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Almah (Egyptian dancer)

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Egyptian Arabic , locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( Arabic : العاميه المصريه ) [el.ʕæmˈmejjæ l.mɑsˤˈɾejjɑ] ), or simply Masri (also Masry , lit.   ' Egyptian ' ) ( مَصري ), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic variety in Egypt . It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family , and originated in the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt . The estimated 100 million Egyptians speak a continuum of dialects , among which Cairene is the most prominent. It is also understood across most of the Arabic-speaking countries due to broad Egyptian influence in the region, including through Egyptian cinema and Egyptian music . These factors help to make it the most widely spoken and by far the most widely studied variety of Arabic .

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55-781: Almah or Almeh ( Egyptian Arabic : عالمة ʕálma  IPA: [ˈʕælmæ] , plural ʕawālim عوالم [ʕæˈwæːlem, -lɪm] , from Arabic : علم ʻālima "to know, be learned") was the name of a class of courtesans or female entertainers in Egypt , women educated to sing and recite classical poetry and to discourse wittily. They were educated girls of good social standing, trained in dancing, singing and poetry, present at festivals and entertainments, and hired as mourners at funerals. The Awalim were first introduced as singers, not dancers-cum-prostitutes, according to Edward William Lane 's book, Manner and Costumes of modern Egyptians . Lane additionally wrote that

110-425: A W or Y as the last root consonant, which is often reflected in paradigms with an extra final vowel in the stem (e.g. ráma/yírmi "throw" from R-M-Y); meanwhile, hollow verbs have a W or Y as the middle root consonant, and the stems of such verbs appear to have only two consonants (e.g. gá:b/yigí:b "bring" from G-Y-B). Strong verbs are those that have no "weakness" (e.g. W or Y) in the root consonants. Each verb has

165-521: A distinct literary genre. Amongst certain groups within Egypt's elite, Egyptian Arabic enjoyed a brief period of rich literary output. That dwindled with the rise of Pan-Arabism , which had gained popularity in Egypt by the second half of the twentieth century, as demonstrated by Egypt's involvement in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War under King Farouk of Egypt . The Egyptian revolution of 1952 , led by Mohammed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser , further enhanced

220-408: A given vowel pattern for Past (a or i) and Present (a or i or u). Combinations of each exist. Form I verbs have a given vowel pattern for past ( a or i ) and present ( a , i or u ). Combinations of each exist: Example: kátab/yíktib "write" Note that, in general, the present indicative is formed from the subjunctive by the addition of bi- ( bi-a- is elided to ba- ). Similarly, the future

275-742: A modernist, secular approach and disagreed with the assumption that Arabic was an immutable language because of its association with the Qur'an . The first modern Egyptian novel in which the dialogue was written in the vernacular was Muhammad Husayn Haykal 's Zaynab in 1913. It was only in 1966 that Mustafa Musharafa 's Kantara Who Disbelieved was released, the first novel to be written entirely in Egyptian Arabic. Other notable novelists, such as Ihsan Abdel Quddous and Yusuf Idris , and poets, such as Salah Jahin , Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi and Ahmed Fouad Negm , helped solidify vernacular literature as

330-619: A phonology that differs significantly from that of other varieties of Arabic, and has its own inventory of consonants and vowels. In contrast to CA and MSA, but like all modern colloquial varieties of Arabic , Egyptian Arabic nouns are not inflected for case and lack nunation (with the exception of certain fixed phrases in the accusative case, such as شكراً [ˈʃokɾɑn] , "thank you"). As all nouns take their pausal forms, singular words and broken plurals simply lose their case endings. In sound plurals and dual forms, where, in MSA, difference in case

385-420: A preference for using Modern Standard Arabic in his public speeches, his successor, Gamal Abdel Nasser was renowned for using the vernacular and for punctuating his speeches with traditional Egyptian words and expressions. Conversely, Modern Standard Arabic was the norm for state news outlets, including newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. That was especially true of Egypt's national broadcasting company,

