nder s tand , wha t d o y ou want ? inta kunt

cand myn embareh bil 161? a t whose hou s e were y ou

y es terday even ing ? elc

i lm j egyb e l hilm ,lea r n i ng

br ings pa ti ence. e l qabtfin s fik in fy masr , the capta inres ides a t C a i r o . etnén etnén ,

two and two . hum

kanu fil hammam jom el gumc

a ,they were a t the bath

on F r iday . kam noba ru ht fil ihrém ? how many times


d i d y ou go to the Py ram i d s ? marratén , we inta ?twi ce, and y ou ?

sabah el her !'

good mor n ing ! naharak s ac

yd ?

good d ay ! me s a el her ! good even ing! léltak sa°

yd a

good n ight ! ezza ijak ? how d o y ou d o ? kef kéfak !how a re y ou ? ta ij ibyn ? are y ou well ? taij ibyn , el

bamdu lillah ,very well , thanh God ! marhaba ! wel

come ! ahlan we sahlan ! y ou a re welcome ! i tfaddal ,

tefaddal plea s e ! be s o good ! plea s e come in ! help y ou rs ey ! tahe a s ea t ! ma

° es salama , good by e ! auhas

t ina , jfi hawfiga ! we a r e glad to s ee y ou , s i r ! i s tanna

suwaij a ! s top a li ttle ! sallim ly ca la ummak ! my

regard s to y ou r mother !

filad ha fén ? wher e a r e her ch i ld ren ? ma afhams

tu rky, d o not u nder s tand Tu r hi sh . rubna netu llc

aléhum , we wen t to ca ll upon them . d iryt bi l habar ?

d i d y ou hea r the news ? elly fat fat , let bygones be' by

gones . maj ic

rafs ras oh m in rigléh ,he d oes not hnow h i s

head f r om h i s foot. hyj a ahsan m innoh bi ketyr , she i s

better than he by a good dea l . d a betac

ha, tha t’

s her s .

bijfiku l labma hfif, he . ea ts meat an d noth ing wi th it.

ballyk jemynak ! heep to y ou r r ight ! su ft e l j a smyn

at fil g’

enéna betac

etna P have y ou s een the j asm ines

i n ou r ga r d en ? baqa tehu ss en nasara ,el kenys a ,

now the C hr i s tians enter the chu r ch . ihna kunnai

fil

mahatta e s saca talata we nu ss , we were at the s ta tion

a t hay pa s t thr ee. el hoga el almfiny bij ic

mi l é d il

waqt ? what i s the German s chool-teacher d oing now ?

ma neqfils haga ,we say noth ing. j erfihu imta ? when

a re they going ? hfiwa ma j ihd imnys, he d oes n ot s er ve

me . matlfiboh kam q irs ? how many pia s tres d oes he

demand ? t i°rni1 é fy masr ? wha t a re y ou doing a t

o The Egyptian A lphabet

C a i ro ? elly °

ats€1n J l srab ,he who i s thi rs ty wi ll d r ink .

ma tidrabhés ! d o not s tr ihe her ! et taljfinyja j ifha in uel li s fin el esbanjoly , lakin m3 j iqru hs, the I ta lian s

u nder s ta nd the Spani sh langu age, bu t they d o not rea d i t.

bos tet el h ind ma ga‘

ts li ssa'

.

- el kahrabayjahyja h ibr et talagrafgy , we j

°

id d et et talags

raf hyja

qalamoh .— i sm bed éwy masr

°

abbas basa e t tany.

mehammad tau fyq e l hed éwy es sabiq kan jehibb

masr we j ehibb bérha ; we wafatoh s i°

het °

alal masryjyn

ku lluhum .

— e l bahr el abjad we e l bahr e l a'

zraq

J i nglmc

u sawa cand el bartfim fy wust afryqa , we min

benak j ibtidy bah r en nyl . el‘

agrfimyja° ilm‘

el luga,we hyja maqs fima qi smen : 1 .

c

i lm e l k i lmat , we 2 .

c

i lm eg gumal . ku l l masry laz im j it°

allim el agrfimyja°

asan imnaha t i°

al limoh j i tkallim we j iqra we j ik t ib el

l isan elly rabbu na id d ah loh , we' elly j i sma

°

oh kull

jom .—masr maqsfima l i qi smén , bahary we qibly ;

fy kull qi sm saba c mu dyryjat . mu dyryjat bahry hyja

qaljfibyj a , d aqahlyj a , garbyj a , sarqyja , behéra ,rnenfi

fyja ; we mu dyryjat qibly hyja : eg gyza ,banys u éf,

el fa ijfim ,minja ,

a sjfit, gi rga , qena we mu dyryj et

aswan .— halet el malyja e l masryja fy yjam

°

abbas

basa et tany ger haletha o

fy ~ yjam i sma°

yl basabilad eg gezai r fil waqt el had i r tab

°

a l i ferans a ; we

hyja waq°

a bén marak is we tfin i s .

— e l faqyr d i j asyr°

and el amyr el kebyr k etyr .- sall im

°

alal me°

a llim

qabl‘

m‘

a t itkallim l — é l qamar j edfir hawalén eli

ard

kull talatyn jom marra ; — ed d unj a ku llaha tic

raf elly

j i°

rafuh talat ashas .- e

’

g“

gam i c el azhar'

akbar ma ~'

d rasa i s lamyja fy’

ed d unj a , we el hogat‘fyh ; . astar

hogat el l i sfin‘

e lf

araby e l qadym , we mm a‘lam .en

nés fyc

u lfim e l qo ran .

’

ma fyhs mahall j i ink in’

eltins fin

2 The Egyptian Alphabet

fa °

u s fil °

araby elly bij itk allimoh . hfiwa°

au z j itc

allim

el lisan e lly j itkallimu h en nahar d a , mus e l l i san ellyi tkallimu h m in mu d d e t hums emyt sana .

— e l alifbé

ma°

mfila min ginsen m in el hu rfif: huruf laha sot

jac

ny n’

atqa ; we huruf bala sot jac

ny sakta . el hu rfif

en sakta gin s én : qu sa ijara (a , e, i , o, u) we tawyla

(a, e‘

, y , o‘

, a) . baqy hu ruf alifbé , m in h arf el be

l il abi r , hyja huruf natqa (b l i had d j ) .

saqqar a ,elly ha

'

n i smaha zamci n menf, hci net a uwi l

taht l i bi ld d masr ; bac

d e‘

n lu qsor , elly hd nu el j unctn

j i s ammu ha tébes , baget taht masr ; we bac

d lu qsor

baget i shanda ryj a et taht. el cagam daha lu masr m in

ahta r m in alfen s ana we hahamu ha mu ddet my tén s ana

taoryban . fy yj a‘

m er r uma‘

n (et ta lj ci nyjy n el gu da'

m)we elj und n ,

i shanda ryj a hei net hyj a taht mas r . i shand ar

c l heby r , ma l ih er r um ,bana medy net i shand a ryj a we

i nd afan fyha .

— fy s anet tamantci s’

a r m in el h igr a da

halc

am r, ganarci l el ha lyfa

c

omci r,bi ld d masr , we hanet

waotaha ta‘

bc

a l i mam lahet er r um we ahad i shanda ryj a

j j / sanetwdh id weC

es’

ry nmin el h igr a . coma r ha’

n c l ha/yf a

fy d im iso es’

scim . huwa bana mas r el gdhi r a ,taht c l hu hu

ma l i bi ld d ma s r . masr sa'

r et g'

uz m in mamlahet et tu r /e

j y s anet 92 2 l i l higra .

— ahba r f ela‘

s if et c l ca r ab ibn sy na ,

c l mac

r uf Cand el if rang bi i sm avi s enna ,we ibn r u s

‘d,

el mac

r ufC

andu hum bi i sm averrho es . i bn sy na i nwa

lad fy bu ha'

r a s anet 3 5 8 h igryj a ,we ibn r u s

’

d i nwa lad

yfi/ bi la‘

d esbci nj a s anet 5 2 0 h igryj a .

- el maory zy mci t

sanet 819 h igry/a ; hi Zwa ha tab gogr a/yj et masr elly

intabac

et fy matbac

et tong; we ab c l mahci s i n hatab

tci ryh masr m i n yj cim el ha lyfa Coma r li had d mo‘

t c l

mea l/if s a’

net 847 h igryj'

a . we ibn ha ldu‘n han m in

ac

lam c l masryjy n ,we

'

ha tab td ryh tawy l l i masr .


el hi tcib elly hataboh batlymos , c l fela‘

suf er rumy ,Ca la

en nug'

i im ta rgimoh bi lc

a r aby el fergci ny — el gabr°

i lm hi s cib a cla, f i s ta

c

mi lu fyh el hu r iZf bida‘

l c l ac

da‘

d .

aqwci l hihmyj a .

el yd el battala n igs a .

i ftakarna e l qutt gana jenu tt

el hasfid la j e sfid .

ma bac

d es sabr illa el qabr .

el hu rfib nuss es sagac

a .

hfis min fummak j etu l kummak .

1a1s e l kasura ma kanet e l fabfira .

e l a°

war bén elc

imy sultan .

ma fyhs ward a bala sok , 1a halawa bala nar .

gaj ib ly hakym gasym la j i°raf et tyn m in el

°

agyn .

basal bi hamsa we bi hamsa basal .

myn talab e l cu la s ihir el lejaly .

el jom elly j effit ahsan m in elly J igy .

in kan lak Cand el kalb haga , qfil loh : “

ja s ydy !

jom casal we jom basal .

elly ma j esu fs m in el gu rbal a cma .

el gary jfisal qabl el masy .

kalam el lél madhfin bi zibd a ; J ltlac c

aléh en nahar ,

Jesyb.

ma fyhs fulus, ma fyhs°

éé.

ma fyhs mehabba bén eg goza we du rretha .

en nadafa m in el yman .

i tgad d a i tmad d a, i t‘

assa i tmassa .

Z i°

yq m in ger faid a .

tekun fy hanakak tiqs am li gerak .

4‘

The Qyptian A lphabet

ini

su ft en nugu‘m ed

'

du hr .

u tlfib eg gar qabl ed dar, we él rafyq qabl et taryqmyn taanna

'

nal ma j'

i tmanna.

e lly fy yd ak aqrab min e l ly fy gébak

es bid d ak , ja a°

ma P qu ffetc

u jfin .

el q i rd cand ummoh gazal .

qabl ma t imsy sfif raj ih teho tt riglak fen .

elly ca la ras oh batha j ihas s i sf

aleha .

en nar wala elc

ar .

in ti li c el °

eh m in ahl elc

eb ma hu sc

eb.

es gab tfih fy melyg ?

