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Sunday
Editor-in-chief
Managing Editor
Youssef Sidhom
Samia Sidhom
Editorial
Problems on hold
One year into Sisi’s presidency
Coptic demands await
decisions
Youssef Sidhom
It is one year since Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi became
President of Egypt and, even though one year is admittedly
too short a time span over which to assess a president,
the Egyptian media has taken it upon itself to evaluate
the President’s year-long performance. The majority of
those polled expressed appreciation of President Sisi’s
character, performance and accomplishments.
Obviously, the President has earned the love,
respect and support of Egyptians. He was honest and
keen to realise the pledges he had made. His simple
language and soft-spoken, truthful, realistic speech
went straight to the heart of the people and rallied the
arduous work much-needed for Egypt’s renaissance.
From the start, he made it clear he carried no magic
wand to work miracles; he openly said there was no
way he could on his own save Egypt [from the ruinous
aftermath of the Arab Spring] and place it back on
the path of revival, and that all Egyptians had to work
very hard on that score.
This vision was put into action when the New Suez Canal
project was launched last August. While it was no secret
that Egypt’s coffers were empty and Egyptians expected
the government to resort to Arab or international funding
to finance the huge project, President Sisi stunned them
by saying that they alone were to fund the megaproject.
He said the New Suez Canal would be the kiss of life
for the Egyptian economy, and the gift Egypt offers the
entire world. His words worked magic; as soon as the
Central Bank issued investment certificates to fund the
New Suez Canal, Egyptians rushed to buy them. In a
matter of eight working days the EGP60 billion needed
for the project were collected. Today, one year into Mr
Sisi’s presidency and less than one year since the start of
the digging works, Egypt is preparing to open the new
waterway. The project was completed in record time
thanks to the challenge by President Sisi to complete it
in one year instead of the estimated three.
President Sisi set out on a number of State visits to
strengthen bonds with Arab States, revive ties with
African States—especially Ethiopia—and foster
strategic relations with global powers such as Russia,
China, the US and Europe. His most recent visit took
him earlier this month to Germany and Hungary.
The president acted as Egypt’s best ambassador;
he earned trust, respect and appreciation. He signed
political, economic, and military agreements; and
fostered friendly relations with various States. He
acquired new friends for Egypt, but did not give up the
old ones. He never antagonised anyone, never allowed
himself to be drawn into verbal dispute, and was not
troubled by declarations or stances against him. He
always made people feel he owed them explanations of
what they questioned. He cared to highlight that it was
the will of the Egyptian people and their massive revolt
on 30 June 2013 that led to the overthrow of the Islamist
Muslim Brother President Muhammad Mursi, and the
subsequent Roadmap to a democratic future drawn by
representatives of the various sectors of the Egyptian
community. He was keen to ascertain the independence
of Egypt’s judiciary. He unfailingly adhered to the
democratic path and has confirmed that the third step
of the Roadmap, the parliamentary elections, will take
place before yearend.
President Sisi was the star of the show at the Egypt
Economic Development Conference (EEDC) which
took place last March in Sharm al-Sheikh. The EEDC
set the ground for economic reform and paved the way
to all States and international institutions to invest in
Egypt. True, Egypt has not yet reaped the fruit, but all
indicators point at a promising future that will shower
Egyptians with abundance some two years from now.
All the accomplishments achieved during President
Sisi’s year in office were not realised under smooth
conditions; in fact they came amid the colossal challenge
of fighting terrorism on all fronts, inside and outside
Egypt. Egyptians from the army, police, judiciary,
State institutions, and from among civilians have been
paying hefty sacrifices on that front. Yet the people of
Egypt have confronted the terrorism with courage and a
persistence to move ahead with their business.
The admirable stance adopted by the President visà-vis Copts stands out. Mr Sisi was always keen that
there should be no discrimination against Copts; this
was obvious in his choice of consultants and aides. He
maintained an open channel with Church leaders for
consultations whenever the need arose. At Midnight Mass
on Christmas Eve, President Sisi pleasantly surprised
everyone by going himself to St Mark’s Cathedral to
extend his good wishes to the Copts who were elated
at the visit, a first by a State head in Egypt. He treated
Copts as Egyptians, no less no more. A case in point
was last February’s gruesome beheading of 20 Copts at
the hands of IS in Libya. At the terrible news, President
Sisi immediately ordered the National Defence Council
to convene, and directed strong air strikes against IS
targets in Libya. In so doing, the President defended
Egypt’s prestige and avenged the innocent Coptic souls
who had lost their lives.
