What Language Does Egypt Speak?l
1The Language of Egypt: From Hieroglyphs to Modern Arabic
What language does Egypt speak? Egypt’s rich history is not only carved on stone but also spoken into existence by its very people. The hieroglyphs were written on the walls of temples. Moreover, from the ancient era to the informal vocabulary of Egyptian Arabic. It has undergone significant across thousands of years. Once the location for the world’s oldest known written language. Ancient Egypt laid the very basis for modern communication long before many a civilization had even come into life.
The official language of Egypt, now Arabic. The local idioms are a vibrant mix of influences. With the Masri accentuated by those of Coptic, Turkish, French, and English. Understanding the language transmutation in Egypt from Pharaonic scripts to modern speech. Shines sheds light on a deeper tale of culture, identity, and resilience. In this article, we delve into the enchanting evolution of the Egyptian language and its continued influence on a thousand-year-old culture, that is, the Arab world. Let’s discover What Language Does Egypt Speak.
1- What Language Do Egyptians Speak Today?
The Egyptians in modern-day Egypt speak an Arabic dialect known as Egyptian Arabic. It is a locally evolved dialect and is used in everyday chat, TV, music, and social media. Modern Standard Arabic is used in official documents, news, and education. Egyptian Arabic, while of the Arabic varieties, stands out in the Arab countries for its odd rhythm, vocabulary, and pronunciation.
The influence of Egypt in the cinema and media has made Egyptian Arabic one of the most widely understood dialects in the Middle East and North Africa. Besides Arabic, other languages and dialects, especially English and French, may be spoken by some Egyptians to tourists, mainly in tourist areas. Arabic, however, remains the official and dominant language all along the country in both spoken and written form.
How Did Arabic Become the Main Language in Egypt?
Arabic somehow became the major language in Egypt only after the Islamic conquest of Egypt during the 7th century CE. Before then, Egyptians spoke Coptic, a late form of ancient Egyptian written in a script based on the Greek alphabet. When the Arab Muslim armies marched into Egypt around 641 CE, Arabic started bringing some changes to Coptic, placing itself as a more dominant language in administration, religion, and everyday affairs.
As time passed, more and more people started using Arabic, especially with Egypt being part of an expanding Islamic Caliphate. However, Coptic was never really phased out in the churches of Christians but found its way right out of public life. Arabic thus not just became the national language but also started undergoing local changes due to Egypt’s history, culture, and other languages to form Egyptian Arabic. Present-day Arabic helps connect Egyptians to a bigger Arab persona, though at the same time, it is the language of their unique historical identity.
Ancient Egyptian vs. Modern Egyptian Arabic
The Ancient Egyptian and Modern Egyptian Arabic are totally different languages. Ancient Egyptian was spoken thousands of years ago. Moreover, it was written in hieroglyphics and hieratic. Later on, in demotic script. It had its own grammar and vocabulary, different from Arabic. Over the years, a newer form came into being called Coptic, which still exists as a liturgical language in the Coptic Church. With the Arab conquest, Arabic slowly replaced Coptic and became the main spoken and official language of Egypt.
Egyptian Arabic lies within the Semitic language family, related to Hebrew and Aramaic, whereas Ancient Egyptian belonged to the Afroasiatic family but had a different structure. Modern Egyptian Arabic has practically no vocabulary in common with Ancient Egyptian except for some rare borrowings. In other words, modern Egyptians speak a language entirely different from that of their ancient ancestors, having undergone history-altering modifications for centuries.
Do Egyptians Still Use Hieroglyphics?
No, Egyptians do not use hieroglyphics any longer in their day-to-day activities. The ancient Egyptian writing system (hieroglyphs) was used to write sacred texts, for royal tombs, and temple walls. The hieroglyphics had survived for thousands of years before it was canceled due to the spread of Greek and then Arabic. By the 4th century CE, it had gone away Coptic and then Arabic replaced it. The knowledge of reading hieroglyphics was lost until the Rosetta Stone was found. And the deciphering of the script was carried on by people such as Jean-François Champollion in the 19th century.
Today, hieroglyphics are okay with being studied by Egyptologists and in academia. But they are certainly not used in present-day communication. Egyptians write in Arabic nowadays, with the Arabic script. Hieroglyphs, however, stay emblematic of Egypt’s ancient heritage, entering into art, tourism, and heavy historical references.