A s um (hikaj a) .

kan ragi l ru z iq bi walad we firih boh . kan bidd oh j istery loh mahd . rah li wfihi d naggar we id d a

loh mas alan rij al we qal loh : i°

m il ly mahd : qal

loh en naggar :“ta ij ib ! nahar el gum

c

a ta°

ala we

bo d el mahd ! j ac

ny ba°

d tamant yjam , kan el hamys .

nahar el gumc

a e r ragi l rah loh , we qal loh ;“ hat

i

el

mahd ! qal loh en naggar’

: l is sa mus balas . weitahhar en naggz

’

i r lamma m isy el wa lad , we kibi r , we

i tgauwiz we i s tau lid walad . qal l i abfih :“ f

au z mahdl i ibny .

”

a loh abfih ° rfih cand en naggar el

fu lany ,. ana was sétoh bi ‘mahd J ibqa d ilwaqt

c

esryn

sana ; bod oh minnoh ! rahf and en naggar, qal loh :

“ hat el mahd elly wassak boh abfij a we“

id d a lak

rijal l qal loh en naggar : bo d e r rij al , ma ahibbis

as ta°

gil es sugl !

‘The Egyptian A lphabet 5 5

Vers e'

ana el wabur i swid gatys

we mu staraj a alfen kys ;dol J ihd imu ny afandyja

m itrah ifyn nazilyja

ku ll Wand bi mahyj a

bilaf el d ai ra we el d ywan .

jamu njet e l qalb, qfil ly we es baqa J lgra ?

talatyn sana had d am bala ugra ;

we ad i talatyn s ana we ana warak s auwah ;

we ad i talatyn'

s ana bad dy lu kumma'

d as

we ad i talatyn sana we basma° kalam en nas ;

we ad i talatyn sana we el bab qu sad el béb '

myja we tamanyn sana ma had d rad d gawab .

in get m in el bab isha el bauwab J i drabak !

we i n get min e l hét fi°

a es silla wagc

a bak !

we l n tirt fil gau saija‘

t elC

u qab gabak ;

we in get min e l bahr et t imsah aula bak .

mm . in get min el bab hallétoh sab°

at i lwah,

we in get min el bet hallétoh sad ah we mad ah ,

we in tirt fil gau aksar l il c

u qab eg ginah ,

we elly halaqny j inaggyny min et timsah.


has an li fci tma .

agy l ik min bety rakib husan min nar ; we ashaqe r ryh m in kutr soqy .

°

asan inny ahibbik inty bass

mahabba moi temuts i lla lamma es s‘ams tibr ad , we en

n ugum ti°

a ttim, we yj cim ed d u n/a tihlas .

bussy m in sibbak ik , we sfify hubby we°

azaby l

ana raqidc

alal ard ma ij it°

asan inn ik ma biti salysc

alé‘

3ja . ja ret ryh el lél j iwass al lik hararet h ubby ,we 31ma i j il qalbik Casan ti sma

c

y hi lfany bi inny ahibbik

hubb mci j emuts i lla lamma es s’

ams tibr ad, we en nugum

ti°

a ttim, we yj am ed d u nj a tihlas ,

rigléja t igry kull léla m1n kutr el harara elly

fy qalby l i Cand sibbak ik ,

°

asan asma c el kilma ellyt ifarrahny . iftahy bab qalbik , we bab o d ti k, we ana

aqfil likc

an el hubb elly andy liky elly ma j emu ts’

i lla lamma es s'

ams tibr a d , we en nugu m tic '

a ttzm, we

yj a‘

m ed d u nja tihlas .


IV . Grammatica l Ac c idenc e .

el . et, et, eg

'

,ed

,ed , er

,ez

, es, es, es , eh . bi l

,

c

a la l, fi t, li l .

el arnab , el aran ib . el etnén . el imt ihan , el

imt ihanat . el yd , el yd én . el oda , el uwad . el

uht . el fitad . el bab . et tob . et tarbus, et

tarabys . eg gama l . el gammal . el hedyja . el

humar . el harta, c l bar tat . ed dyb . ed du fd a°

,

ed daffid ifl er rasul . ez z i rr . . e s sabat , es s abatat .

es samsyja . es sanduq , es sanadyq . elC

igl. el

farras . el qamara . ek kom . el kitab . el mad fac

.

el nafar , el anfar . e l walad , el walad én . el jetym .

el ab we e l umm . el me‘

allim we et talamyz . jom

et talat . es sa°

a hamsa . Cand eg gazzar . er ru zz

we es sukkar . wara el kenys a . cala ek ku rsy . ibn

et tagir . el gumc

a . eg garas . wust el birka .

tarkybet we hagar e lc

ud .

- mu dyryj et el’

fa ijfim .

es sams tal°

a . dywan e l auqaf. masr elC

atyqa .

el bétén ek kubar . es gal el kasmyr . bad ez z ibd a .

el bed el mas lfiq . gild el barfif. el gaba l el ahmar .

elc

a sak ir betfic

ez zabtyja . el mara eg gamyla .

e l bad damyn et tac

banyn . el q i i‘ s e t ta

°

ryfa . m in

el qu d s li eS‘

s u es . es s ana el higryja . es sana el

.myladyja . sabah el hér !


fil ard . fil rukn d a . lili

gam i"

.

°

ala1 gemena .

lahm bil batates . t i l°u fil markib el kebyra .

c

alal

hamzawy. bi] milazim we bil jfi'

zbasa .

’

1i1 ak1. rahl il balad . arfih

c

alal bét . fil d ahabyia el ameryka

nyja . bi l k u llyja . huwa fil medyna d i lwaqt . katab

bi l qalam er rusas . qac

ad°

ala l qahwa ku ll el jom .

amar loh bi l m irwah . gawébatak fil hosta . j istiku

l il hakim . fil a ijam es s ac

yd a elly kan fyha harfin

er rasyd .

enhum

mahu a‘

s‘

ma n tus'

mahums’

hu mma mahu mmd s’

d u hhamma

a dy ny ,ad inta,ad in ty ,

aho,ahe

,ahyj a ; ad ihna ,

ad intu,ahom . adyh , adyhy , adyh , adyha ; ady na , ady

h um,adyhu m . my n . e

‘

,es , a if, ma

‘

. elly , m in . naf s ,

ana we inta . ana hadirg hyja hena . rfih inta !

ihna bin itkallim .

‘

intu gyc

anyn ? hfiwa calim kebyr .

hyjac

a ijfina . ihna mu s limyn ,hum nasz

’

i ra . inty

t i°

mi ly é ? inty zi°

iltyP ana ma su ftis d i abad an .

Q The Egyptian A lphabet

bitishat fy . es sikka maskyna faqyra . hu m elly gum

hena a‘

glabhum nas sabyn . warryny elly hattétoh fy

gébak d a é ? body ek kys d a we elly fyh . elly min

q i smetak,

.meharram cala gerak . el markib elly fyha

rays én tigraq . el basa elly mat fy el bartfim i smoh

gordon . jfi. myn j ehibbiny 31gy Candy .

c

au z asawi r nafsy . el mu fattis gay lak bi nafs oh‘

.

humma qalu fy nafs u hum . hfiwa bisfif nafs oh ta ij ib .

f

énak m’

a l iha. el balad zatha ma birbi ts. el ‘ wabfir

zatoh elly safir boh . bid dy et tarabéza Cenba . el

ku taba fdol j imd ahu rohhum .

q’alu l i ba °

duhum . s allimu ca la ba c

duhum . bij idhaku waj a ba

c

du hum . . itban iqu waj a ha cd . rahu

j idrabu ba°

d . istakéna min ba °

d . hfiwa elly C irif.

inta min enhy balad ? el qumas d a min enhu

gins ? enhyja ku tu by? enhum filad ak ?

battyh, battyha ; baqa r , baga r a ; be‘

d, be‘

da ; tibn ,

tibna ; tabl , tabla ; habt, habta ; has s , has s a ; zahr,

zah'

r a ;c

adm ,caa’ma

c

anhabut,

c

anhabi i ta ; oauwun ,

qa uwuna ; habry t, habry ta ; naml , namla .

hu ma‘

r, humd ra had da

'

m,had ddma hanzy r , hani

zy r a ; camm ,camma ma lih , ma liha ;

mec

a llim,me

c

a llima ; wizz, wizza . sa

'

hib, sa‘

hiba ; ca‘ l im ,

°

ti lma . ab, u mm ; ah, u ht'

; gama l , ndoa ; hu san ,

fa r a s ; na°

ga ; dyh , f a rha ; rdg i l , mara ;

wa lad,bin t.

h

ay,a lfe

’

n ; y d , y d e‘

n ; oi rs’

, oi rs’

én hitcib, hi

tcibe‘

n ; j o‘

m, famed ba tt

,battete

‘

n ; s a a,

s dc

a te‘

n ;

The Egyptian A lphabet 6 I

hi lma,hi lmete

‘

n ;“

mara,ma r ate

‘

n ; ma r’

r a , ma r r a tén .

ab, abbe‘

n ; etne‘

n ; has ané‘

n ; .ha rame’n

tabbdh, tabba‘

hy n ; s auwdo, s au wagy n ; f a r rcis ,

f a r r a‘

s’

y n ; fa lla‘

h, fa lla'

hy n ; nahhcis , nahha‘

sy n ;C

a‘

bid ,c

abdy n . s ana,

s eny n . sudd ny . sudd nyjy n’

; megciwi r ,

megdwi r/yn ; mehhdwy , mahhdwyjy n

banta lo‘

n,

tahry r ,

’

tahryra‘

t ; ta lagr cij ,ta lag

'

rafi i t ; harym , ha rymci t ; hammdm , hamma‘

ma‘

t ;f

as’

a ra,

C

a s’

a r ci t ; ca la‘

ma,

c

ala’

mci t ; hi lma,hi lma

‘

t ; nd s ,

nci s ci t ; wabur , wabi a‘

t. ag’

a,agawa

‘

t ; u sta ,u s ta wa

‘

t ;

bd s’

a,bci sawci t ; be

“

, bé‘

hawd t ; za‘

t,

zawci t ; s am‘

a,

’

sa

mawd t. binti i,bi nti/a

‘

t ; afandy ,afandyj a

‘

t. ab,abba

hitt ; ah, u hwa‘

t ; u mm ,ummahd t. bint

,bana

‘

t.

tobgy , tobgyj a ; ha ldwa‘

ny , ha ld wa‘

nyj a ; oahwagy ,

gahwag'

yj a ; mena‘

dy , menadyj a .

ibn , abna ; bina , abnyj a ; taswy r ,tasciwy r ; tctgi r ,

tuggci r gci r , gy r d n ; gezy r a , gezci i r ; goz , igwci z ,

gafy r , g‘

ufa ra ; hedyj a ,hadd/a; hahym , hu hama ;

huma‘

r, himy r ; dywd n ,

d ewciwy n ; dufdac

, dafad i°

,

rd hib, r u hbci n ; s ihha ,s ihah ; s

’

ahr ,u s

‘hu r ; sur a ,

suwar fatwa , f atdwy ; qa lb, gu lub; ga‘

l ib, qawa‘

l ib

hu ttd b,hatatyb; medy na ,

mu du n ; ma la‘

h,ma la

‘

iha .

c

and ak waraq ? id dyny waraqa . en nabl d a mu s°aly qawy , lakin en nahla beta

°

etna a cla . er rumman

taij ih ,

c

au z rummana .

huwa ha ij a° ffil , hyja ba ijéfet t1rm1s . laqét el

fallah bij ihri t , we el fallaba bitimla e l ballas . el ab

we e l uht birfihu el mad rasa . istaret gidy we wajah

m1°

za .


e l insan‘

loh yd én etnén, we

'

r i’

glén ethen, lakin'

él

haiwan loh arbac

r iglén .