440-665: A special inflectional pattern, as shown in the table. Only a small number of common colors inflect this way: ʔaḥmaṛ "red"; ʔazraʔ "blue"; ʔaxḍaṛ "green"; ʔaṣfaṛ "yellow"; ʔabyaḍ "white"; ʔiswid "black"; ʔasmaṛ "brown-skinned, brunette"; ʔaʃʔaṛ "blond(e)". The remaining colors are invariable, and mostly so-called nisba adjectives derived from colored objects: bunni "brown" (< bunn "coffee powder"); ṛamaadi "gray" (< ṛamaad "ashes"); banafsigi "purple" (< banafsig "violet"); burtuʔaani "orange" (< burtuʔaan "oranges"); zibiibi "maroon" (< zibiib "raisins"); etc., or of foreign origin: beeع "beige" from

495-730: A spoken language until the 17th century by peasant women in Upper Egypt . Coptic is still the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and the Coptic Catholic Church . Egyptian Arabic has no official status and is not officially recognized as a language. Standard Arabic is the official language of the state as per constitutional law with the name اللغة العربية al-luġa al-ʿarabiyyah , lit. "the Arabic language". Interest in

550-573: A step further and provided for his Standard Arabic plays versions in colloquial Arabic for the performances. Mahmud Taymur has published some of his plays in two versions, one in Standard, one in colloquial Arabic, among them: Kidb fi Kidb ( Arabic : كذب في كذب , lit.   'All lies', 1951 or ca. 1952) and Al-Muzayyifun ( Arabic : المزيفون , romanized :  Al-Muzayyifūn , lit.   'The Forgers', ca. 1953). The writers of stage plays in Egyptian Arabic after

605-503: A study of three Egyptian newspapers ( Al-Ahram , Al-Masry Al-Youm , and Al-Dustour ) Zeinab Ibrahim concluded that the total number of headlines in Egyptian Arabic in each newspaper varied. Al-Ahram did not include any. Al-Masry Al-Youm had an average of 5% of headlines in Egyptian, while Al-Dustour averaged 11%. As the status of Egyptian Arabic as opposed to Classical Arabic can have such political and religious implications in Egypt,

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660-442: Is formed from the subjunctive by the addition of ḥa- ( ḥa-a- is elided to ḥa- ). The i in bi- or in the following prefix will be deleted according to the regular rules of vowel syncope: Example: kátab/yíktib "write": non-finite forms Example: fíhim/yífham "understand" Boldfaced forms fíhm-it and fíhm-u differ from the corresponding forms of katab ( kátab-it and kátab-u due to vowel syncope). Note also

715-410: Is present even in pausal forms, the genitive/accusative form is the one preserved. Fixed expressions in the construct state beginning in abu , often geographic names, retain their -u in all cases. Nouns take either a sound plural or broken plural . The sound plural is formed by adding endings, and can be considered part of the declension. For the broken plural, however, a different pattern for

770-486: Is the case with Parisian French , Cairene Arabic is by far the most prevalent dialect in the country. Egyptian Arabic has become widely understood in the Arabic-speaking world primarily for two reasons: The proliferation and popularity of Egyptian films and other media in the region since the early 20th century as well as the great number of Egyptian teachers and professors who were instrumental in setting up

825-798: Is the predominant variety of the French language in France , Andorra and Monaco , in its formal and informal registers. It has, for a long time, been associated with Standard French . It is now seen as a variety of French alongside Acadian French , Belgian French , Quebec French , Swiss French , etc. In Paris, nasal vowels are no longer pronounced as in traditional Parisian French: /ɑ̃/ → [ɒ̃] , /ɛ̃/ → [æ̃] , /ɔ̃/ → [õ] and /œ̃/ → [æ̃] . Many distinctions are lost: /a/ and /ɑ/ , /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ , /ø/ and /ə/ , /ɛ̃/ and /œ̃/ and /nj/ and /ɲ/ . Otherwise, some speakers still distinguish /a/ and /ɑ/ in stressed syllables, but they pronounce

880-424: Is used to specify grammatical concepts such as causative , intensive , passive , or reflexive , and involves varying the stem form. For example, from the root K-T-B "write" is derived form I kátab/yíktib "write", form II káttib/yikáttib "cause to write", form III ká:tib/yiká:tib "correspond", etc. The other axis is determined by the particular consonants making up the root. For example, defective verbs have

935-619: Is used. Literary Arabic is a standardized language based on the language of the Qur'an , i.e. Classical Arabic . The Egyptian vernacular is almost universally written in the Arabic alphabet for local consumption, although it is commonly transcribed into Latin letters or in the International Phonetic Alphabet in linguistics text and textbooks aimed at teaching non-native learners. Egyptian Arabic's phonetics, grammatical structure, and vocabulary are influenced by

