[Editorial note: [...] indicates use of Coptic, Demotic, Greek, or Egyptian hieroglyphic text. Original script is available for viewing in the PDF format of this article.]
(CE:A112b-118a)
EGYPTIAN ARABIC VOCABULARY, COPTIC INFLUENCE ON. Coptic loanwords in Egyptian Arabic have been investigated to some extent by several writers, among them G. Sobhy, W. Vycichl, W. H. Worrell, W. B. Bishai, and E. Maher Ishaq.
Worrell included material collected by W. Vycichl and G. Sobhy. In his work, he lists 110 words, of which 83 are Coptic. Bishai collected 205 lexical items, all of which had been suggested by various scholars as Coptic loanwords in Egyptian Arabic. Of these only the 109 items treated in his article were considered by him as valid loanwords. At the end of his article he says, “Turkish, which was never a vernacular of Egypt, left more lexical items in Egyptian Arabic than Coptic did. This is indicated by a partial survey of Turkish loanwords in Egyptian Arabic by E. Littmann (1954, pp. 107-127; cf. Prokosch, 1983), which includes two hundred and sixty four words.” Bishai reached the conclusion that “the limited influence of Coptic on Arabic can only be explained as lack of widespread bilingualism in Egypt during the transition from Coptic to Arabic.... Again it may be said that Egyptian Muslims today are right in claiming a predominant Arab ancestory” (Bishai, 1964, p. 47).
E. Maher Ishaq has shown that, contrary to the opinion expressed by Bishai, a very great number of Coptic words have, in fact, survived in the modern colloquial Arabic of Egypt. Some of these items are listed below. Only the most conspicuous etymologies have been chosen (see Ishaq, 1975, for others).
It is to be assumed beyond reasonable doubt that there are many other Coptic words still surviving in remote villages that have not yet been surveyed. On the other hand, there are hundreds of colloquial words apparently of Coptic origin that cannot be identified at present because they have undergone significant change, such as by metathesis, by sound changes of a nonpredictable nature, or because their Coptic etymon has not yet been identified in any of the published documents.
Most of the Coptic words quoted are also attested in hieroglyphic (and/or demotic). For these etymologies see J. Cerny (1976), W. Westendorf (1977), and W. Vycichl (1983).
In the following, Egyptian Arabic is rendered in a notation system that is phonological rather than phonetic. Thus, vowel length is often indicated where it is not realized, as in unstressed or in nonfinal closed stressed syllables. Note also that q is realized as [g] in Upper Egypt and as [’] in Cairo and large parts of Lower Egypt, and that j is realized as [g] in the latter areas.
The vocabulary items are discussed under the following headings:
I. Agricultural items: A. inundation, dams, and canals; B. lands, granaries, and stables; C. preparing the land; D. cultivating and reaping; E. interjections and work songs; F. tools; G. the plough; H. irrigating machines
II. Birds
III. Other animals
IV. Body: A. parts of the body; B. excretions of the body; C. diseases and swellings
V. Buildings and related terms
VI. Children: A. children’s play; B. other words related to children
VII. Clothes
VIII. Ecclesiastic terms
IX. Fire, lamps, ovens, and related terms
X. Fish
XI. Food and drink
XII. Insects
XIII. Interjections and cries
XIV. Dry measures
XV. Nautical terms
XVI. Groups and sorts of people
XVII. Plants
XVIII. Sacks and baskets
XIX. Speech, bluffing, silence, and noise
XX. Sticks and tools
XXI. Vessels and utensils
XXII. Other items.
Uppercase letters indicate the various basic Coptic Dialects, as follows:
S = Sahidic
B = Bohairic
A = Akhmimic
F = Fayyumic
L = Lycopolitan (or Lyco-Diospolitan)
I. Agricultural Items
A. Inundation, dams, and canals: (1) damira, inundation, from S em/re, preceded by feminine article; (2) tamy, silt, deposit of the Nile, from S [...], B [...], mud, clay, preceded by feminine article; (3) ishtum, dam, from S [...], B [...], closure; (4) libsh, brushwood bundle, reed, etc. (with derivates libsha, sheaf, labbish, to stack with reeds), from S [...], B [...], fuel, brushwood; (5) fayy, canal, from B [...], SB [...] (the regular S form is [...]).