‘ kunt C

and oh’

nobtén . gozenasawi r bass . sa

’

rafu my‘

tén tazkara . salla rakc

aten .

es sagara bai

°

yd a' c

an el h’

ét bi m i tren .

‘

darbetén fyer ras

’

tuga"

.

es s i ttat we el had damyn . el ginéhat el masry

agla min“

e l ginéhat el inglyZy. elC

arbagyja betfic

e l bimbasyja . sfift el hawagat dol'

m in s enyn .

"

hattu

el mebad dat cala él dywanét . el banati es s fid é‘

myjyn .

“

dol°

alamat betfi c

el qiraja . huwa hatyb el‘

mu s limyn .

fac

al kid a llamas marrat . u gret elc

arabyja hamas

silinat .

C

aléhu rn barakat allah .

el bukama ta ij ibu banéi’

t es sap !; el fransawy .

fy a°

jad el’

mu s limyn j i°

allaqu fawanys ke tyra'

fy es

sikak. el hadady lamma tetyr t iftah agn ihetha . ben

e l jfinan e l qud am kén fyh“

felas ifa ketyr ku bar , «m inhum

aflatfin we ari s to talys . es s anaj ir dol taljanyja . fy

asj a buhfirk etyra m inhum el furat we ed d agla j esu bbu

fy bahr el Cagam . s alatyn bugdad°

kanband u hum

zaman gijfis kebyra . uwad elc

a sak ir suga lj ara qawy .

ell

nawad ir elly’

hakaha ahfija qaraha fy ki tab

we le‘

la . sabah e l q‘

urud wala sabah‘

i el agrud .

'

e l

ku tu bhana el masryj a fyha kutu b ke tyr matbfi°

a we

hatt j ad d m inha nu s abc

azyma myn el qu ré‘

tn . hu tfit

el ku taba d olC

azyma qawy . cand banyha s an qu bfir

masryj ac

agyba qad yma maqtfic

afy es sfihu r . wu sfis

e l kit ’ab d a menammara bi l galat. myn talab el culas ihi r e l lejaly .


dawdh higcibah

s afa r'

i h‘

hzgci bih

s afa r oh higciboh

dawa‘

ha s afa rha higcibha

r n a hzga‘

bna

s afa rhum higa‘

bhum

s afa rhum higcibhum

scihby , sa‘

hbah , sa‘

hbih , sdhboh , sa‘

hibha ; sa‘

hibna ,

sdhibhum , scihibhum . hci rty , ha‘

r tah, ha

‘

r/ih, hd r toh ,

ha‘

retha ; hd r etna , hci r ethum , ha'

r ethum . r zgléj a ,r ig

leh,r iglé

‘

hy ,r igle

‘

h,r igléha ; r ig

'

le‘

na,

r igle‘

nhum,

r igle

‘

nhum . naggci ry ny ,naggci ry nah , nagga

‘

ry n ih ,nagga

ry noh , onaggd ry nha ;

‘

nag'

gd ry nna ,nagga

‘

ry nhum ,nag

gd rynhum . hu tu by , hu tu bah ,hu tu bih, hu tu boh , hu tu bha

hu tu bna ,hu tu bhum ,

hu tu bhu /n .

'

abuj a ,abuh

,abi ihy ,

abuh,abuha ; abuna , abuhum ,

abuhum .

<:

a le‘

h fyp

‘

a te/i fyhc

a léha fy/Za

c

d /éfl d fy naC

a le‘

hum fyhumc

a le‘

hum fy hum

64 The Egyptian ‘A lphabet

ba°

dy ,ba

c

dah,ba

c

d ih , bac

d oh,ba

c

daha ; bac

d ina,

ba°

du hum , ba°

d u hum . ba ldj a , ba ldh, ba ldhy ,

ba lah,

ba ldha bald na , ba la‘

hum ba ldhu m . betcic

y , betafah ,betci

°

ih,betci

°

oh,beta

‘ c

ha beta‘ c

ty,’

betci°

tah,betd

c

tih,

betczic’

toh,

~

beta‘ c

ha ; beti ic

y ,betu

c

ah,betu

c

ih,beti i

c

oh,

betu°

ha ; betuc

na,betu

c

hum,betu

°

hum .,

°

a la sci ny ,ca la

s’

ci nah,ca la scin ih

,cala sci noh

,ca la sa

‘

nha ;G

a la . s ci nna,

ca la s‘a‘

nhum, ca la sci nhum . canny ,

C

annah,

c

ann ih,

C

a nnoh,canha ; canna ,

c

anhum,

°

anhum . candy ,

c

andah,

c

and ih,

c

andoh ,

cz

a nd aha ; . co nd ina,

c

and u hum,

c

and u hum .

waj a‘

j a ,waja‘h

,waj a

‘

hy ,wajah

,waj ciha ; waja‘na , waja

“

hum,waj dhumi be

‘

ny ,be

‘

nah ; be‘

nna,be

‘

nhum . bidd ly ,

bid d lah ; bi da‘

lna,bidd lhum . tahty ,

tahtah ; tahtina ,

tahtu hum . gamby , gambah ; gambina , gambu hu m .

hawa‘

le‘

ny , hawci lénah ; hawd lénna , hawci le‘

nhum . f o‘

gy ,

f o‘

gah ; fo‘

ona , f o‘

ohum . oably , qablah ; gabl i na , gab

lu hum . ou sa‘

dy , ou sa‘

dah ; gu sa'

d na, ou sadhum . cu d

;

d cimy , yu d da‘

mah ; gu d da‘

mna, gu d da

‘

mhum . ma cy ,

mac

cih m ic

a'

j a,mic

ci h m i°

a‘

na,m i

c

dhum waraj a ,

wa ra‘

h . wu stina ,wu stu hum , wu stu hum .

ezza/y,ezzaj ah ,

ezzaj i h , ezzaj oh ,ezs aj aha ; ezzaj i na ,

ezzaj u hum , ezzaj u hu m . ihm inny ,ihm innah ; ihmin

n ina, j ihminn u hum . inny ,

innah ; inn ina,innu hu m .

ba r dy, ba r dah ba rdina ,ba rdu hum . gamn a ,gamy

c

hu'

m .

zajy gzjaj ah . g

'

e‘

r ah ; go‘

rna, g

’

e‘

rhu m . pad dy ,

gaddah ; oad d ina , oaddu hum . hu lly , hu llah ; hu ll ina

hu llu hum . wahdy, wahdah wahd ina ,wahd u hu m .

j ct r etny , fa”

r e‘

tah ; j a‘

r e‘

tna, j ci re

‘

thum,

s ifah kan calayd el hak -

ym el firubbéwy . talabak é ?

k alamha . k uwa ij i sfi. l fy d u laby !

hu dum ask ’

al . suglu

The Egyptia n A lphabet 6 5

hum mu s sugl ina . qalbaha qasy . naharak sa ‘

yd !

léltak sa °

yd a l kan bid d oh j istery loh kalb . bid d aha

t i tgauwiz . bid d u hum j irauwahu . kan fy yd oh

ku rbag s fid ény . yd éh fy gijfiboh . sall im ydek !

s u fraténkum gud ad . d ahabyjat en nyl fyha tabbah

ynha . b igaly aslu hum m in es sa°

yd . kattar bérik ,

ja sitt ! abac

idhum fy mu dyryjet el fa i j fim . d a mal°

fibak ?i

genénety we genéne t ahfih . ibrahym basad abal d imisq bi

c

asak i roh sanet 1 8 3 2 mylad yja . mu

fattisyn er raj 31°rafu asgalhum taij ih . be

’

i c tyranohwe baqaroh bi taman taij ih . bo d naibak we naiboh .

mi sku hu d fimna we hu d fimkum .

t ik tib boh . firih boh . safir bina <i

ala i s kand aryja .

d abi l caleja ibn sabby . saal °

aleh we C

a‘

lé‘

3hum . fatt iscaleba . suf l ina matrah nu q

c

u d fyh . allah jebarik

fyk ! ma fyhs fu lus . intu ma fyk ums her . ma fyhs

fyhC

éb . ind ah ly abfik . lyjac

and ak qirsén . ana

lyjac

and oh arbé°

yn gine . manys qag

id lak henak .

istaka m innak we minnoh . b id d aha had d minhu m

je ruh wajaha . ana a°mil aktar m inkum . ba

c

d aha

m isy el wazyr we el malik . ruht ba °

d u hum . baragm in et teatro balahum . el habl beta°y gam id . el

berins tallaC

ha es seraj a betfif toh . bid d ina n istery

el hemyr betfi°

kum . eg genain betfiC

hum k ebyra we

kuwa ij i s a . kall imtoh cala sanak . rfih canny ! ma

aruhsc

and oh. hatt e l bagatC

and aha .

c

and u kum 6

min el kutu b el°

arabyP ana Candy mandyl ibny .

ly waj ak sana .

’

ana lyja abuj a wajaja hena . ma

fyhs za°

al beny we bénoh . humma bistagalu bidalna .

mu s Cala et tarabéza ,lakin tahtaha . bally el buga

gambak . el bet we el ard e lly hawalénoh . misywarabum c

alal qarafa . allah jekfin m i ‘ak . m i‘

aja


talat sanadyq . ady lokand a we el gemena qu d d amha .

sanduq ed den we e l bosta qu sad oh .

ezzajak , ja sydy ? azu nn innoh es s afyr et taljany .

lgarnm in°

ala innu hum rahyn jabd u m innoh el bed .

huwa bard oh sakin fil bet d a . el fu lus gamy°

ha .

c

azamnyc

alal gad a zaj u kum . gerak j itlub frankenbas s . su fna nas ketyr gérhu m . id d y loh qad d oh .

sim i c gu nahu m kulloh . d 61 ku llu hu m nfityja . rat

t ibu el kutub dol ku llaha . titlac

we teffit ed d ukkan

li wahd aha . hyj a wahd aha fil bustan . ja réthum

ma gfis°

and ina .