990-532: The Arab Radio and Television Union , which was established with the intent of providing content for the entire Arab world , not merely Egypt, hence the need to broadcast in the standard, rather than the vernacular, language. The Voice of the Arabs radio station, in particular, had an audience from across the region, and the use of anything other than Modern Standard Arabic was viewed as eminently incongruous. In

1045-546: The Coptic language ; its rich vocabulary is also influenced by Turkish and by European languages such as French , Italian , Greek , and English . Speakers of Egyptian Arabic generally call their vernacular 'Arabic ' ( عربى , [ˈʕɑrɑbi] ) when juxtaposed with non-Arabic languages; " Colloquial Egyptian " ( العاميه المصريه , [el.ʕæmˈmejjæ l.mɑsˤˈɾejjɑ] ) or simply " Aamiyya " ( عاميه , colloquial ) when juxtaposed with Modern Standard Arabic and

1100-807: The Egyptian Revolution of 1952 include No'man Ashour , Alfred Farag , Saad Eddin Wahba  [ ar ] , Rashad Roushdy , and Yusuf Idris . Thereafter the use of colloquial Egyptian Arabic in theater is stable and common. Later writers of plays in colloquial Egyptian include Ali Salem , and Naguib Surur . Novels in Egyptian Arabic after the 1940s and before the 1990s are rare. There are by Mustafa Musharrafah  [ ar ] Qantarah Alladhi Kafar ([قنطرة الذي كفر ] Error: {{Langx}}: invalid parameter: |lable= ( help ) , Cairo, 1965) and Uthman Sabri's ( Arabic : عثمان صبري , romanized :  ʻUthmān Ṣabrī ; 1896–1986) Journey on

1155-488: The Egyptian dialect ( اللهجه المصريه , [elˈlæhɡæ l.mɑsˤˈɾejjɑ] ) or simply Masri ( مَصرى , [ˈmɑsˤɾi] , Egyptian ) when juxtaposed with other vernacular Arabic dialects . The term Egyptian Arabic is usually used synonymously with Cairene Arabic , which is technically a dialect of Egyptian Arabic. The country's native name, مصر Maṣr , is often used locally to refer to Cairo itself. As

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1210-1376: The Nile Mission Press . By 1932 the whole New Testament and some books of the Old Testament had been published in Egyptian Arabic in Arabic script. The dialogs in the following novels are partly in Egyptian Arabic, partly in Standard Arabic: Mahmud Tahir Haqqi 's Adhra' Dinshuway ( Arabic : عذراء دنشواي ; 1906), Yaqub Sarruf 's Fatat Misr ( Arabic : فتاة مصر , romanized :  Fatāt Miṣr ; first published in Al-Muqtataf 1905–1906), and Mohammed Hussein Heikal 's Zaynab (1914). Early stage plays written in Egyptian Arabic were translated from or influenced by European playwrights. Muhammad 'Uthman Jalal translated plays by Molière , Jean Racine and Carlo Goldoni to Egyptian Arabic and adapted them as well as ten fables by Jean de La Fontaine . Yaqub Sanu translated to and wrote plays on himself in Egyptian Arabic. Many plays were written in Standard Arabic, but performed in colloquial Arabic. Tawfiq al-Hakim took this

1265-499: The 21st century the number of books published in Egyptian Arabic has increased a lot. Many of them are by female authors, for example I Want to Get Married! ( عايزه أتجوز , ʻĀyzah atgawwiz , 2008) by Ghada Abdel Aal and She Must Have Travelled ( شكلها سافرت , Shaklahā sāfarit , 2016) by Soha Elfeqy. Sa'īdi Arabic is a different variety than Egyptian Arabic in Ethnologue.com and ISO 639-3 and in other sources, and

1320-519: The Almah didn't display herself at all, but sang from behind a screen or from another room at weddings and other respectable festivities. Consequently, the Awalem were not subject to exile in Upper Egypt . In the 19th century, almeh came to be used as a synonym to all the erotic local dancers who usually came from very poor backgrounds and sometimes contributed in sexual acts in return of money, hence why