B. Lands, granaries, and stables: (1) barubiyya, plural barayib, land used for grain, stubble, from S [...], B [...], stubble, preceded by masculine article; (2) sharaqi, fallow, sharaq, drought, sharriq or sharraq, to be dry (land), from S, B [...], lack of water, drought; (3) shuna, granary, from B [...], barn.
C. Preparing the land: (1) bitn, ridge (between furrows), from S [...], ground, preceded by masculine article; (2) sikaya, ploughing, from S [...], to plough; (3) tash, border, boundary (with derivate tawwish, to make a boundary), from S [...], B [...], border, etc.; cf. S [...], B [...], to be boundary.
D. Cultivating and reaping: (1) taqqa, to sow (corn-seed), from S [...], to fix, to plant, or from S, A, F [...], to throw; (2) nabari, winter crop of maize (or other grains), from S [...], grain, seed; (3) wahsa, beams laid together, etc., from A, L [...], S [...], B [...], roof; literally, addition of beams.
E. Interjections and work songs: (1) oni, in the song oni oni ya tahun ir-rihaya (o mill of the hand mill), from B [...], nether millstone; (2) ela hob, hela hob, used when lifting heavy articles: second element from [...], thing, work, etc.; various explanations possible; (3) shob, hot wind, also in the verse hob hob qatalni sh-shob (the heat has killed me), from S [...], [...], B [...], to be withered, hieroglyphic and demotic [...], hot wind; (4) hob, in the verse quoted above, item 3, and in hob ya hob ya zar‘ in-nob (o sowing—seeds which bring forth—gold), from S, B [...], work, matter; the verse is said during the work of irrigating the field with the shadoof and is answered by the translation, ya hali ya hali ya zar‘ id-dahab, (o my business, o my business, o sowing gold); also cf. hob hob ya shughl in-nob (o work of gold), sung while threshing wheat (Sobhy, 1950); (5) nob, gold (see above, item 4), from [...].
F. Tools: (1) bihnaw, flowering branch of palm, used for sweeping the floor, from B [...], preceded by masculine article; (2) turya and variants, pick, hoe, etc., from S, A [...], B, F [...], spade, pick; also borrowed by Old Nubian and Siwa Berber; (3) hawjal, hbojal, hojan, wooden or iron rake, etc., from S [...], B [...], anchor, hook.
G. The plough: (1) bajrum, bijrum, name of a pole, part of the plough, from S, A, L, F [...], 5, F[...], staff; called balanja (cf. Latin planca, plank, pale) in the Delta; (2) baskha, biskha, part of the plough, share-beam, from S [...], B [...], plough-share, preceded by masculine article.
H. Irrigating machines: (1) jabad, part of the shadoof, consisting of stick or palm-leaf stalk fixed by palm-fibers, from L [...], B [...], fiber of palm tree; (2) shalaw, part of the shadoof, formed by a system of two ropes to which the buckets are fixed, from S [...], [...], implement or mechanism which turns, water-wheel; (3) harmis, central post of the water-wheel, is found in a Coptic text as S [...] (Crum, 1939, 671a, 780a).
II. Birds
(1) basharosh, flamingo, probably from the Egyptian root d r, red, flamingo, though not directly from B [...], flamingo; (2) balshum, balshun, balashun, heron, from S [...], preceded by masculine article; (3) hiba, heba, ibis, from S, F [...], S [...].
III. Other Animals
(1) baqrur, frog, from S [...], B [...], preceded by masculine article; (2) timsah, ‘crocodile,’ from S, B [...], preceded by feminine article (as in proper names Qemsaij, Qomsaeij, Tomsaeij); (3) handus, lizard, gecko, used as nickname for children and as personal name, from B [...], lizard, also as personal name [...]; (4) shalla, scorpion, from B [...].