5 .

ta ij ib, ta i/iba ga sur ,gasur a sug‘

a ifa r , suga ij a ra ;C

atsa'

n ,

c

ats'

ci na ;C

ag i i z ,c

aguza ;C

azym ,

C

a z'

yma ; ha s

hi n ,has lci na ; heby r ,

heby r a ; mahtub, mahtuba ; mead

d ib,mead d iba ; ma shy n ,

mashy na mu r r,mu r ra ;

fagy r , faoy r a . tcih i r , tcihr a ; g'

a ly , fi i di l ,

fa‘

dla ; ha‘

mi l , ham/a . g’

any , ganyj a ; mes a‘

fi r,me

s cif ra ; tu r hy ,tu rhyj a ; s u rj ci ny ,

s u rj a‘

nyj a ; oibly ,

giblyj a ; masry ,masryj a ; mes tau/fii , mes ta ufyj a . ab/ad,

be‘

da ; atras , tars’

a ; ahwa l , ho‘

la ; as’

wa l, s’

o‘

la ; asfa r ,

saf r a ; ac

r ag ,carga ahta

°

,hat

c

a ; i swid,

s o‘

da ;

ra‘

ha r , r uhra .

batta‘

l,batta

‘

ly n ; ba r r d ny ,barrcinyjyn; suga ij a r ,

sug'

a ij a ry n ; huwa ij i s , huwa ij i sy n ; ma ij i t, ma ij ity n ;

mu lj a‘

n,ma lj a

‘

ny n . g’

ci ly ,g’

a‘

ljy n ; s’

citi r ,s’

ci try n ;c

ci r ij ,<

aryfi/n ; ha‘

tib,ha

‘

tby n . abj ad , byd ; ahmar , humr ;

azrag, zu r g ; asfa r , suf r ; a°

ma ,

C

imy ,

c

imj a‘

n ;

i swid,

sud ; bahy l, baha la ; tawyl , tuwci l ; gedy d ,

gu da‘

d ; g'

a lba‘

n, ga la

‘

ba ; gany ,ag

'

n i/a ; rahys , r uha‘

s ;


e l ik taf, galyd es saqén , kebyr ed d aqn . el b int

latyfa we mead d iba . ed d inj a fanja . istara nushac

azyma , qadyma ,me s ahhaha we megallid a by qatyfa

hamra . ibrymy ja balah ! s eggadat hegazy we

bafta h indy.

c

au z lak°

és s fiqy wala °

és bety ? ha

wagibik sud we maqrfina .

c

au z tarabézat med au

waryn ,mus mu rabba

°

yn . es sah id elly qal kid a

mu s muc

tamad . j atara ana mas fi lg

annoh ? k i tabe t

el kutub sugl mut° ib . ma t iqd ars tesfif en nu zzar ;

humma masgfilyn d i lwaqt . elc

asak ir e l masryjyn

d ol si dad we su g°an . e l lél fy es sef aqsar m in el

lél fy es s ita . lé hi s s oh ma kans masmfi‘

f? hedyj etak maqbfila . h is s el mazzyka ma kans masmfi

c

barra eg genéna . kan qabla j asyr lak innoh d i lwaqt

hurr . inta lé mu s mabsut zaj oh ?

rijalén ahsan m in rij al ” en nahfir d a ahsan min

bu kra . el gamal d a mehammi l akta r min d ikha .

c’

asffir fil yd ahsan min casara c

alal sagara . wissoh

au s ah min rigloh . wazyfetoh ahamm m in wazyfe tak .

el bi rka d i sugaij ara , we d i asgar m inha , lakin

d u khaija“

asgar min el kull . safyqa asgar el banat .

huwa akbarhum . aglabhum fuqara . huwa ahsan

en nas . aqraC

we n'

u zahy . akbar m i nnak bi jom ,

j ic

rafC

annak bi sana . elly fy yd ak aqrab min e l ly

fy gebak . carga cala mak s fira .

I wa‘

h id

wd hd a 4 a r bac

2 etne‘

n a rbac

a

a r bac

t


80 tamci ny n

9 0 ti sc

y n

1 0 0

my t

1 0 1 myj a wewcihid

2 0 0

3 0 0 tu ltemyj a

a r bac

tci s'

ar

hamas tci s’

a r

s i ttci s’

a r

s abac

ta'

s’

a r

tamantci s'

ar a lf we ca s’a r ati s a

c

tci s'

a r

c

i s'

ry n

wcihid wec

i s’

ry nC

a s’

arat ti la‘

f

etnén weC

i s’

ryn hida‘

s‘ar a l/

i

a r be‘ °

y nmy ton a lf

5 0 hamsy nma lj i i n

60 s i tty netné

‘

n ma lj fln

7 0 s abc

y n'

r u bc

emyj a

r u bc

emy t

hu msemyj a

hums emy t

s u ttemyj a

s u ttemy t

s u b°

emyj a

s u bc

emy t

tumnemyj a

tu mnemy t

tu sc

emyj a

tu sc

emy t

o The Egyptian A lphabet

hagar wah id . bo rtu qana wahd a . arba °

lamfinat

we hidasar lamfina . s itt falaik we sitta wec

isryn

felfika . el buluk fyh myja we 1srync

a skary . fy eg

gine alf m iljém . min masr l i i s kand aryja myja te

manj a we c

isryn myl , au myten kylometr taqryban .

teby‘

ly el get d a bi alf we mytén we arba‘

a we

s i ttyn (1 2 64) frank ? es sana d i alf we tu ltemyja we<:

asara (1 3 1 0 ) higryja , we alf we tumnemyja we etnén

we t isc

yn (1 89 2) myladyja . kull saba‘

t a ijam gu mc

a ,

we ku ll arba c

gumaC sahr , we kull e tnasar sahr sana .

kull tu ltemyja we hamsa we s i ttyn (3 65) jom sana .

hamsyn we s ittyn j ibqu myja we°

asara (5 0 60 : 1 l o).

talatyn min etnen we ham syn j ibqa etnén weC

isryn

(5 2 —

50 = hamsa we talatyn fy arbac

a j ibqu myjawe arbé

c

yn (3 5 arbe°

yn Cala hamsa j ibqa

tamanja (40 —1- 5 taman ma lajyn we tu ltemyj a

sitta we arbe°

yn alf we myja hamsa we tamanyn

(8 , 346 ,

c

omraha s aba°

tasar sana we s i tt ushur .lamma k

’

anC

omroh talattasar sana kan j ic

raf el gamc

we et tarh we ed darb we e l q1sma . es sa°a etnén we

mi

uss . el wabfir jeqfim es sa‘

a sitta cala franka . l i es

saC

a arbac

a min el lél n izilu ban el halyly . huwakz’i n fy mas r jom et talat s ab

c

a weC

isryn m in es sahr .

gi t i s°a we

c

isryn m in es sahr elly fat . ma ma cystalat qu rfis . istara minnoh arba

C

s agagyd , wahd a

bi etnén bintu we talata bi e tnén gine . en nfity et

taljany ko lombo iktasaf ameryka fy sanet alf we rub°

emyja we e tnén we t i s°

yn (1 49 2) myladyja ; we kanet

ameryka qabl zamanoh mu s ma°rufa bil ku llyja . fy

sanet alf we tu ltemyj a we t is °a (1 3 0 9) higryja i twaffa

fy helwé‘

m afandyna mehammad tau fyq el auwi l et

taij ib ez z ik r .


a uwi la'

nyj a

et tci l i t

jo in eg'

gu mc

a ;

la la‘

t ; el a r ba°

; s ,

i s dci s s u bc

,i sba

hfiwa d ahal el auwi l . el bint d i el fila fy es s aff.

el auwi lany ahrany , we e l ahrany auwilany . es sarraf

istara el bet el auwilany , we et tany we el bid asar ,we el etnén we

“

isryn fy d arb el gamamyz . m in

e l arbac

himyr d ol ana afaddal el humar e l auwi lany

we el humar et talit . jfi s ifc

and oh taman rummanat ;

halla hamsa l i nafs oh , we id d a es sad sa we es sab°

a

l i c

aly we et tamna lyja . el Casar r iggala el auwi

lanyjyn elly qabi lhum fy izmyr kanu k u lluhum tu rk .

gawé‘

tbak el mfiarrah arba °

a jfilja wis i lny auwi l em

bareh . taqryroh el auwi lany kfin taryhoh s ittasar

nofembar . es sa‘

a wahd a we nuss . es saca talata

we ru b“

. es saC

a t i s °a i lla rubc

. n itqabil jom el

hamys es saca s abc

a illa etnasar d eq a . ga ly jom

el had d es s fifa etnasar weC

isryn d eq a . akun

benak es sa°

a e tnen tamam . es sams titlac

bukra

a s r a

el h i dd s’

a r

el etnci sa r

el<’

is’

ry n

el wa‘

hid we

c l

el a l/

es s abt ; c l hadd ; c l etné'

n ;

el hamy s . es s u buC

. nu ss , insa‘

s ;

r u bc

,i r ba

c

; hums,ihma

‘

s ; s u d s,

tumn,i tma

‘

n ; tu sc

,i tsa


es sa°

a sitta we ru b°

. nuss we ru b°

J1bqu talat

i rbaC

(2+ i baragna wah id wah id . saijac

ga

wéibaty auwi l bauwi l . elC

as éik ir misj u etnen etnén .

7 .

ana da rabt huwa j idr ab intu bi ti d r abu

inta da r abt hum bij idr abu

inty da r abty ihna n idr ab

huwa da r ab in tu tidrabu

hum j idrabu

ihu a da r abna idrabu

intu da r abtu

hum da r abu

madr ub

da r ab, j idrab ; madr ub, da r b. j i dhu l ; mad

hi i l , d u hu l . Cama l, j i

c

m i l ; mac

mul , cama l . fatah, j iftah ;maf ti ih, fath. hatab

, j ihtib; mahti i b, hi tci ba . hasa r ,

j ihs a r mahs i i r , has r .

ana d ahalt inta d ahalt ; inty d ahalty ; huwa d ahal ;hum

'

d ahalu . ana°

amalt ; hyja°

amalet ; hfiwa camal ;ihna

c

amalna ; intuc

amaltu . ana fataht ; hfiwa fatah ;hu m fatahu . ana katabt ; in ta katabt . ana ka s art ;

inty ka s arty . ana adhu l ; inta tid hu l ; huwa j idhu l ;ihna n idhu l ; hum j idhu lu . ana a

°

m i l , inty t i°

m ily ;

hfiwa j ic

mi l ; intu t i‘

m ilu . ana ak tib inta tik tib ; hum

ana badrab

i n ta bi ti d r ab

inty bi tidr abyh i iwa bij idr ab

hyj a bi tidr ab

ihna bi n idr ab


j ik tibu . ana aksar ; hfiwa 31ks ar . ana badhu l ; huwa

bij idhu l ; ihna bin idhu l ; hum bij idhu lu . ana baC

mi l ;

huwa bij ic

mil . ana baftah ; inty bi tiftahy . ana bak tib ;

inta bi tik tib ; hfiwa bij ikt ib ; ihna b in iktib ; intu bitik

t ibu . ana baksar inty bit ik s ary ; hfiwa bij ik s ar ; hum

bij iks aru . idhu l ! i°

m i l inta ! iftah ! iktiby inty ! ik s aru !

ana darabt e l gama l . huwa j idrah ibnoh . ihna

d arabna ac

dana . hyja d ahalet el bet, hfiwa j idhu l e l

gam i c . humma J1dhu lu e l balad . er ragi l bij idhu l

we ana bahru g . i nta biti cm i l kid a lé ? ana bac

mi loh

cala sanak . hyja camalet betha lokand a . i°

m i l zajma baqfi

'

l lak .