1375-622: The Bird';; 1994), Baha' Awwad's ( Arabic : بهاء عواد , romanized :  Bahāʾ ʿAwwād ) Shams il-Asil ( شمس الاصيل , Shams il-ʿAṣīl , 'Late Afternoon Sun'; 1998), Safa Abdel Al Moneim 's Min Halawit il-Ruh ( من حلاوة الروح , Min Ḥalāwit il-Rōḥ , 'Zest for Life', 1998), Samih Faraj's ( Arabic : سامح فرج , romanized :  Sāmiḥ Faraj ) Banhuf Ishtirasa ( بانهوف اشتراسا , Bānhūf Ishtirāsā , 'Bahnhof Strasse', 1999); autobiographies include

1430-723: The Burden from the Language of the People of Cairo") by the traveler and lexicographer Yusuf al-Maghribi ( يوسف المغربي ), with Misr here meaning "Cairo". It contains key information on early Cairene Arabic and the language situation in Egypt in the Middle Ages . The main purpose of the document was to show that while the Cairenes' vernacular contained many critical "errors" vis-à-vis Classical Arabic, according to al-Maghribi, it

1485-534: The Cat';, 2001) by Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi is exceptional in its use of Saʽidi Arabic . 21st-century journals publishing in Egyptian Arabic include Bārti (from at least 2002), the weekly magazine Idhak lil-Dunya ( اضحك للدنيا , Iḍḥak lil-Dunyā , 'Smile for the World';, from 2005), and the monthly magazine Ihna    [ ar ] ( احنا , Iḥna , 'We', from 2005). In

1540-505: The French; bamba "pink" from Turkish pembe . Verbal nouns of form I are not regular. The following table lists common patterns. Egyptian Arabic object pronouns are clitics , in that they attach to the end of a noun, verb, or preposition, with the result forming a single phonological word rather than separate words. Clitics can be attached to the following types of words: With verbs, indirect object clitic pronouns can be formed using

1595-468: The Nile ( Egyptian Arabic : رحلة في النيل , romanized:  Riḥlah fī il-Nīl , 1965) (and his Bet Sirri ( بيت سري , Bēt Sirri , 'A Brothel', 1981) that apparently uses a mix of Standard Arabic and Egyptian Arabic ). Prose published in Egyptian Arabic since the 1990s include the following novels: Yusuf al-Qa'id 's Laban il-Asfur ( لبن العصفور , Laban il-ʿAṣfūr , 'The Milk of

1650-754: The Nile Valley such as Qift in Upper Egypt through pre-Islamic trade with Nabateans in the Sinai Peninsula and the easternmost part of the Nile Delta . Egyptian Arabic seems to have begun taking shape in Fustat , the first Islamic capital of Egypt, now part of Cairo . One of the earliest linguistic sketches of Cairene Arabic is a 16th-century document entitled Dafʿ al-ʾiṣr ʿan kalām ahl Miṣr ( دفع الإصر عن كلام أهل مصر , "The Removal of

1705-433: The consonants, along with prefixes and/or suffixes, specify grammatical functions such as tense, person, and number, in addition to changes in the meaning of the verb that embody grammatical concepts such as causative , intensive , passive or reflexive . Each particular lexical verb is specified by two stems, one used for the past tense and one used for non-past tenses along with subjunctive and imperative moods. To

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1760-561: The country. The dialect of the Fellah in Northern Egypt is noted for a distinct accent, replacing the urban pronunciations of / ɡ / (spelled ج gīm ) and / q / ( ق qāf ) with [ ʒ ] and [ ɡ ] respectively, but that is not true of all rural dialects, a lot of them do not have such replacement. The dialect also has many grammatical differences when contrasted to urban dialects. Egyptian Arabic has

1815-606: The education systems of various countries in the Arabian Peninsula and also taught there and in other countries such as Algeria and Libya . Also, many Lebanese artists choose to sing in Egyptian. Arabic was spoken in parts of Egypt such as the Eastern Desert and Sinai before Islam. However, Nile Valley Egyptians slowly adopted Arabic as a written language following the Muslim conquest of Egypt in

1870-417: The former stem, suffixes are added to mark the verb for person, number, and gender, while to the latter stem, a combination of prefixes and suffixes are added. (Very approximately, the prefixes specify the person and the suffixes indicate number and gender.) Since Arabic lacks an infinitive , the third person masculine singular past tense form serves as the "dictionary form" used to identify a verb. For example,

1925-451: The last decades of the 19th century until the 1920s, there were some of the most notable and last "awalim" of Egypt: Egyptian Arabic language While it is primarily a spoken language, the written form is used in novels, plays and poems ( vernacular literature ), as well as in comics, advertising, some newspapers and transcriptions of popular songs. In most other written media and in radio and television news reporting, literary Arabic