IV. Body
A. Parts of the body: (1) bahmot, middle finger, current among old people in Karnak (Worrell, 1942, p. 335), from [...], a variant form, typical of nonliterary texts from Thebes, of S [...], three, preceded by masculine article; (2) tora, variant dora (Upper Egypt), tetrad, group of four; handful, etc., from S, A, L [...], hand; (3) falt, thighs, hips, anus, from S [...]; (4) [...], in swearing by the beloved dead, as in wi-kas abuk, by the..., of your father, from S, B [...], bone, or from S [...], corpse.
B. Excretions of the body: (1) barbar, to have a running nose, also barbur, soft mucus of the nose, from S [...], to be loosed, to fall to pieces, etc.; (2) taff, to spit, from S [...], B [...]; (3) taftaf, taftif, to spit repeatedly, similarly taftaf (parallel to rayyim, to foam), from B [...], to let fall drop by drop; (4) juks, crepitus ventris, from B [...]; (5) jis, (rectal) wind, and jayyas, to break wind, probably from B [...], flatus ventris; (6) zarat, to break wind, zarrat, to break wind repeatedly, zurat, wind, from S [...], spread feet, so ventrem purgare; (7) farr, farfar, to cast off urine, from B [...], to cast off, to fall; (8) naff, to blow the nose, from B [...], to blow, to breathe, to blow the nose.
C. Diseases and swellings: (1) taku, as in walad ‘anduh taku (a boy who has...), used for acute cases of pneumonia among children (peasants in Minya), from S, B [...] perdition; (2) [...], chill, from S, B [...], A, L [...], frost; (3) kalaj, to limp, from S, B [...], to be bent, etc.; cf. proper name [...], demotic [...], whence Kollouqhj; (4) kalku’a, lump, bubo, tumor, also kalkala, callus, blister, from S [...], B [...], S [...], lump, pustule; (5) mitaltil, dripping in coryza, from S [...] B [...], to drip, to let drop; (6) mikhamkhim, used of a feverish person, from S [...], B [...], to be hot; (7) nosha, (typhoid) fever, cf. S [...], qualitative, said of diseases and wounds, and hieroglyphic [...], to heat, to be scorched.
V. Buildings and Related Terms
(1) birba, ancient temple, from S [...], temple, preceded by masculine article; (2) janafor, roof, from S [...], B [...] (3) shusha, small window, from S, B [...], window, niche; the final [...] was probably considered equivalent to the construct feminine ending in Arabic; (4) dabba, wooden lock, from S [...], bolt, preceded by feminine article; (5) tuba, brick, Common Arabic, from Egyptian, cf. hieroglyphic [...] > [...], demotic [...], Coptic S [...], S, A [...]; Arabic al-tuba passed into Spanish, etc., as adobe.
VI. Children
A. Children’s play: (1) all, in li‘bit il-all, a game with pebbles, from S, A, B [...], pebble, etc.; (2) jull, small ball, plural jilula, probably from B [...], ball, cf. S [...], to roll; (3) sinnu, the second round of the Egyptian peasant’s ball game, from S, B [...], two; (4)sir, a line drawn on the ground on which the children stand while playing with small balls, from S [...], stripe, hair; (5) minmaw, (from) there, from B [...], there, thither; the diphthong aw appears possibly under influence of S, B [...] there; (6) minnay (from) here, from B [...], here, hence, hither.
B. Other words related to children: (1) ala(h), child, boy, e.g. khud yala(h), come on, o boy, from A, B [...], S, B, F [...], child; (2) nannus, delicate, nice, mignonne, from S [...], it is nice ([...], plus suffix pronoun).
VII. Clothes
(1) turaj, piece of canvas used to cover the backs of asses (Dishna, Upper Egypt), from B [...], part of monastic costume, from Greek [...], literally, breastplate; (2) jallabiyya (Egypt and Syria), a kind of upper garment, gown, flowing outer garment, from S [...], B [...], garment of wool, or both from [...] (Cerny, 1976); (3) shintiyan, plural shanatin, woman’s ample trousers (now out of fashion), probably from S [...], sheet, robe of linen, cf. sindèn (4) farajiyya (Post-Classical Arabic), loose robe, outer mantle of clerics and monks, probably from B [...] outer mantle of clerics, monks; (5) futah, towel, napkin, apron, kerchief, fatu (Classical Arabic), waist-wrapper, cf. S [...], to wipe, and also S [...], a garment or napkin, probably for S, B [...] (from S [...] and S, B [...], face), face-towel.