°

amalna suglina bi l°agal . iftah el

bab ! ana fataht es sibbak . ihna fatahna es sanduq

walla la? ihna bin iftah es sand fiq . ana baktib gawah .

myn katab el kitab d a ? hfiwa kasar el kubbaja .

bitik s ar el qu lla le? el gawab kan maktub 1amma

get . el walad d a madrfibC

alqa . el bab kan maftfih.

kasr es sibbak d a . kan bil qada we bil qad ar . idhu l

we iqfil el bab ! madhfi loh myten gine fy es sana .

jom eg gum°

a kan katb k i taboh . e l Camal d a fy

mahalloh . d ahalu min ger ma jeqfilu l i had d . darb

el walad d a kan cala can ma saraq haget ahfih . n idhu l

el wabfir’qabl ma j i safir . i sbi tta be,

c

é‘

tlim almany ,

katab kitabc

azym°

alal li san e l Carahy ed darig .

md ti drabs’

ind j i drabs’

mci tidrabs’

ma n idr abs’

mci tidr abus

mci j i drabi i s’


mci ti d r abs’

mci badr abs’

mci adr abs’

mci bi tidr abs 7nd tid rabi i s’

si r ib, j zs

’

r ab; mas’

rub, s’

urb. fihim , j ifham ;

hum, fahm . m i s ih, j ims ih ; mamsu

‘

h,mas/e .

ana ma darabtis el fallah . ihna ma n idrabs had d .

inta ma bit idrabs el haramy le? ma tidrabys ! ma

d ahalets el bet illa ba°

d ma harag . ma t israbs ma ij a

we intac

arqan . ma j israbfis haga . d a mu s masrfib

taij ih . su rb en nebyt ketyr mus taij ib . ma tims 1ks

el qalam d a l i had d ma agy . elc

a skary ma m i s iks

el nassal . ana ma°

amaltis kid a abad an . ma ti ftahfis

el gawabat ! inty ma fatahtys es sanduq . ma fihim

tfis 1s ? ana mus fah im ,

c

au z e ? ma afhams tu rky .

hfiwa ma kas ars el qalam . intu ma kas artfis el bab ?

ana ma katabtis e l kitab el farsy .

‘

m’

a t ik tibs haga !

ma katabfis l i ssa . ma t ik s arys el°

és qabl ma j igy !

ma kans madrfib bi s ikkyn , kan madrfib bi rusasa .

el gawab ma kans maktub . ma j i°

mi ls haga . hfiwa

ma bij i°

m i ls haga . el qati l katab iqraroh .

bi tidrabnybi tidrabah

bi tidrabih

bi tidr aboh

bi tidrabha

darabtina bi tid rabna

darabtu hum bitidr abhum

da r abtu hu ni bi ti d r abhum

76 The Egypti an A lphabet

inta ma darabtinys . inta ma darabtohs. ana ma

darabtu kums . hyja ma t idrabnys . inta ma t idrab

has. inta ma tidrabhums . hyja ma t idrabohs ?

inta ma biti d rabnys ? hyja ma bit idrabaks . ma bi

t id rabnas inta ? huwa ma d arabnas embareh. ihna

ma'

darabnahums . ma d arabfihs. ihna man id rabohs .

er ragi l ma j idrabaks lé ? huwa ma bij idrabnys. ana

ma asrabohs. ana ma afhamak s . huwa ma bij i fhamnys . inta ma t ifhamhfims 16 ? ma tims ikhas !

hum ma m i skfihu rns . el walad ma mi s ik iks . huwa

ma qatalohs . hyja ma qatalethas. el haramyj a ma

j iqtiluk ums. hfiwa ma j ihd imnys. hum ma j ihd i

mfihs . ana ma ahm i lak s . inty ma tihmilyhas. intu

ma bi tihmi lfihs ? saf el gawah lakin ma katabohs

huwa . ma bid dys aqraha i lla qu d damkum . el had d ad

camal el muftah lakin ma kas arohs ahfiha hamalha

we m isy C

alal mad rasa . e t taljfinyja J1fhamu el lisan

el esbanjoly lakin ma J1qrfihs. inta ma bitihd imnys

zaj ma qu lt .

hattibt

hattibt

tiha ttiby ha ttibu

j iha ttib biha ttib

tihattib mehattib

n iha ttib

tiha ttibu

j iha ttibu

r a ttib, j i r attib; mer a ttib, ta rtyb. s a ll im , j zsa llim ;

mes a ll im,ta s lym . sadd ao, j i sad dag; mesadd ag ; tasdyg.

has sa r , j iha s sa r ; mehas s a r ,tahsy r . s i d , j i s d

c

i d ; mu

sa" °

i d, mu sa

‘c

da . sa‘

fi r, j i s iifi r ; mesa

‘

fi r,

s afa r . ga‘

bil,


j i ga‘

bi l ; mega‘

bi l, mu od bla . at

c

ab, j i t

c

ib ; mat u b, i t ab.

ahba r , j ihbi r ; muhbi r ,ihbci r , haba r . amhan , j imhin ;

mumh in ,imhci n .

hfiwa kattibny el wasl . ana akattib el wilad . ana

katt ibtaha loh . kattibny gawabén l i ahfih . t ikatt ibha

el wiss kulloh . j ikattibak tfil en nahar . kattiboh loh '

manys mekattibha d i lwaqt . tak tybak loh el gawab

d a min ger lu zfim . ana rattibt asgalhum . hum

j i rattibu bethum qabl e l farah . ma tirattibs haget

ahfik le? rattibhum zaj ma kanu . el kutub fil ku

tubhana el masryja merattiba taij ib . sall im ly calau mmak ! ma s allimtis

c

aléhum 1s zaj ma qu lt lak ?

abfija j i s allimC

alék . qalu ly a s allim<z

ala kull ashab

hum . . bits allimc

aléh uhty . ma tisad d aqs kalamy

le? sad d aq el kad dab 1i had d bab ed dar ! et tasdyq

qawam mu s tamally ta ij ih . kassar ras oh b i hagar .

kas s arna kull ma kan fy taryqna . iza safuhum j ikas

s arfihum . kassar zaj ma baqul lak ! es su kkar

mekas s ar . ma t itc

ibnys baqa ? tfil el lél j i tc

ibny .

asgalhum at°

abetna ketyr qawy . ma bid dys at‘

ibak

fil masala d i . myn elly ahbarak ? ihbirhum bi ellyt l sma

°

oh l ma ahbartfinas lé m in bad ry ? hum j ihbir

uhum bil k idb . el habar 6 ? ma j imk innys agy bukra .

j imk inha tiktib l i abfiha bi elly gara . amkanhum

j idhu lu el bet . mu s fy imkany a°

mi1 kid a . musmu mk in aktib loh bi l bosta d i . sa

C

id ny fy es sugl d a !ma t i s fi

c

id né‘

ts le? sac

id nahum 1amma kanu bij istaga

lu . inta sa°

id tiny we ana mamnfin lak . safir auwi l

embareh. ma safirfis sawa . tisafiru imta ? n isafir

1amma j igy abfina . es safar kuwa ij i s fy es sef. s é

firet waja uhtaha . imta qabiltoh ? qabilny es sa°

a

8'


arba°

a min en nahar . hUmma i tqabi lu sawa ba°

d

duhr . qébi lfiny c'and ed dywan .

a tc

a llim

titc

a ll im

ti t°

a llimy

j i tc

a ll im

bi ti tca llim

i t°

a llimna

i tc

a ll imtu

i t°

a llimu

z

°

t°

all im,i

'

tC

a ll imy ,i t

c

a ll imu . m i tc

a llim . ta°

lym .

i tahha r , j i tahhar ; motahha r , tcihy r . ,i tha llim , j i t

ha ll im ; metha ll im,tahlym .

~ inbac

at, j znbi

c

i t ; mabc

ut,

ib°

d t. i nda rab, j zndi r ib m i nd i r ib. inha s a r , j inhi s i r ;m inhi s i r

,inh i s a

‘

r v imtahan, j zmtihin imtiha

‘

n . ihma r r

,

’

j ihmar r ; m ihmi r r ; ihm i rd r . i s ta lam , j i s ti lim ;

m i s ti lim,i s ti/cim . istag

'

a l, j i s

’

taga l m istigi l .

inta t itc

allim . ihna n itc

allim . ,bij it°

alli rn hfiwa ?

inty it°

allimty . 1ntu i tc

allimtu é ? ana batc

allim h isab .

humma bij it°

all1mu ~ el kitaba le? itc

allimy taij ib !hfiwa m it

°

allim fy mad ra s et'

el myry . ta°

lym el ma

d rasa d i mu s taij ib . bij it°

all1m rumy fy atyna . hfiwa

i t°

allim el lisan'

el inglyzy 1amma kan fil skola . ma

bid d ahas ti t°

allim°

araby . hu m bij itc

allimu taljany .

itahhar suwa ija ! ku l l jom ti tahhar ? i tahharuC

an

suglu hum. ana raj ih atahhar suwa ij a . ana batkallim

waj a abfih . b‘

i d d u k um t itkallimu sawa ? kunt biti té

kall im waj a myn 1amma qabiltak ? t itkallimc

araby ?

atkallimc

araby suwaij a . myn°

allimak t itkallim farsy ?


me°

a llimy ibrahym el bugdady . hyja inbac

atet candgarétha . ma inba°

atfis illa 1amma talabfihum . in

ba°

at fy mamfiryja . hfiwa indarab°

alqa .