Yet there are pivotal Coptic demands that have long
remained on hold and which President Sisi has not addressed.
Copts still await legislative reform regarding vital issues,
especially that Egypt has had no parliament since the 30
June 2013 Revolution. Egypt’s Constitution stipulates that in
the absence of parliament, the President of the Republic may
issue laws that should be seen by Parliament within 15 days
of its first convention. Why then did not President Sisi put an
end to the legislative deadlock that is weighing heavily on
the Copts? The new papal election bylaws, the new family
law for Christians, and the law for building and restoring
churches, all wait to be passed. And they all work to instate
the freedom of Copts to practice their religious rites, as
stipulated by the Constitution.
President Sisi has already issued presidential decrees
that act as law regarding several issues. Equal citizenship
rights for all Egyptians, Copts included, call for similar
moves by the President on the Coptic front.
14 June 2015
7 Ba’ouna (Pa’oune) 1731
27 Shaaban 1436
Issue 748
Year 15
Cosying up to the Russian
bear…and to other titans
It is no secret that the greatest challenge facing Egypt at this point in time
Fady
is to rebuild its economy which took a harsh bashing in the aftermath of the
Arab Spring uprising in January 2011. The year-long presidency of President
Sisi which began 8 June 2014 has seen aggressive moves on that front. The launching of
the New Suez Canal megaproject in August 2014, new laws and an investment-friendly
climate, and the Egypt Economic Conference last March represent significant steps on
the path of economic revival. Recent State visits by President Sisi to Russia, Germany,
and Hungary have seen valuable trade deals signed with firms in these countries. And last
week saw the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA) signed between the East African
Community, Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). After four years of negotiations to establish
a framework for tariff preferences and other commitments, the free trade agreement by
the three African economic blocs stands as the launch of a potentially game-changing
common market spanning the continent, supporters say. The TFTA will create a market
of 26 countries with a population of 625 million and gross domestic product of more than
USD1 trillion.
Largest-ever
In Germany, initial suspicion by German authorities of conditions in Egypt ended in better
understanding and, on the practical level, hefty industrial agreements. Germany’s Chancellor
Angela Merkel voiced criticism of Egypt’s use of the death penalty and record on religious
freedom, but stressed the central role of Egypt in a conflict-torn region and pledged closer
economic ties with the country and support in its fight against Islamic extremism.
President Sisi insisted Egypt’s justice system was independent and fair, and that many
of the death sentences were still subject to judicial review. “We too love democracy and
freedom,” he said, “but we must avoid the chaos seen in Syria, Yemen, Libya and Iraq.”
He vowed: “We can never allow this.”
An agreement was signed between Egypt and German engineering titan Siemens to
build natural gas and wind power plants, with a capacity of 16.4 gigawatts. At 8 billion
Euros, the order is the largest-ever Siemens has signed. The three natural gas-fired
combined cycle power plants, the firm’s President and CEO Joe Kaeser said, would be
“the largest in the world”, and that it would also build up to 12 wind farms in the Gulf of
Suez and West Nile areas, comprising around 600 wind turbines.
In Budapest where President Sisi was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the
National University of Public Service, a joint Egyptian-Hungarian business forum was
inaugurated, and several cooperation protocols signed. One aspect that caught public
interest was talk about Egypt importing trains from Hungary; Hungarian trains operated
in Egypt during the 1970s and long later, and gained a reputation for absolute efficiency.
Hungarian investment in Egypt stands at some USD1 billion in 55 companies that operate
in the fields of tourism, industry, and services.
with Egypt. The only time when we disappeared from the Egyptian market was
during the 1990s in the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union. We are now
working on a strong comeback to the Egyptian market in various industrial and
agricultural fields.”
Mr Manturov also expressed his country’s interest in investing in infrastructure projects
in Egypt and its willingness to transfer its expertise in the fields of railway, infrastructure,
ports and shipbuilding.
Labib
Steadfast friendship
A protocol was signed between The Egyptian Junior Business Association (EJB) and
the ERBC to promote future cooperation between the two parties and to increase exports
between Egypt and Russia.
ERBC chairman Mikhail Orlov expressed his pleasure that Egypt and Russia were
opening a new and stronger chapter in mutual relations.
“The current economic relations cannot yet be considered strong; however, the strong
relations between presidents Sisi and Putin play a crucial role in promoting and supporting
the relations between Egyptian and Russian businessmen and pave the road for many
future economic opportunities,” he said.
Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab said that Egypt could never forget Russia’s
historical stances and its constant support of Egypt’s development plans.
“The Aswan High Dam, which was built in the 1960s by the Russians, is a symbol of
our steadfast friendship,” Mr Mahlab said. “There is a strong will to nurture relations
between our nations. The timing is just perfect as there are currently real opportunities for
cooperation in various sectors of the economy. The Egyptian government is determined
to eliminate all investment impediments, red tape, and corruption in order to attract
foreign investment.”
Minister of Industry and Trade Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour praised the large audience
that participated in the forum which he said was proof of the strong determination to raise
Egyptian-Russian relations from the ashes. He said that the Russians welcomed Egyptian
suggestions for cooperation in the fields of industry, petroleum, scientific research, power
generation and transport.
“The time has come,” Mr Manturov said, “to achieve a quantum leap in mutual relations
and raise the commercial exchange which has already reached USD5.5 billion in 2014 as
a result of the increase of Egyptian agricultural exports to Russia.”
Full potential
Perhaps the most significant on the trade and industry cooperation front, however,
has been the novel turn in Egyptian Russian relations. Recent trade and industry talks
(25 – 26 May) in Cairo, sponsored by the Egyptian-Russian Business Council (ERBC)
under the title “Trade and Industrial Dialogue ‘Russia-Egypt’”, ended in results which
surpassed expectations.
Taking part in the talks was a Russian State delegation led by the Russian Federation’s
Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov, and including as members the heads
and representatives of more than 200 Russian companies and trade and industry
organisations. They held meetings with an Egyptian delegation headed by Prime
Minister Ibrahim Mahlab which included Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, Minister of
Industry and Trade; Khaled Hanafy, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade; Hani
Dahy, Minister of Transport; Ahmed al-Wakil, Head of the General Union of
Chambers of Commerce; and a number of Egyptian businessmen and representatives
of private sector companies.
In his speech at the opening of the forum, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade
Khaled Hanafy announced that the return on investment in Egypt had become the highest
worldwide, especially after Egypt started to adopt a new philosophy in its economic
policy and include the location factor in design plans. The new national projects
being constructed have the advantage of benefiting from Egypt’s strategic location on
international trade routes. These include the New Suez Canal, the International Logistics
Centre for grains and commodities in Damietta and the Shopping and Trade City which
will be built around the Suez Canal axis, both of which will be managed by the Supply
Ministry, and other transport and power generation projects.
“Egypt’s economy has not yet realised its full potential,” Dr Hanafy said. “More than
90 per cent of the land is unexploited and much of the young labour force is unemployed.
If we can make the best use of these resources, the cost of production can be reduced to a
minimum which would represent a great opportunity for investors. Another opportunity
is Egypt’s 90-million strong population, which constitutes a huge market in addition to
its trade agreements with the COMESA countries, the EU and the Gulf States which raise
the potential market to 1.6 billion consumers.”
Minister of Transport Hani Dahy said that the Egyptian government had completed all
the plans and feasibility studies for the prospective projects on the new Suez Canal axis.
The most important of these projects, he said, included the expansion of six ports in the
canal area and the construction of new ports in other areas.
Strong comeback
Aircraft deals
Russian Egyptian relations: a new turn
Five agreements were signed between Egyptian and Russian companies and government
agencies aiming to promote industrial exports and support small and medium enterprises.
An agreement was made with the giant Russian Automobile manufacturer AvtoVAZ [Lada]
to establish a car and truck assembly plant in Egypt. Other Russian car manufacturers
who are negotiating to establish joint ventures with local car manufacturers include
KAMAZ, GAZ and UAZ.
Among the most important results of the forum was an agreement between Egypt, Russia and
the United Arab Emirates to
establish a common direct
investment fund for the longterm financing of industrial
and agricultural projects in
Egypt.
“Our
main
mission
as State representatives
is to ensure favourable
conditions for the business
sector to invest in these
projects,” Mr Manturov said
at the forum. “The fund was
established in partnership
with the Russian Direct
Investment Fund (RDIF)
and a number of Arab
financial institutions in
Egypt and the UAE. It will
act as financial support to
a large number of projects
in the fields of industry and
agriculture. We have always
been business partners
Other potential investment fields discussed at the forum included medicine,
pharmaceuticals and aircraft manufacturing, in addition to gas and petroleum.
The aviation industry came across as a lucrative field for Russian-Egyptian cooperation.