VIII. Ecclesiastic Terms
(1) ajbiyya, book of canonic hours, horologium, derived from S, B [...], hour; (2) amnut, sexton (Worrell, 1942, p. 331), from S, L, B, F [...], porter, doorkeeper; (3) anba, pronounced amba, a title for Coptic clergy, from B [...]; (4) jabanyot, Our Father, is B [...]; (5) daqq, to bake, baking of the holy bread, from S, F [...], [...], B [...], kindle; bake; (6) shura, shurya, censer, from S, B, F [...], censer, brazier, altar; (7) tubhat, prayers, plural of tubh, tubha from S, B [...], pray, prayer; (8) hos, hymn, ode, from [...] song, hymn, ode; (9) aribamawi, remember me (in your prayer)!, is B [...], remember me!; (10) ayarnuw(w)i, ecclesiastic term as a confession, is B [...], I committed sin; (11) ka nay awbl, forgive me!, is B [...], forgive me!; (12) shanrombi, long live, is B [...], hundred years.
IX. Fire, Lamps, Ovens, and Related Terms
(1) takk, to kindle, in takk il-kibrita, he kindled the match, from S, F twk, tw[, B ywk, kindle; bake; (2) rayka, burning coal, from S rakhe, B rakhi fuel; cf. rwkh, burning, fervor; fuel, firewood; (3) fawwad, to wipe, to clean the oven by rubbing (with a wet foda, oven mop, or fawwada [Upper Egypt]); also fawwat, to wipe, clean or dry by rubbing, and fawwata, oven mop, from fwte, to wipe.
X. Fish
(1) buri, mullet, whiting, from S [...], B [...], a fish, mugil cephalus, buri; (2) ray, a kind of fish, alestes dentex, from S, B [...], a fish, alestes dentex; (3) shal, plural shilan, a Nile fish, from S [...], a fish, shilan; (4) shabar, a fish, tilapia nilotica, from S [...], tilapia nilotica; (5) shilba, a kind of Nile fish, bream, schilbe, silurus mystus, from S [...], [...], B [...], a fish, silurus mystus; (6) sir, small fish, sardine, name of a fish species (Luxor), usually salted, from S, B [...], brine, small salted fish; (7) qashu, a fish (cf. Worrell, 1942, p. 338), from S [...], B [...], among fish, qashuwat, qashwa (Crum, 1939, 130b); possibly through iteration qashqash, a fish, sand smelt, silverside; (8) qil, a kind of small fish, of species shal, from B [...], [...], a fish (of species shal); (9) kaluj, a kind of fish (cf. Worrell, 1942, p. 339), cf. B [...], a fish, ¢bram… j; (10) mishit, plural amshat, tilapia nilotica, bulti fish, from S [...], a Nile fish, tilapia (chromis) nilotica.
XI. Food and Drink
(1) bisara, basara, puree of beans, from S [...], [...], beans, preceded by S [...], thing cooked, or S [...], cooked food, in construct state (?); (2) bosh, bush, porridge, gruel, from S [...], B [...], gruel of bread or lentils, etc., preceded by masculine article; (3) dibdab, dabdub, dibdib, a kind of unleavened bread, cf. S [...], to taste; S [...], mixed (?) food; (4) samit, white baked stuff, often strewn with sesame seed, from S, B, F [...], fine flour, sem… dalij, the finest wheaten flour; from the latter, probably also Classical and Egyptian Arabic samid, white or whitened flour, fine bread; (5) kunafa, (pastry made of sweet) vermicelli (Post Classical Arabic), cf. hieroglyph [...] to bake, kind of bread, demotic [...], [...], kind of bread, B [...], (from [...] plus Greek ending -tion?), kind of loaf or cake; [...], baker; (6) marisa, date-wine, barley-wine, zythum; in Nubian and Sudanese Arabic a kind of beer, from S [...], new wine, must; (7) manjuj, baked, roasted food, from S [...], baked, roasted food; (8) takhkh, be drunken, in locution shirib lamma takhkh, he drank till he became drunken, from S [...], B [...], to become, be drunken; (9) shawwah, to grill, broil, as in shawwah il-lahma ‘ala n-nar (broiled the meat over fire), from S [...], swouh, to be withered, scorched, to scorch, wither.