'

indarabna°

ala can ma ruhnas el mad rasa . ahfih indarab casansikir . el

°

arabyj a inkas aret boh . inkas aru fy e s sikka .

iza wiqic

t min es sibbak tink i s ir . imtahanfiha qu d

dam en nas . imtihinny 1amma ahlas . imtahanfih

laqfih j i‘

raf. lé ma q id irs j iqad d im el imtihan fy

dywan el harbyja ? ihmarr min el haja . ma ihmar

rfis min en nar . ihmarret 1amma ga . i s talam el

wardyja es saca°

asara m in el lél . raj ih J l Stlllm m in

noh el fulus . i s tilim m inha el gawab . i s ti lam el

mal kan cala yd oh . es sarraf hfiwa elly m i s t i lim en

naqdyj a . hfiwa j istagal fy dywan el mac

ari f. ku l l

jom j istagalu fil bet . istagalna l i had d ma safirna .

el muhand i s bij istagal d ilwaqt fy mas lahet er raj .balas istigala’ es sa

‘

a d i ahsan Candy kitaba ketyra .

hfiwa mistigil d i lwaqt fy haga

habbét ahibb

habbe‘

t tehibb

habbe‘

ty tehibby

habb j ehibb

habbét teh ibb

habbéri a neh ibb bi nhibb

habbé‘

tu teh ibbu bith ibbu

habbu j ehibbu bihibbu

hibb, hibby ,h ibbu . ha

‘

bib, mahbub. hu bb.

bass , j’

ebws bi s/5 . batt, j’

ebu tt ; not, mabtu t.

zann, j ezu nn ; zci n in ,

maznun ,zann . sahh j esahh.

s’

add, j es

’

idd ; s’

a‘

d id , mas’

dud,s’

add .


huwa jehibbiny we ana ahibboh . kull wah id

j ehibb ummoh . hyj a habbet myn ? ana ma ah ibbis

su rb ed d uhhan . humma habbu kid a . dol nas ma

jehibbfis illa nafs u hum . tehibby el bint d i ? haby

bik fen ? habbenaha°

asan hati r abuha . bu ss min

es sibbak tisfifoh . bid d ak tebu ssc

aleh 1amma j effit ?

ma bassét is caleba1amma haraget . kunt basis waj ak .

hyja ma tebu ssi s abad an ca la had d min et taqa .

hu tt el fu lus fy gébak ! hyja tehu tt ibnaha Cand

wah id naggar . hattfihum fy es sanduq l i had d ma

j iby°

fihum . el kutu b kanet mahtfita°

ala et tarabéza .

azu nn innoh ma j igys hena es sana d i . zannak mu s

fy mahalloh . bizu nn innaha mus hena . zannu ana

ma a°

rafhu ms. kunt zan in en nahar d a ah i r es sahr .

ma jesahhis teffitoh we ti safir . Cad am es s ihha e ?rigloh elly kanet mak sfira sahhet . hum j esahhu mu

hand i syn . s id d el habl suwa ij a ! ma tesid d is bil

qawy ! hyja sad d etoh m i n d irac

oh . raj ihyn nesid d

ek ku rsy l i hena . el habl masd fid ta ij ib .

au ca ban catuca bitucat iZ

C

y bi tuc

yA C A C

j u a bi/u a

tuca bi tzic

a

nuca bin i ic

a

nt n bitu‘ c

u

j u u bi/u u

wisi l , j usa l ; usa l , usa ly ,usa lu ; wasi l ; nan. wioi

c

,

j ugac

; uoa°

, may ,una

c

u ; wcigic

. wigif , j ugaf ; ugafi


fi°

a loh m in es sikka ! fi‘

a ja hawaga riglak !

ma wi °ytis loh le? jucu 1amma j igarrab . mus can'

za

tucy ? manys wfify . wisi lna el balad °

and el magrib .

fisal qawam we ta°

ala l tfi s aly l i had d fen ? we

hfiwa masy wiqic

. wiq°

et min et taqa . au qa°

fil byr .

ma tfiqafs we inta gay ! 1amma j idhu l fiqaf°

ala hé

lak ! el waburat wiqfu cand es s ues .

huwa ga‘

l

hum bioulu

gul gdj i l go‘

l .

ra‘

h, j er uh ; r a‘

j ih, m i rwa‘

h.

az , fec

uz ;c

au z,oz. hd n , j ehun ; ho

‘

n . ba j eby°

; ba‘

j i c ,be“

. gcib, j egyb; gci ib, megyba . na‘

m, fendm ; na

'

j im , no‘

m .

jequl laha . qfil ly ! ma baqfi ls lak . qfil lina !

qalet loh e ? humma biqfilu liky . qfilu lyC

au zyn 6 ?

ma qu ltis laha haga .

°

aly qal ly kid a embareh.

biqul e ? sahbak j equl é ? qalet ly innaha ma tiq

d ars t igy . ihna ma neqfils haga . huwa ma kans qaj i lkid a . kanu qaj i lyn é ? qolak d a mus fy mahalloh .

rah fen ? ma nerfihs waj ah . inta°

au z teqfim we

terfih ? terfihu fén ? rab°

and ummoh . bid d oh j eruh

el mad rasa . j erfihu imta ? rahet wajaja . hyj a bit

ana agulinta teyul

inty teguly

huwa feyulhyj a teoul

ihna negul

i ntu teqzi lu

hum j eou‘

lu

oulu

ana baoulin ta bi tgul

inty bi tqi i ly

huwa biqul

hyj a bi toul

ihu a binoul


ruh el k enys a .

i

raj ih J i srah . ana raj ih anz i l . el bintraj iha

'

tezfir el ihram . raj ih awad dyk henak . r

i

aj ihi

yn

j idrabu el kalb’

. inta~

su ftoh fen ? s’

uf‘

el bint d i !ma su ftis wala marra . ana saj ifak za

c

lan . safetha

qabl ma su ftak .

‘

nesfifak fen ? say f bi°

én ~

ak ? inta saj if el°

amud d a ? d i sofa wihéa .

C

au z'

é ?

hfiwa mus °

au z . m innakt’

és,lak ih

°

au z

'

fulus . hyjacanza e ? e r riggala d 61 mu s

C

au zynak . humma j e°

fizu

h ibr we waraq . hyj a tec

fizak qabl ma t ihrug . lam

ma°

u znak ma laqénaks .

“

u znahu m auwil embareh.

C

au zyn é ? 1nta°

au z tahod bet bi l ugra ? 1a, mu sC

au z . hfiwa kan hena . kunt bakul 1amma ga . ana

akun tamally fil bet . kunna bin°

azzil . ana kunt

henak . inty tekfiny fen ? hum bikunu cand abuhum .

kfin hena bukra ! kan °

and ina 1amma su ftoh . kunt°

andi

myn embareh bil lel ? hyja kanet maskyna .

hu m j ekfinu fy ed d ywan .,

ana akun c

and ak qabl ma

t i safir . ma ku ntis ashat m innak in ma k u ntis faqyr .

kanu fi has salu et l teatro . kan fi l -wadt d a es.

sa°

a

saret arba°

a i kan gara e

'

fil bet ? ~ kan abu el bint

gahh iz él fars . lamma t igy benak nek fin ihna rau

wahna . b i°

t betak li myn ? bi°

toh bi mytén gine .

teby° laha el qalam d a ? b1 tuh 16 ? by"

we 1hlas !

byc

“

loh‘

d i l ma aby°

si

haga .

~

agyb laki

k u tubak

bukra ; j egyb‘

u filad ak we j igu . gyboh hena l magibtahas Cand

i

abuha lé ? b id d uhum jegybfikC

alal

mad rasa .

'

gibnaha we b i°

nahai hu’

mma mu s gaibyn

banati

hum'

wajahumn mai

n imnas ta ij ib el’

lelai

d i .

mu sC

au z‘

yn'

, j enar’

nu<z

and ina. en nomi n

el ketyr°

a lamaCal

'

a ek kasal .'

i

n imti

bafd el gada. nimtu °

and myn

el l elai

elly fatet ? nam‘

fi1’

lokand a .Sham baqa !


J imlu el byr min el bahr . ~ imlyha nebyt ! malétu ha

lé ? laqetoh fy es s ikka . j i lqfina n israb d uhhan .

n i lqaha t i l°ah el kora . laqétfihum fen ? j i lqah waj ak .

laqét el gumla d i fy enby k itab. kan lat fy es

s ikka . banet loh bet . ibny lak bet latyf ! banu

luhum° issa gamb el genena . ma j ibnfis i lla ba

°

d ma

j igyhum fulus . raj iha tibny ba°

d e l<’

yd . humma

bij ibnu luhum seraj a . haka loh é ? j ihky loh kull

se . ihky waj ah 1amma teéfifoh . ma tihkys l i had d !

hyja tihky lak ba°

d én . kanu hakyjyn il kalam d a le?

ana giryt ketyr . girytu qawy , i s taranahu hena ! igry

betak qawam ! girj et tfil es sikka . bid d u hu m J1gru

casan j ihassalu e l wabfir . girytu wara el°

arabyj a .

ma bitigrys bi l°agal . imsy m in hena , ja walad !

misyt 1amma t i°

ibt . ma m isytis abad an qad d en na

har d a . misyna sawa tfil el lel . hyja m isjet m inbetha l i l hammam . el masy fy es subh mu fyd . ma

bid d aks timsy min hena ? hfiwa ma j irdas jebyc

ly

hu sanoh . tirda tihd im°

andy . ma tirdas timsy .

ridju embareh. n irda bi l taman d a . isha baqa bala

nom ! sihju es subh bad ry . hyj a t1sha es sa°

a sitta .

sihytu imta ? d 61 ma j ishfis bad ry .

aha lna (ha lna) ahadna (hadna)aha ltu (ha ltu ) ahattu (hattu )aha lu (ha lu ) ahad u (hadu )

aha lt (ha lt)aha/t (halt)ahatty (ha lty)aha l (ha l)ahalet (ha let)

ahatt (ha tt)ahatt (ha tt)abafly i(tmto)ahao

’

(had )ahadet

’

(hadet)


ndhu l

wci hi l

id d étC

afsak l i myn ? id dy loh qirsen we ana

ad dyhum lak ba‘

d én ! i d dyny s ikkyna ! kull ma j ib

d imfina binid dyhu m baqsys. ma bij id dys had d haga .