1980-726: The letter "â" as [aː] : pâte [paːt] . In the south of France, nasal vowels have not changed and are still pronounced as in traditional Parisian French: enfant [ɑ̃ˈfɑ̃] , pain [pɛ̃] , bon [bɔ̃] and brun [bʁœ̃] . Many distinctions are lost. At the end of words, most speakers do not distinguish /e/ and /ɛ/ : both livré and livret are pronounced [liˈvʁe] . In closed syllables, they no longer distinguish /ɔ/ and /o/ or /œ/ and /ø/ : both notre and nôtre are pronounced [nɔtʁ̥] , and both jeune and jeûne are pronounced [ʒœn] . The distinctions of /a/ and /ɑ/ and of /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ are lost. Older speakers pronounce all e s: chaque [ˈʃakə] and vêtement [ˈvɛtəmɑ̃] . In

2035-503: The local vernacular began in the 1800s (in opposition to the language of the ruling class, Turkish) , as the Egyptian national movement for self-determination was taking shape. For many decades to follow, questions about the reform and the modernization of Arabic were hotly debated in Egyptian intellectual circles. Proposals ranged from developing neologisms to replace archaic terminology in Modern Standard Arabic to

2090-447: The one by Ahmed Fouad Negm , by Mohammed Naser Ali  [ ar ] Ula Awwil ( اولى أول , Ūlá Awwil , 'First Class Primary School'), and Fathia al-Assal 's Hudn il-Umr ( حضن العمر , Ḥuḍn il-ʿUmr , 'The Embrace of a Lifetime'). The epistolary novel Jawabat Haraji il-Gutt ( Sa'idi Arabic : جوابات حراجى القط , romanized:  Jawābāt Ḥarājī il-Guṭṭ , lit.   'Letters of Haraji

2145-424: The perfect with / i / , for example for فهم this is faham instead of fihim . Other examples for this are لَبَس , labas , 'to wear', نَزَل , nazal , 'to descend', شَرَب , sharab , 'to drink', نَسَى , nasá , 'to forget', رَجَع, طَلَع, رَكَب. Port Said 's dialect (East Delta) is noted for a "heavier", more guttural sound, compared to other regions of

2200-488: The postposition of demonstratives and interrogatives, the modal meaning of the imperfect and the integration of the participle. The Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic variety of the western desert differs from all other Arabic varieties in Egypt in that it linguistically is part of Maghrebi Arabic . Northwest Arabian Arabic is also distinct from Egyptian Arabic. Egyptian Arabic varies regionally across its sprachraum , with certain characteristics being noted as typical of

2255-417: The preposition li- plus a clitic. Both direct and indirect object clitic pronouns can be attached to a single verb: agíib "I bring", agíb-hu "I bring it", agib-húu-lik "I bring it to you", m-agib-hu-lkíi-ʃ "I do not bring it to you". Verbs in Arabic are based on a stem made up of three or four consonants. The set of consonants communicates the basic meaning of a verb. Changes to the vowels in between

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2310-464: The pronunciation of the origin of the term, the British guinea ). The speech of the older Alexandrians is also noted for use of the same pre-syllable (ne-) in the singular and plural of the first person present and future tenses, which is also a common feature of Tunisian Arabic and also of Maghrebi Arabic in general. The dialects of the western Delta tend to use the perfect with / a / instead of

2365-509: The question of whether Egyptian Arabic should be considered a "dialect" or "language" can be a source of debate. In sociolinguistics , Egyptian Arabic can be seen as one of many distinct varieties that, despite arguably being languages on abstand grounds, are united by a common Dachsprache in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). During the early 1900s many portions of the Bible were published in Egyptian Arabic. These were published by

2420-410: The revolutionary government heavily sponsored the use of the Egyptian vernacular in films, plays, television programmes, and music, the prerevolutionary use of Modern Standard Arabic in official publications was retained. Linguistic commentators have noted the multi-faceted approach of the Egyptian revolutionaries towards the Arabic language. Whereas Egypt's first president , Mohammed Naguib exhibited

2475-492: The seventh century. Until then, they had spoken either Koine Greek or Egyptian in its Coptic form. A period of Coptic-Arabic bilingualism in Lower Egypt lasted for more than three centuries. The period would last much longer in the south. Arabic had been already familiar to Valley Egyptians since Arabic had been spoken throughout the Eastern Desert and Sinai . Arabic was also a minority language of some residents of