XII. Insects
(1) biba, a biting insect, flea, from B [...], flea, preceded by masculine article [...]; (2) hallus, spider’s web, from S, L [...], S, B [...], spider’s web.
XIII. Interjections and Cries
(1) is, behold, lo!, from S, A, L [...], B [...]; (2) o, oh, oh, interjection of pain or disgust, from [...], an exclamation expressing surprise, joy, pain; (3) o, o!, mostly together with the vocative particle ya, as, e.g., o ya-brahim, o Abraham!, from S, B [...], a particle used with the vocative for address; (4) ujay and jay, a cry for help, from S, B [...], to be whole, safe; (5) she, sha, by, particle of swearing in vows, as in she-lla ya sitti ya ‘adra, by God, o my Lady the Virgin, from S, B, F [...], S. B [...], by, in swearing; (6) shi, gee!, gee-up!, from se, to go.
XIV. Dry Measures
(1) ardabb, measure of grain, from S [...], cf. demotic [...], [...], all from Aramaic ardab, this perhaps from Persian; (2) raftaw, riftaw, ruftaw, a measure of grain, a quarter of a weba = a half of a kela = 1 /24 of an ardabb, from S [...], a fourth, one quarter; (3) weba, Post-Classical Arabic waybah, a measure of grain, from S [...], ephah.
XV. Nautical Terms
(1) ramrum, raft, bark, from S, B [...], raft; also cf. maramma, raft (Colin, 1920, p. 77); (2) tiyab, tayab, east wind, north wind, from t/u (S, A, F [...], B [...]) wind, and S [...], east; (3) marisi, southern, south wind, derived from S, B [...], Southern country, Upper Egypt. See also Section I, items (D-3), (E-2), (E-3), and (F-3).
XVI. Groups and Sorts of People
(1) shilla, shulla, group, coterie, clique, plural shilal, shulal, probably from B [...], plural slwl, folk, people; (2) bazramit, fool, silly, probably from S [...], literally, he whose mind goes astray, preceded by masculine article; (3) bon, bad, wicked, as in da rajil bon, he is a bad man, from S [...], bad; (4) tilim, impudent, as in mara matluma, woman of ill fame; talama, forwardness, from S, L [...], B [...], to be defiled, to defile, and (noun) stain, pollution; (5) kharyat, to be disordered in mind, from S, B [...], to be demented, and B [...]; (6) nosh, enormous, something very big, as in qadd in-nosh (as big or large as), zayy in-nosh (like, as, such as), from S [...], great, large.
XVII. Plants
(1) arw, cypress, from B [...], cypress; (2) barsim, clover, from S [...], clover? (found once, in manuscript of ca. 730); (3) barnuf, conyza odorata, from S [...], a plant?; cf. demotic [...], a plant; (4) rita, a plant, sapindus, used for cleaning stained clothes, from B [...], a plant; (5) santa, acacia nilotica, cf. hieroglyphic [...], thorn tree, demotic [...], S [...], thorn tree (acacia nilotica); passed as loan-word into Akkadian, Hebrew, and Arabic (Cerny, 1976); (6) sawsan, lily, iris, cf. hieroglyphic and demotic [...], B [...], lotus flower; also borrowed by Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Greek (soàson); (7) shirsh, spray, especially the green sprays of carrots, from S, F [...], bundle, cf. hieroglyphic and demotic [...] (Cerny).