86 ' The Egyptian A lphabet

ga j esfif ummoh we j irgac

tany . bagyc’

and u hum 'k u ll .

jorn . gay jabd ak . bij iga hena j i°mila é ? ma 1511s

magy hena . ahfik baqa loh sana ma gas hena . aka l

ku ll mal abfih . jak lu 1amma j isba°

u . kul, ma ti s tanl

nas had d ! akalna we sibi°

na . taklu é fy ed duhr ?ku ll ma j iktib wigs jaho d franken . 1amma su itohkan wah id m inny kull elly wajaja . aha

’

d nahumc

alal

obera . bo d es sure

! ho dy d a we rfihy baqa !

intaq el masgfinyn ma nataqfis walakilma qud d am e l qady . z i

c

lit elly ma ruhtis abarik

laha . j isahh tiz°

alu m in sahibk um ? 1amma j izc

al

j isfarr . suf é l m iraj a biti lmac

ezzai ! h‘

allu el qezaz,

j i lmac

qawy . lamac

anoh maj ed fims. el haryr d a mu s

magzfil ta ij ih ; gazalu e l qu tn’

hytén ru fa lj aC

a . ik tirn ,

si rr habybak ! katamna el habar ma qu lnas l i had d .

ma j ik tims es sirr jémén . iqtum hitta we id dy . loh

el baqy'

! qatamu fil h ij ar z‘

aj el maganyn . iblas

baqa ! mus raj ih t iblas en nahar d a ? hi lsu mm sac 'a .

ma nihlass qabl ed duhr . kan’

halls 1amma talabtoh .

raj ih afda ba°

d nuss saca . inta fady e s saca d i ?1amma j ifdu j igu ca la ed d ywan . fidjet m in suglaha .

d irac

oh wirim min qarset ed d abbfir . el waram rah

min d awa el hakym . hu dfid ha wirmet . fi zin es san

duq d a qabl ma terfih ! nfiz in fy en nah'

ar’

alf barmyl .

wazanfih la’

qfih teqyl qawy . fic

i dny innak tesfif el

qadyja d i ! kan mau°

fid b i hidma . ana ma wa°

ad tfis

b i haga . wiq‘

e t m in es sibbak . uc

a tfiqaC

! su ftoh

waqic

m in fo q l i taht . kan raj ih juqa°

.

ma t ibt idys i lla 1amma aqfil lak ! ibtad éna nisrab d uhhan we ihn

’

a fi lad .,ibtidy fil akl ! istara loh

s é‘

f’

a‘

we katyna. ji stiru lu hum tarabézat we kar’

asy .

b id dy astiryh agat .k etyr lam‘

ma j igy' ly fulus . istir

‘

y


lak gu rnal tiqrah fil wabfir ! inta an i s t ina en nahar

d a . u qc

u d an is ashabak suwa ij a . hyj a t i°raf tian isen nas . auhastina m in zam

’an . 1amma t i safiru tu

hasfina‘

qawy . auhastina , ja hawaga ! ballykc

and ina

suwa ija ! hallahum°

and abuhum we safir . mu s rady

j ihallyh fil balad .

el bab inqafal°

alej a . es sibbak ma J1nqifils i lla

min guwa . elC

ilba d i t inqifil bi l mu ftah j atara é

elly imbac m in el budaca d i ? ma imba°

s m inha wala

haga . el fars d a J lmbac

fil kanto . timbz’

ic

lamma j igysahibha .

bij in’

ad u°

alal °

és er ragyf bi°

esryn fadda . nad e’

t

fy es suq cala et tirm i s . inhy el qadyja d i we ihlas !

es sa°a d i t i saWy kam fy edi

d ilala ? j i sawuc

esryn

ferank . rabby ibnak w'

e ihsin ad aboh l j irabby firah

we j eby°

hum . rabbénahu mc

alalc

iz’

z . habbyh d i l

waqt ! bid doh j ihabbynyc

and oh . habbu fu lfishum

taht e l ard . ma tihabbys minnoh haga !masy j isarsar fil ard . sarsaru

°

aleh . wad d a mad oh j ifarfishum kam jom fy er ryf. kas ki s e l

°

ara ~

byj a li wara ! J1kas k i s u el hu san ahsan jec

u dd el bint.

laglighum m in el h6f. j i lagligfihum fil kalam . ta

mally j itlaglig 1amma j itkallim . ma t ilagligfis'

fil ka

lam l in ta lagligt iny ketyr .

ana mi t°

auwidC

alal masy ek ketyr, i tc

auwid et

min sugrahac

alal qiraja . humma bij it‘

auwid ucala

rukub el hel . t i°raf t ithagga inglyzy ? i thagga ly

e l kilma d i ! et talamyz ma j i°

raffis j i thaggu lissa .

lazim ti tnaddaf, ja walad ! qfilu l i ummu kum timad

dafku m qabl ma tigu el mad rasa . qfil l il had damyn

j inaddafu es sala’

! had damak i thabas sah‘r fil zabtyj a .

in ma d afa c

tfis e lly c

alékumi

‘

tithibs u . el magl is ha


kam innu hum 11thibs u . ma t itfaddalfis tisrabu qahwa°

and ina e l lel d i ? i tfaddalu i s tara ij ahu ! ma bid

d u hums j i tfaddalu fy betak ? e l mal ik j itna° °

am fil

akl we es su rb . humma mi tna°°

amyn fyc

ysethum .

b id dy atna° °

am fy bétna . el habl e l ly kan e l humz’

i r

marbfit byh i tfakk . iza sad d étoh jeqfim j itfakk . hfiwa

ragil mi trabby ta ij ib . banatha m itrabbyjyn fil ma

d aris . uhwatak j itrabbu fy enby ku ttab ?

es sanduq i tmasmar bi masamyr hadyd . mas

maru bab el bet qabl ma safiru . ana mitc

aggib m in

konak lissa ma hu lu stis . i t°

aggibu min ku tr, en nas .

j i t°

aggibu elly safirt waj ah . el bet i twaddab qabl elc

u zfima . ahwalhum i twaddabet ta ij ib el a ijam d i .'

d a

ragi l mus m i tmad d in abad an . itmad d inu 1amma i tcal

l imu fil mad aris . d 6l nas mi tmad d inyn .

nazz il°

afsak fil markib ! mu s<i

au zyn J i nazzilu

had d wajahum . hfiwa gall id ku tuboh bi gi ld ahmar .

kitab asc

ar el fard fi sy es sa° i r el farsy itgallid kuwaij i s

qawy . farragny Cala ma°

and ak l bukra j ifarragfinac

alal budaca el gedyd a . sarrafny fulus ketyr qawy .

j isarraffih aktar m in e l lazim . hyj a wakk iletny fil

masala d i . myn elly j iwakk i lak°

annoh ? hfiwa ma

ad d ibs ibnoh zaj el laz im . e l me°

allimyn j iad d ibfih

bid al abfih .

akk id u ly innu hum ma J1safirfis m in gery . e l ha

bar d a mu s mu akkad .

' d awaha taij ibny . e1 bukama

mac

irffis j itaij ibu elC

a ijan . haijatet ly qamys we l ibas .

j i°raf j iha ijat banta16nat ta ij ib . warryny yd ak ! el

banat J1warrfina asgalhum fil imt ihan . wad dy el wa

lad bétoh ! bid d u hum j iwad d fina el mad rasa bil zur .

el qady sim i c loh . ma bid d aks t ismac

biqul é ?'

i s taksifu cala mahal l gedyd . safir bahr barra j i s tak


s if cala b ilad gedyd a . ana i s taswibt cad am es safar .j i s taswibu innak ma terfihs wajahum . i s tahs inet ka

lam abfiha . e elly t i s tahs infih ? bid d ak t istad samak ?

i stad u gazalén min eg gabal . i s tannfina 1amma n igy !

kunt t i s tanna myn 1amma su ftak ? i s tanad u cala ed

d arabzyn . bid d ak ti s t in i d ca la kalam mazbfit . qu s s

sac

rak ahsan tawyl qawy ! qassena el qumas°

ala

qad d el lu zfim . m id d riglak°

ala qad d hasyrtak !

inta bitmid d fil masy . lammet hu d fimha we haraget .

ma jelimmfisc

afsu hum i lla ba°

d ma j eruh . mimma°

a1a e s sutuh . tenamu fy enhy lokand a ? sad d essibbak

°

asan ma had d is j ebuss minnoh . es sikka d i

mas dfid a . fidil jek id d ml en nahar . kad d ét min es

subh l i l magrib . el masaj ib°

ammetna . ma azu nnis

in el hawa el asfar j e°

imm el b i lad k u llaha .

qal el jahfidy : aqu l lak , ja nu srany ? qal loh

qu l ly , ja j ahfidy ! ana<i

alim min c

u lama el cagam ,

we ma had d is j iqd ar j ibahi s ny filc

ilm . mu s es sultan

amar bi i s tihkam i s tambfil ? ja s ijady , elly tiwahhid u

allah ! d a se °

omrak ma kaltoh . ma lohs ah wala

uht . ihna ma ~fih imnas la es sual wa la el gawah .

inta in c

i rift ma tequ ls li had d la el qaryb wala el garyb .

qabilt hasan be mahmud , wakyl el au qaf. in kan

kallimnah ki d a, J i z°

al . iza ga , aruh waj ah ; ma gas,afdal fy bety . lau kunna nerfih, j inbi s it. iza kunt

t id fa"

d ijfinak , terfih ; ma tid fa°

s rah t inhibi s .


V Pr overbs and Sentences .

(gumal).

et tac

lym fy es sug'

r zaj en naosc

a la l haga r . c l

nu ss es‘s’

aga'C

a . Cand ed dyg j in°

i r if es saddy q‘

.

my n ta lab el Cu la s ihi r el laj a‘

ly . hus’ '

min f ummah

ieti i l hummah . qabl md tims’

y s’

z’

if r dj ih tehott r ig/ah

j e‘

n . my n tanna nd l moi j i tmanna . i n mi n lah' c

and

el ha lb hdg'

a, gul loh j a

‘

‘

sy dy . j iflyC

a la l ibra,we j ibla

c

el m i d ra . et tiff/Zr<:

a la a s’

ha‘

lha tu gac

. fom°

as a l we

fo‘

m basa l . i za moi hu nti s‘ tigda r ti thassa l ca la ma”

te

ry d , ry d elly tiod a r ti thassa l Ca le”

i n s’

uf t en n ugumfy ed du hr . bany ci dam ma

‘

j imloi s’ C

e‘

noh i lla et tu rcib.

ihu a fy et tafhy r t

we er r abbfy et tadby r . ez zarc

flahda r

we en na‘

s ahba r el hasud lci j esu‘

d . scihib c l hangloh maga

‘

m . el gij a‘

ma my°

ci d we er r abb j ihhum . es’

fug'

l elly tibtidyh tai/ib, taqryban hu lu s . my n gciwi r el

hadd ci d j i thi r ig bi na‘

r oh . elly ma j eh immah wassyc

a le‘

h go‘

z ummah . ncihu l we n i s’

r ab we bu hr a nemut.

scihib bd lén had d cib. gci lu li l g'

indyc

azz'i l rama ta r ti i

roh m in es sibbd h. j ehibb elC’

u la we lau ca la hctzug,

itlu b eg gd r qabl ed dd r ,

'

we el r afyo qabl et taryy.

el gi r d cand ummoh gaza‘

l . basa l bi hamsa . we bi hamsa

basa l . c l ac

wa r be‘

n c lC

imy s u lta‘

n .

ma“

fhy s’

gawabd t fi l bo‘

sta . c l gawd b m in masr li

ameryha°

a le‘

h ai r s”

wa‘

hid . j y lah gawcib mes o‘

ga r fil

bos ta .