2530-446: The significance of Pan-Arabism, making it a central element of Egyptian state policy. The importance of Modern Standard Arabic was reemphasised in the public sphere by the revolutionary government, and efforts to accord any formal language status to the Egyptian vernacular were ignored. Egyptian Arabic was identified as a mere dialect, one that was not spoken even in all of Egypt, as almost all of Upper Egypt speaks Sa'idi Arabic . Though

2585-427: The simple division. The language shifts from the eastern to the western parts of the Nile Delta , and the varieties spoken from Giza to Minya are further grouped into a Middle Egypt cluster. Despite the differences, there are features distinguishing all the Egyptian Arabic varieties of the Nile Valley from any other varieties of Arabic. Such features include reduction of long vowels in open and unstressed syllables,

2640-560: The simplification of syntactical and morphological rules and the introduction of colloquialisms to even complete "Egyptianization" ( تمصير , tamṣīr ) by abandoning the so-called Modern Standard Arabic in favor of Masri or Egyptian Arabic. Proponents of language reform in Egypt included Qasim Amin , who also wrote the first Egyptian feminist treatise, former President of the Egyptian University , Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed , and noted intellectual Salama Moussa . They adopted

2695-488: The speech of certain regions. The dialect of Alexandria (West Delta) is noted for certain shibboleths separating its speech from that of Cairo (South Delta). The ones that are most frequently noted in popular discourse are the use of the word falafel as opposed to طعميّة taʿmiyya for the fava-bean fritters common across the country and the pronunciation of the word for the Egyptian pound ( جنيه ginēh [ɡeˈneː] ), as [ˈɡeni] , closer to

2750-469: The stem is used. The sound plural with the suffix ـِين , -īn is used for nouns referring to male persons that are participles or follow the pattern CaCCaaC. It takes the form ـيِين , -yīn for nouns of the form CaCCa and the form ـيِّين , -yyīn for nisba adjectives. A common set of nouns referring to colors, as well as a number of nouns referring to physical defects of various sorts ( ʔaṣlaʕ "bald"; ʔaṭṛaʃ "deaf"; ʔaxṛas "dumb"), take

2805-480: The syncope in ána fhím-t "I understood". Example: dárris/yidárris "teach" Boldfaced forms indicate the primary differences from the corresponding forms of katab : Example: sá:fir/yisá:fir "travel" The primary differences from the corresponding forms of darris (shown in boldface) are: Defective verbs have a W or Y as the last root consonant. French of France#Paris French of France ( French : français de France [fʁɑ̃sɛ də fʁɑ̃s] )

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2860-481: The traditional erotic dancers of Egypt got all their performances banned in 1834, because they were considered "unclassy". As a result of the ban, all the dancers in modern Egypt became Awalim , which was officially classified as a legal occupation in Egypt. Transliterated into French as almée , the term came to be synonymous with " belly dancer " in European Orientalism of the 19th Century. From

2915-538: The two varieties have limited mutual intelligibility . It carries little prestige nationally but continues to be widely spoken, with 19,000,000 speakers. The traditional division between Upper and Lower Egypt and their respective differences go back to ancient times. Egyptians today commonly call the people of the north بَحَارْوَه , baḥārwah ( [bɑˈħɑɾwɑ] ) and those of the south صَعَايْدَه , ṣaʿāydah ( [sˤɑˈʕɑjdɑ] ). The differences throughout Egypt, however, are more wide-ranging and do not neatly correspond to

2970-432: The verb meaning "write" is often specified as kátab , which actually means "he wrote". In the paradigms below, a verb will be specified as kátab/yíktib (where kátab means "he wrote" and yíktib means "he writes"), indicating the past stem ( katab- ) and non-past stem ( -ktib- , obtained by removing the prefix yi- ). The verb classes in Arabic are formed along two axes. One axis (described as "form I", "form II", etc.)

3025-590: Was also related to Arabic in other respects. With few waves of immigration from the Arabian peninsula such as the Banu Hilal exodus, who later left Egypt and were settled in Morocco and Tunisia, together with the ongoing Islamization and Arabization of the country, multiple Arabic varieties, one of which is Egyptian Arabic, slowly supplanted spoken Coptic. Local chroniclers mention the continued use of Coptic as

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