XVIII. Sacks and Baskets
(1) buquti, a small basket made of palm leaves, straw basket, also baquti, baqutah, from S, B [...], basket, preceded by masculine article; (2) janba, basket for dates, from S [...], jenob, B [...], [...], basket, crate; see also shinf (item 5 following); (3) shalita, a large sack, probably through metathesis from S [...], bag, etc.; (4) shinda, a grass mat or cloth in which curdled milk is kept to drain its whey and become cheese, from S [...], [...], plaited work; (5) shinf, net sacks, singular shinfa, plural shinaf; shanif, net sack for straw, from B [...], [...], S [...], basket, crate.
XIX. Speech, Bluffing, Silence, and Noise
(1) balham, to bluff, to lie, to speak jargon, to speak fast, from the name of the Blemmye people, known for their bluffing, S [...] (cf. Vycichl, 1983, 28); (2) matmata, speech, prattle, argument; matmat, to argue, cf. S, A, L [...], speak, call, or rather hieroglyphic [...], to discuss, discussion; (3) hawwash, hawwish, to bluff (mostly by talking roughly), to bully, from S [...], B [...], to abuse, to curse; (4) wazz, tinnitus; washsh, from S [...], [...], cry.
XX. Sticks and Tools
(1) shoda, stick (al-Mati‘ah), from S, B, F [...], rod, staff; (2) darafs, awl, spike, from B [...], trapc; (3) shqal, bell (province of Suhaj); shqilqil, from S [...], [...], and cf. S [...], anklet; (4) shalish, (iron) hook, from S [...], sharpened thing, spike; (5) fats, futs, an iron wedge used by the carpenter in sawing, from S [...], B [...], piece, plank; (6) qil, bell (Suhaj), cf. the reduplicated B [...]; (7) washur, warshur, saw, from S, A, B [...].
XXI. Vessels and Utensils
(1) baqlula, pot, from S [...], B [...], pitcher, jar, preceded by masculine article; (2) bukla, an earthenware vessel with two handles used for water, from S [...], B [...], vessel for liquid, preceded by masculine article; (3) makro, mortar (Bagur), from B [...], trough, mortar.
XXII. Other Items
(1) ishbar, wonder, in ishbar ‘alayya, alas for me, from S, A [...], wonder, amazement; (2) amandi, in the imprecation dahya twaddik l-amandi, may a tragedy take you to hell, from S, A [...], B, F [...], hades; (3) [...], anything, from S [...], A [...], vessel, thing; (4) bab, grave, as in the name of the Valley of the Kings, bab il-muluk, etc., from S, A, B, F [...], cave; (5) bahat, to dig (also in Sudan), and fahat, from S [...] (cf. qual. [...]), to carve; (6) barash, to squat, to lie down, from S, A, F [...], to spread, to be spread; (7) bursh, mat, from S [...]; (8) bary, new, as in warrana bary wary, literally, he showed us something always new, from S, A, L [...], B, F [...]; (9) bushla, bashla, bundle, as e.g. bashlit fijl, a bundle of radishes, from S [...], L [...], art or quanity of vegetables, cluster of vegetables or fruit (Cerny, 1976); (10) bilbila, pill, small ball, probably from S, L [...], a single grain of mustard, etc.; (11) talla, to lift, to carry, from S. A, B [...] lift, etc.; (12) tut, as in the expression tut hawi, gather, come together for the magician, from S [...], B [...], to gather, to be gathered; (13) jarjar, to frolic, from S [...], B [...], to live luxuriously, to frolic; (14) hada, before, in the presence of, as e.g. hadak, before thee, in thy presence, from S, A [...], as [...], before thee; (15) daha, to beseech, from B, S [...]; (16) dahh, to apply one’s self to, from the preceding, meaning turn face, look; (17) daghan, to thrust, from S [...], to push; (18) daqq, to hammer, to insist, from S, A, L, F [...] to strengthen, to confirm, to drive, hammer; (19) dihna, dihni, forehead, in dihn(a) il-jabal, the front of the mountain, from S, A [...]; B, F [...], forehead (the hieroglyphic