C

a u z wa r agte‘

n bos ta hu ll wahd a bi oi r s’

e‘

n . el

bo‘

sta tigy imta ? ugr et el bo‘

sta Ca la el gu rnd lci t l i bi


taht masr . masr el odhi r a i smaha bi l a lmany ka i ro .

i shanda r el heby r ,ma lih er r um , bana medy net i shan

d aryj a we indafan fyha . el lug'

a cl gibtyj a hanu j i s tac

m i luha fy masr fi l h i tciba we el ha lcim qabl d u hul el

i s lcim ; fy hu tu bhci na'

t bi lci d el if r ang’ hu tu b hety ra

mahti i ba bi l l i s a‘

n el gibty. c l bahr c l abj ad we el bahr

c l a zr aq j i ng imc

u s awa cand el ha r ti imfy wast af ryga ,

we min hend h j ibti dy bahr en ny l .g

hd let el mci lyj a el mas ryj a j y a ij dmc

abbci s ba‘

s‘a et

tciny g‘

e‘

r ha‘

letha j j / a ij cim i sma‘ °

y l bci s‘a . c l hatt el ge

dy d m in a sj i i t l i gi rga i nfatahc

an qary b, we bac

d s’

u

wa ij a j em id duh ca la en ny l l i hadd qena . j ata r a el

ou dbci n beti'

ic

es s ihha el hady dC

a la l hatt et tany hat

tuha wa la li s sa ? es s ihah c l gedy da fy mu dy ryj et c l

behe‘

r a tihlas bac

d s’

uwa ij a . his a‘

ba‘

t Cama l eg g'

u z et

tciny m in es s ihha c l hady d lci z im taodymha ha'

lan . el

ma‘

lyj a r dj iha ti ifac

da rybet el a r d d i fasci n in dywa‘

n

c l a s’

ga'

l ahadha l i l mana‘

fiC

elc

omumyj a . el a rd d i

tidfat

md l qad d e“

? mandub el mci lyj a raj ih j ihda r l i l

mu dy ry/ac

asci n j ehaoogao el mu s ti la elly hatabet canham in j o

‘

me‘

n . el mufa tti s’

biyul el mat/a hety r j fi/ et ti r a cd i lwaqt ; hu

‘

wa ama r bi f ath el oanta r a d i bac

d hamas t

yj a‘

m . et ti rc

a d i rdj ihy n j ztahha ruha ba°

d gum°

a . el

a r cidy el°

a‘

lia elly hd net gabla tama lly sa r a‘

gy rawa‘

ha

c l mufattis’

es s ana d i .

bi la‘

d eg gezci i r fi l wagt el hd di r ta‘

bc

a li f r an sa ;

we hyj a wcigc

a be‘

n marah i s’

we tun i s . el l i sa‘

n elly

j i tha llimuh ahta r m in g‘

e‘

roh j j / af ryga huwa el li sa‘

n

elC

'

a r aby . ny i i j orh ahba r ba lad fy ameryha ,la

‘

hin

taht c l hu huma j y was'

inton . a sdmy hu hha‘

m ur u bba

bi ld d el i ngly z , edwar d es s tibi c , ma l ih we s u lta‘

n ; a lman

j e, wi lhelm et tciny ; i ta‘

lj a,fihto’

rc

ammanu el et ta‘

lit ; bi


la‘

d en nemsa , f r ansy s j us zf ; bi ld d el mosho‘

f ,n igu

‘

la

et ta‘

ny ; f rans a ,lu be

‘

; bi lci d er r um, gu rgy ; we

bi la‘

d et tu rh ,

c

abd el hamy d hd n . fy ahta r bi la‘

d el

f r ang magci lis ac

da‘

hum j ic

a ij i nhum el ahaly ,zaj magl i s

sau r a c l gawa‘

ny n fy mas r . ahs an bind/at el i s lam gasr

el hamr a,elly el esbanj o

‘

l j i sammuh alhambra , fy ge

r anada min bi lci d esbci nj a . eg ge‘

s‘el a lmci ny agwa ge

‘

s’

j y ed d inj a . el gabal el abj ad a cla gaba l fy ur u bba ;

huwa wcihid m in el g iba‘

l el mac

rufa bi i sm el alb .

fyh mad r a s a fy masr j i°

a ll imu fyha el mu hand i syn

we c l m i°

mci rgyj a . el fotogra‘

fa‘

t suwar j a‘

hduha bi

nur es’

s’

ams . inta bi ti tc

a llimC

i lm en naba‘

ta‘

t we°

i lm

el baj a‘

tra j y mad ra set ez zi r a a ? tigdar ti°

r af hety r°

anC

i lm en nabci tci t m in gene‘

net el azbahyj a , Ca s ti n fyha

asga‘

r hety r a m in wa st afry ga we m in bi la‘

d el hind

we bila‘

d ta‘

nj a . el a rd medauwar a ,mu s

’

mebattata .

hyj a ledur hawa le‘n es’

sams,we mu s

’

es sams elly tedur

hawale‘

n el ard, el qama r j ed i i r hawa len el a rd hu ll

talatyn j om mar ra . hu suf es s’

ams j ihsa l m in m igy c l

qama r be‘

n el ar ct we es s’

ams ; we hu suf el qama r

j ihsa l min m igy el ard be‘

n el ’

gamar we es’

sams lamma

di ll el a r d j u ga° c

ala l qamar . i sm c l field su elly

ihtar ac

en u adda‘

ra elly j es’

uf u biha en n ugum ha‘

n ga

ly le‘

o ; huwa ma‘

t s anet 1 642 my la‘

dyj a we indaf an fy

felo‘

r ens a . el hita‘

b elly ha taboh batlymos,c l fela

‘

suf er

r i imy ,

°

ahz en nugum ta rg imoh bi lc

a raby c l ferga‘

ny .

el gabrc

i lm h i s cib a°

la, j is ta

°

milu fyh c l hu r i if bidd l

c l a°

d ci d . el hymj ac

i lm j i‘

r af u boh g in s el agza elly

m i tr ahh iba m inha el as’

j a‘

t. c l wabur j ims‘y bi l bu hd r ;we c l buha

‘

r j itla°

m in cl ma ifa es s ahna . la‘

hin fyh

wabura‘

t timsy bi hciga ta'

nj a ger el bu hci r i smaha el

kahrabayja . c l hahraman j itlac

mzn boru‘

s'

s ia we min


bar r eb anadbl . el gi te el ly j i na uwa r u byh s iha’

hi

el

bi lci dywe i l ga

'

z

“

elly yzwa llac

uh"

fi l lambd t fi l b'

ij i i t, j itla

°

u m in el fahm el v hagar . da r wy n ,el

c

ci lim el i n

gly zy j y et f tabyc

a,ihtasaf el

.

asl c l hagygy li l in sa‘

n

we el‘

mahlugci t et ta‘

nj a . afhd r ohc

an el mas ci /a d i

m ac

rufa fi l wagt e'

l hd di r bi i sm asl el mahlfiqfit , we

hety r m in c lc

u lama c l hu bd -ri

giblu c l afha‘

r d i .

au wa l h iui b taba u h hti n fy germanj a m inr u bc

emyj a

we = hamsyn s ana . m in gab/aha hctnet cl hu tu b hu llaha‘

mahti i ba bi l hatt. ahba r feld s ifet el Ca rab ibn sy na el

mac

r uf Cand el if rang bi i sm avi s enna ,we ibn r u sd ,

el mac

r i if<:

and u hum bi i sm averrho es . i bn'

sy na in

wa lad fy bu hd r a'

s anet 3 58 h igryj a ,we ibn r u s

‘d in

wa la d fy bi la’

d esba‘

nj a s anet 5 2 0 h igryj'

a . el magry zy

mci t s anet 819 hig'

ryj a ; huwa hatab g'

ogra‘

fyj et masr

elly intabaC

et j y matbac

et bi t/tip ; we ab el mahas in

hatab tci ryh masr m in a ij a‘

m c l ha lyfa coma r l i hadd

mot el mea llif s anet 847 h igryj a . ibn ha ldun htin m inac

lamel’

masryjy n , we hatab ta’

ryh tawy l l i masr . ga

re‘

ti s’

dywd n'

el buhtu ry”

es sci°

i r c l ma s’

h'

i i r ? es’

s’

eh

nci syf c l j azgy'

hatab h itci bc

azym i smoh magmaC

el

bahren . a rbaC

r iwa‘

j d t m i n r i wa‘

j at ” infer es’

s’

a‘°

i r

el f ran sa‘

wy i ttargimu bi lC

"

a r aby'

ed dd r zg targima

C

azyma we i ntabaC

u fy masr .

j itc

a ll imc

i lm c l'

lug’

a.

C

and ah gdmusc

a r aby we in

g lyéy . tigda r tegu l ly enhy agrumyj ac

araby ahs an

min el hu ll ? garetts’

el maga‘

laC

a la l° '

a r aby ed da

r ig bi hu r uf fr angy/a fy gu r na l el mo qattam beta“ c

embd reh? eli

fa llah a masry mi c mi tca ll im . h ef

asfci n"

i nnoh j i ltiz im j i t°

a llim a l ifbe‘

sa°

ba ha iry , we lamma

bij itha ll imoh . huwa f

ang . j ztc

a'

llim el ' li sa‘

n elly j i tha l

(°

a ldmci t l i l gi rdj a we l i l hi s cib).

damma (waqf hafyf).

damma we noqta (waqf atwa l).

no qta (waqf tam).

no qteten (ma°naha zaj ; hag

'

at zaj dol ;C

alamet i s tifham .

°

a lamet ta°

aggu b we°

a lamet amr .

qos én (el kalam elly bénhum tafsyr el kalam

elly fat).

n igma (suf fy giha

zaj id , we

naqis (tarh).

fy , marrat (darb).

Cala (qi sma).

Jrsawy .

UNIVERSITY OF C AL IFORNIA LIBM RY

BERKELEY

Retu rn to d esk from whi ch borrowed .

Thi s book i s DU E on the las t d ate s tamped below.

LD 21- l oom (A25 28 8 1 6 )4 7 6

Egyptian Alphabet for the Egyptian People - Forgotten Books

Documents

Transcript of Egyptian Alphabet for the Egyptian People - Forgotten Books