According to Mr Manturov, there is great potential for cooperation in civil aviation,
particularly in terms of advancing rotorcraft: various modifications of the Mi-17, Mi-38,
Ansat, Ka-226 and passenger aircraft SSJ 100 and MS-21 and their further maintenance to
the Egyptian aviation market. The Egyptian side, he said, was interested in the passenger
aircraft SSJ 100, which was
presented at the business forum
in two versions: passenger
versions with 95 seats, and a
VIP version. The talks, he said,
touched on the possible supply
of 12 aircraft SSJ 100 with
the option to sell further 12
aircrafts, and the first delivery
to begin in late 2016.
“We offered conditions
that should be competitive
and profitable for Egyptian
airlines,” Denis Manturov
said. “And we will use
financial instruments and
mechanisms to make the deal
more attractive.” The SSJ 100
aircraft can be supplied to
Egypt using a wide range of
financial mechanisms from
the involvement of the Russian
direct investment fund to
attracting Chinese investors.
2
Watani International
14 June 2015
A language of our own
Dalia Victor
In his book Al-Lugha al-Masriya al-Haditha, Diraassa Wasfiya
(Modern Egyptian Language, A Qualitative Study) published by
Rawafed publishing house, the author Antoun Milad presses his
point that what some see as Egyptian colloquial Arabic is no adulteration of the
Arabic language; rather it is a language in its own right. Milad takes the reader
on a journey through the various aspects of the Egyptian language, its roots,
fundamentals and phonetics.
The author dedicates his 200-page book to the souls of Bayoumi Qandil (1942
– 2009) and Mohsen Lutfy al-Sayed (1926 – 2009), both pioneers in calling for
the revitalisation of Egyptian identity. Qandil was a linguistic expert whose life
mission was the revival of Egyptian nationalism, culture and time honoured
diversity. Sayed was an Egyptologist; during his lifetime he founded the Masr alUmm (Egypt the Mother) Party, which called for rooting the Egyptian identity, the
revival of Egyptian nationalism and the recognition of Egyptian language as the
Egyptians’ mother tongue.
the moder n Egyptian language, analyses how the letters of the alphabet a re
pronounced, and draws pa rallels between them and the ancient Egyptian
and Coptic languages. The author also explores the sounds, tones and
vocalisations of the letters with thei r different implications in a section
that he titles ‘Phonologia’.
The second chapter is about vocabulary, describing it as the second most
important corner of the language after phonetics. It offers many grammatical
usages and points out how their rules differ from those of the Arabic language.
Milad analyses the different cases of plural, gender, pronouns and conjugation at
length, as well as other grammatical instances.
The third chapter, titled ‘Fundamentals of modern Egyptian language’,
continues its journey with the Egyptian language’s grammatical usages, through
verb tenses, the negative, and sentence types and structure. Conspicuously,
Egyptian is revealed as much simpler in grammar and usage than the more
complicated Arabic. Although the second and third chapters are quite interesting
and informative, it is rather curious why the author chose to divide their content
into two chapters.
True worth
The book opens with an invitation by the author for readers to email him any
comment on or addition to what the book offers regarding the modern Egyptian
language. He promises to include these comments in upcoming reprints or in
other sequels, since he believes this book forms only a preliminary study for a
comprehensive science.
The author offers two interesting introductions to his book. The first is academic,
written in classical Arabic and supported by references footnoted to every page.
The second is in colloquial Arabic, which he terms ‘Egyptian’, and introduces the
concept behind the book. Even though the content and ideas in both introductions
are interesting and enlightening, and place the reader in the mood for the book,
it is quite confusing to have two separate introductions. This is especially so
since, in his colloquially-written introduction, Milad criticises the government
and intellectuals for using ‘two languages’; Egyptian (colloquial) in their daily
lives and dealings, and classical Arabic (the State official language) in written
documents and business. He calls for relinquishing this practice, and believes the
local Egyptian language should be venerated and accorded its true worth.
Reconciliation with the self
The author builds his academic introduction on a quote by Qandil: “We are living
in a state of perpetual self-defeat.” He highlights how time and again throughout
their history Egyptians surrendered to the will of the various invaders to their
land, using the invader’s language and sidelining their own. This was true in case
of the Greeks who conquered Egypt in 330BC, the Romans in 32BC, and the Arabs
in 640AD. The author points out that it took Egyptians until the era of Muhammad
Ali in the 1800s to recognise that their Egyptianness had been shattered, and to
seek ‘self-reconciliation’.
Some, Milad writes, believe the Egyptian language is merely Arabic crammed
with mistakes, others believe it is a local dialect or just another Arabic dialect,
while some see it as a phase in the evolution of the Egyptian language. The author
analyses all these interpretations and then specifically compares the Egyptian and
Coptic languages as far as phonetics, grammar and meanings are concerned.
In the colloquial introduction, Milad reminds readers of the efforts by the scholars
Bayoumi Qandil, Wassim al-Sisi, Sami Harak and Essam Setati in researching the
Egyptian language. He explains that the Egyptian language, on the descriptive
analysis of which the book focuses, belongs to the Afro-Asiatic group of languages.
As such, it features specific characteristics. He lists the Egyptian language’s seven
dialects spoken across Egypt depending on geographic location.
Phonetics and grammar
The book is divided into four chapters. The fi rst, dedicated to phonetics in
Special meanings
What constitutes a language?
The Ethnologue [www.ethnologue.com] is a
comprehensive reference work cataloguing since 1951
all the world’s known living languages, and widely
regarded to be the most comprehensive source of
information of its kind.
According to the Ethnologue, languages are
the particular set of speech norms of a particular
community, and are also a part of the larger culture
of the community that speaks them. Languages do not
differ only in pronunciation, vocabulary, or grammar,
but also through having different “cultures of speaking”.
Sixty languages are included under the wider division
of “macrolanguages”, which are defined as multiple,
closely related individual languages that are deemed in
some usage contexts to be a single language. Arabic is
among them, on the basis that it offers a writing system
and literature shared across many spoken varieties.
The Ethnologue, however, goes on to explain that
where there is enough intelligibility between varieties
to enable communication, the existence of wellestablished distinct ethnolinguistic identities can be
a strong indicator that they should nevertheless be
considered to be different languages. The identification
of “a language” is thus not based on linguistic criteria
alone. All of which offers strong support to the
argument that Egyptian qualifies for being a language
in its own right.
The fourth and final chapter discusses the meanings of words and how the
connotations of several words have developed and changed through the development
phases of the Egyptian language. The author points out that the connotations of
words differ depending on the sentences in which they are included. In this chapter
the author touches on punctuation; he explains how punctuation helps give different
meanings to a sentence, depending on how these are used. However, he explains that
written Egyptian language dismisses punctuation, using only the full stop to separate
sentences and ideas. One of the characteristics of the Egyptian language is repetition,
and the author explains that this serves to confirm and assert the meaning. The author
then offers some examples of words or expressions that have their roots in Egyptian
culture. Mayetsamash for instance is literal for the ‘one who is not to be named’,
used to talk about a rejected, hated or feared person. This expression is peculiar to
the Egyptian culture in which names carry special significance; Egyptians identify
everything and everyone by their name.
Why the classic?
The author ends his book with a list of appendices. These include a glossary
of the Egyptian terms used through the book as well as a list of some of the
Egyptian terms that are close to Arabic in their meanings, or which have a
meaning totally different from the Arabic use. In the appendices there is also
a glossary of the hieroglyphic symbols used throughout the book and their
connotations, the Coptic alphabet and how each letter is pronounced, a list of
some words common today in modern Egyptian but which have their roots in
Coptic or ancient Egyptian, and a list of some words used in classical Arabic but
which derive from the ancient Egyptian or Coptic languages.
In another appendix, the author suggests establishing an Egyptian alphabet
solely for the purpose of writing the Egyptian language. He recalls that Bayoumi
Qandil was the first to make this suggestion and that he had started working on
it before his death in 2009. Milad then offers a list of some of the terms used
in the science of linguistics and what they refer to in Arabic and in Egyptian.
A phonetics table prepared by Egyptologist Ramy Samir Farag Mina follows,
occupying a full page.
Four pages of the references used by the author complete the book.
Although the topic of the book is intriguing and the idea behind it daring, with
the author suggesting the empowerment of the colloquial Egyptian language on
the official level and in literary circles, the author contradicts himself when he
resorts to classical Arabic instead of modern Egyptian in the writing of his book.
He only uses modern Egyptian in part of the introduction.
Indo-European debt to ancient Egypt
Rami Samir Farag Mina is a tour guide who is as much
at home with the ancient Egyptian language as with its
landscapes. A guide since 1992, he uses seven living
languages as well as dead languages as part of his job,
and he may be the only guide with an official licence
to conduct tours in English, French, German, Spanish,
Italian, Hebrew and Japanese. He has degrees from Cairo
and Ain Shams Universities in archeology and ancient
and modern languages, and he was recently awarded
a PhD in Egyptian archaeology and its relationship to
Semitic languages. Watani met him to learn more about
his interesting line of study.
Flagrant similarities
“The study is about the strong relationship between the
ancient Egyptian language and other Semitic languages,
especially in regard to vocabulary, grammar and script, and
it presents a grammatical rule as a model,ˮ Dr Mina said.
“When I started studying the ancient Egyptian language
I noticed that much of its vocabulary is used in other
languages, such as the word dshert, which means ‘desert’
in English and is also used in French, Italian and Spanish:
desierto and deserto. The same applies to many other words.
Before I studied the ancient Egyptian language I used to
hear Coptic words in church that were related to words in
other languages, such as the word martyros in
Antoun
Coptic, which means ‘martyr’ in English and
is also used in French and Italian. At first I
thought such similarities were because of Greek infiltration
into the Coptic language. Greek was the language of the
later Roman Empire and, together with Latin, had a great
influence on European languages. But after I studied the
Coptic language and looked at many other words in the
ancient Egyptian language I became certain there was a
relation between Coptic and the European languages.
“As I studied more and more words I became more
certain, and that’s why I decided to take advanced studies
in archeology at Cairo University.”
…And in Arabic
Dr Mina proceeded: “I asked the prominent professor of
archeology Abdel-Halim Noureddin, the former SecretaryGeneral of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and former
Dean of Cairo University’s Archaeology Department,
if I could do a masters degree under his supervision. Dr
Noureddin didn’t do as others had done, criticising me or
making fun of the idea. He just asked me to bring at least
100 words that evidenced the similarity I claimed. The
following day I gave him 200 examples. He studied them
carefully and they worked to fully convince him of the idea;
Milad
he told me the proposed study would be a major
revelation. I began advanced studies in 1995 and
finished the PhD in 2015, meaning that I spent
some 20 years on it. In the masters degree I studied the
influence of the ancient Egyptian language on European
languages through the Greek and Latin used by the Greeks
and Romans who ruled Egypt for about 1,000 years (332 BC
to 641 AD). In the PhD I focused on the Semitic languages.”
Among other examples Dr Mina quoted were the word
meno in ancient Egyptian language, which is ‘monument’ in
English and French, monomentoin Italian and monominto
in Spanish. Hebni in the ancient Egyptian is ‘ebony’ in
English, and it is also used in French, Italian, Spanish and
German.
In ancient Egyptian the word wahn is also wahan, meaning
weakness in Arabic; barq is barq, literally lightening in
Arabic; wahat is waha (oasis) in Arabic, and there are many
Arabic words which are the same in Hebrew.
Little interest in Egypt
Dr Mina points out that historical documents are the most
important references on his topic of research. The earliest
examples of ancient Egyptian writing come from 3200 BC,
and no other true writing in any other language has been
discovered from before that date except for some Sumerian
documents that date back to the same period. So the issue
is limited to the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian languages.
“There has been too little research on the subject in Egypt,”
Dr Mina says. “European Egyptologists who speak two or
three languages found similarities between words in the
three languages and decided it couldn’t be a coincidence. In
the Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache [a large Germanlanguage dictionary of the Egyptian language published
between 1926 and 1961] Adolf Erman and Hermann
Grapow mentioned some Greek and Latin words that were
seen to be influenced by the ancient Egyptian language but,
regrettably, no one in Egypt seemed to care.”
As for similarities between the ancient Egyptian and
Arabic languages, the Egyptologist Ahmed Pasha Kamal
compiled a dictionary in 22 parts comparing Arabic and
Ancient Egyptian words. He finished it in 1923 but—as
mentioned in the introduction to the parts of the dictionary
recently published 82 years after his death—its scientific
material was not to the liking of some [fundamentalists
who insist Arabic was not influenced by ‘pagan’ Ancient
Egyptian], hence the long time till the book saw light.
Dr Mina is grateful to all those who have supported
him—especially Dr Noureddin and Dr Abdel-Hamid Saad
Azab—when many others criticised his ideas and were
totally opposed to them.
From left:
Egyptian
heiroglyphs;
Coptic script
and Arabic
translation
in a Coptic
Church book
of praises
Watani International editorial team: Christine Alphonse ,Dalia Victor, Donia Wagdy, Lydia Farid, Nivert Rizkallah, Sherine Nader
Copy editor: Jenny Jobbins
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