prototype, [...], meaning also mountain ledge); (20) rawash, to hurry, to worry; rawsha, concern, worry, S [...], A [...], to have care for, concern, worry; (21) sas, oakum, tow, from S [...], B [...], tow; (22) stim, stibium, antimon, kohl, from S, B [...], B [...]; (23) sakk, to draw, to protract the fast (as, e.g., som Niwa yakhdu sakk wara ba‘d, he passes [the three days of] the fast of Nineveh in a continuous fasting), from S, L, B, F [...], to draw, to protract the fast; (24) shakshik, to prick repeatedly, from S [...], B [...], to prick, brand; (25) shaknan, to be enthusiastic or zealous, to act with a forced hardness; shaknana, energy, zeal, from B [...], to strive, contend; (26) shalla, skein, hank, probably from S, B [...] S, L, F [...], bundle; (27) shalluj (South of Qena), shallud (North of Qena, Farshut), shallut (Bani-Suef, Cairo), salluj (Luxor through Aswan), kick; shallat, shalli, to kick, from B [...], F [...] foot, knee; (28) shanat, to tie, knot (shanat dira‘u f-mandil, he hung his arm in a sling), verbal noun shant; shineta, running-knot, slip-knot, from S, B, F [...], to plait; S [...], [...], plaited work; (29) sarif, rope of twine, of halfa or vine twigs, from S [...], [...], vine twig; (30) saftiyya, ready, prepared, in saftiyya n-nahar-da, (our meal is already) preparing today, a polite way of refusing an invitation to lunch (Aswan), from S [...], to be ready; (31) sann, sann, to wait, as in sinn ‘aleh habba, give him a little time, possibly from S, A [...], to pass by; (32) tarash, to throw one on his face; to oppress, as, e.g., id-dinya tarshani, life is oppressing me, from S [...], to make heavy, to terrify; (33) tannish, to remain silent; to feign not to hear; to give a deaf ear to, from B [...] (Crum, 1939, s.v. [...]), to be astonished, to stare with astonishment; (34) tahma, invitation, from S [...], B [...], to invite; (35) fat, fawwat, to putrefy (food), to taint, from S [...], [...], to pollute, to befoul; (36) kas, pain, in ya kasi minnak, o my pain from you; kayis, run down, seedy, from S [...] pain; (37) karash, to hurry; to flatter, to urge importunately (id-dinya karshani, life is hurrying me; il-wiliyya di karshah ... wakla dmaghu, this woman is influencing him ... she is eating his mind), from S, A, B, F [...], to request, persuade, cajole; (38) laqash, to sneer, to ridicule, from S [...], to turn up nose, to sneer; (39) (i mjakhkhim, putrid, defiled, from S, L [...], B [...], to be defiled; (40) makmak, to hesitate, be reluctant, and verbal noun makmaka (balash makmaka, ma-tibqash bi-mit niyya w-fikr, don’t hesitate, don’t let yourself have a hundred aims and ideas), from S, B [...], to think, ponder; (41) nabbit, to sew fine stitches, from B [...], to weave; (42) hammas, hammis, to sit, from S [...], A, L [...], B [...], to sit, remain, dwell; (43) hamsi, sit down! (region of Balyana), from B [...], sit down!; (44) wajba, time, hour, period (da qa‘ad ‘indina wajba, he remained with us for a while), from B [...], [...], hour, preceded by indefinite article; (45) wahas, to embarrass, wahsa, confusion, from S [...], to give trouble; (46) wary, new, as in da-hu wary ‘alena, this is something new for us, and wirwir, plural warawir, young, fresh (especially chicks, radishes), from S, A, L [...], B, F [...], new, young; see also bary (item 8, this section); (47) waddab, to arrange, to put in order, to prepare, probably from S [...], to change, remove, transfer; (48) ya, either, or (ya di ya da, either this or that, ya tuq‘ud ya timshi, you must either sit down or go away), from S [...] S, L, B, F, [...], or, whether..., or.
EMILE MAHER ISHAQ
Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia
