# Egypt



## MarX

Hello!

I wonder what's *Egypt* called in different languages.

In *Indonesian *it is called *Mesir*. Not similar at all to Egypt.

In *German* it's *Ägypten*.


Thank you!


MarK


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## Kraus

In *Italian*: Egitto.


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## ukuca

In Turkish it's *Mısır*. 
"mısır" means "*corn*" if you write the first letter small


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## Joannes

MarX said:


> In *Indonesian *it is called *Mesir*. Not similar at all to Egypt.


But it is close to the Arabic version (see http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?p=2621022), as seems to be the Turkish.

In Dutch: *Egypte*


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## jazyk

In European Portuguese: Egipto; in Brazilian Portuguese: Egito. It's only a matter of spelling, since they sound pretty much the same in both varieties.

Jazyk


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## irene.acler

In *Spanish*: Egipto.


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## Mzpean55

In French - Egypte


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## deine

Lithuanian:
Egiptas


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## dn88

*Egipt* in *Polish*.


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## Setwale_Charm

Египет in Russian.

Latvian: Ēģipte

Estonian: Egiptus.

Ukrainian: єгипет
_(yehypet)_


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## Alijsh

Persian: mesr


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## Woland

Romanian : Egipt


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## albondiga

East vs. West thing here; it will be interesting to see if there are _any _exceptions (maybe in Japanese/Korean/Chinese languages?)...

My contributions on the east side:
Hebrew: mitzrayim
Hindi: misr


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## Woland

Hungarian : Egyptiom
Hebrew :מצרים


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## avok

albondiga said:


> East vs. West thing here; it will be interesting to see if there are _any _exceptions (maybe in Japanese/Korean/Chinese languages?)...
> 
> My contributions on the east side:
> Hebrew: mitzrayim
> Hindi: misr


 
I am sure the Japanese/Korean/Chinese have something other than the easterns Mesir/misr etc. since it is about the Arabian influence.


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## panjabigator

Here is Egypt in Devanagari.  Definitely didn't know the word before, Albondiga!  Thanks for the heads up!

मिस्त्र
Edit:  Upon second glance, Shabdkosh.com seems to disagree with your transliteration.  Where did you find that spelling?


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## Setwale_Charm

I have also remembered the Azeri: *Misir*
and the Georgian one, although, I`m afraid, I cannot type Georgian here, but it is pronounced something like *Egvipte*.


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## 0stsee

avok said:


> I am sure the Japanese/Korean/Chinese have something other than the easterns Mesir/misr etc. since it is about the Arabian influence.


*Japanese: Ejiputo*
*Chinese: Aiji*


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## Setwale_Charm

Chechen: Misar


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## Lovely Korean

Hi~  ^_^ ♥  In Korean language, we call Egypt, '이집트', and

we say it  same as English word 'Egypt'.   we call this word(이집트)

ee-jip-t.

thank you very much~♡ ^_^

여러분~ 감사합니다! (everyone! thank you!)


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## albondiga

panjabigator said:


> Here is Egypt in Devanagari.  Definitely didn't know the word before, Albondiga!  Thanks for the heads up!
> 
> मिस्त्र
> Edit:  Upon second glance, Shabdkosh.com seems to disagree with your transliteration.  Where did you find that spelling?



Took me a short while to track it down, since it's not a source I actually ever used much, but here it is...  Unfortunately, no Devanagari (probably why I never used the site much; I couldn't trust it with only a transliteration!)  Anyway, their transliterated spelling includes the "a" for the final consonant, but the audio pronunciation sounds like it's left out as usual, and that's how it stuck in my head, _misr _(it probably stuck because of the connection to _mitzrayim _in Hebrew, which I knew then.)

In any case, despite the sources of these two versions, the one I wrote also just seems more right than Shabdkosh's version.   None of the other languages that took the Arabic word seem to have a "t" sound in their versions (the Hebrew "tz" is a single consonant, not a "t" and a "z", and nothing else from Azeri to Indonesian seems to have anything but "m" and "s" and "r")... that's not conclusive, though, so 

The tie-breaker: I just checked Platt's and they don't have a separate entry for "Egypt" but they do have "Egyptian" as "_miṣrī_ (rel. n. fr. *miṣr*)" without the "t" sound either.  I won't go back and edit my post from "misr" to "miṣr", but this seems right... the question is where Shabdkosh got the "t" from... presumably either (a) it has somehow snuck in to some Hindi dialects or (b) it's an error on their site.

Side note: for "Egyptian", compare Platt's and my first source, ("misrii" and "miṣrī" respectively) with Shabdkosh, which takes the easy way out ("mistra kā"/"mistra nivāsī")...


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## panjabigator

Good to know Albondiga!  I'll send Shabdkosh and email!  The shabdkosh did seem to be a bit odd, sticking a t in there.


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## Lugubert

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Here is Egypt in Devanagari. मिस्त्र


Sorry, *panjabigator*, the one that I regard as pretty canonical, i.e. R.S. McGregor: _Hindi-English Dictionary_, has मिसर _misr_ for Egypt.

It's admittedly a problem (although IMO minor) that for example Dr. Bulcke: _An English-Hindi Dictionary_ writes Egypt: मिस्त्र _mistra._ But any and all Urdu dictionary will give you مصر miSr like in Arabic.


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## kiyama

Català: Egipte


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## avok

0stsee said:


> *Japanese: Ejiputo*
> *Chinese: Aiji*


 
Looks like they borrowed the word from the West.


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## Aoyama

As Woland and Albondiga have already said, the Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitsraim, coming from the Egyptian Misr (or Mitsr in older script). From this word, many languages from the Middle-East (and further east, mostly in Moslem countries) have a word deriving from this root to name Egypt.
The word Egypt is linked to the word Copt in Greek.
See at :http://twingine.no/search.php?q=Egypt+origin&lang=


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## MarX

According to Wikipedia, the Egyptian word for Egypt is *km.t*, and in Egyptian Arabic it's: *Máṣr*

In Coptic it's: *Kīmi*, and in Arabic it's called *مصر* *Miṣr*_._


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## Lugubert

We run into several transcription/font problems here, among other issues. For the second consonant of *مصر* , I prefer S when I can't use the underdotted 's', but many systems/traditions for transcribing/pronouncing Hebrew employ 'ts'. On my screen, I see an empty square following the 'i' of *Miṣr.* Copying the word into Word  I see the underdotted 's', but not in any standard font.

It would be immensely interesting, at least to me, to know when and where 'miSr' is first found. Ancient Egyptian wrote, as MarX mentioned, *km.t*. There has been a lot of noise on supposed findings of ancient written words for "Hebrew", "David" and similar, but to my current knowledge, the origins of miSr seem to be neglected.

While I'm at it, at the risk of a derail, I have spent hours searching the Internet and pestering professors of Semitic languages to find out the origin/first mentioning of the name of the River Nile. I think there might be a connection between the ubiquitous ancient as well as modern Indian word for 'blue', _nila_, and the river.

To add another dimension of possible confusion, my theory is that the form of Hebrew _MiSrayim_ (grammatically dual number) refers to the union of Upper and Lower Egypt.


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## Alijsh

In Behistun inscription, column one, which mentions the extent of Persian Empire and the countries subject unto Darius the Great, Egypt has been mentioned as *Mudrâya*. However, I don't know whether it's an Old Persian or an Egyptian name.


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## Maja

In Serbian:

*Egipat* / *Египат*.


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## Flaminius

Lugubert said:


> To add another dimension of possible confusion, my theory is that the form of Hebrew _MiSrayim_ (grammatically dual number) refers to the union of Upper and Lower Egypt.


_Gesenius' Lexicon_ has a cryptic reference to the Egyptian «metoro» (I am not even sure what script it is but ventured a transcription  ) as the origin of the Hebrew _Miṣrajim_.


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## yoyopig

Hi all, would like add to what 0stsee has contributed. Egypt in Japanese and Chinese characters are エジプトand 埃及 respectively.


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## cherine

Seeing from the contributions posted so far, there are mainly two words for Egypt, with different forms:
1- Egypt
2- M-S-R

I'll start with the apparently simple: *M-S-R* (I only put the root letters)
I think this is the Semitic root; it's the word in both Hebrew (MiSrayim_, _Mitsraim) and Arabic (MiSr مصر), and maybe in other Semitic languages too.
For those who commented that Mi*ts*raim has the letter "ts" and not "s", I'd like to draw their attention to the fact that the Hebrew letter tsadi is the equivalent of the Arabic letter "Sad" ص , so there's no wonder in the "ts".

Now to the harder: Egypt. (Harder because I don't have reference, at least for the moment)
It's Egypt (En.), Egypte (Fr.), Egitto (It.), Egipto (Sp.).... all have the G-P-T (If I may use the Semitic way of pointing the words roots)
The G-P-T comes from the C-P-T (Copt) Egyptians were known as (Copts), now this word is used for the Chrisitans Egyptian. The Egyptian Orthodox church is called the Coptic church.
There are other words similar to Co*P*T: Co*F*T, KeMeT, all are old Egyptian words (not Arabic, but from the old Egyptian language) and I learned that Kemet means the black soil/land, because the land of Egypt is black due to the silt deposited by the Nile.

I tried to look for more certified references for this, and this is why my reply came late, but unfortunately I couldn't find any till now, and I'm writing the Egyptian (kemet...) part out of memory.



Alijsh said:


> [...]Egypt has been mentioned as *Mudrâya*. However, I don't know whether it's an Old Persian or an Egyptian name.


Interesting, this is a word I hear for the first time. I think it might be Persian, because it's not related at all to the old Egyptian word Kemet.


Flaminius said:


> I am not even sure what script it


This is the Coptic script. It's a mixture of Greek letters and added letters for the sound/phonemes that don't exist in Greek.


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## kareno999

avok said:


> I am sure the Japanese/Korean/Chinese have something other than the easterns Mesir/misr etc. since it is about the Arabian influence.


 
Yes, you're right.
Japanese/Korean/Chinese use transliteration of western Egypt etc.
CN: 埃及(aiji)
JP:  エジプト(ejiputo)
KR:  이집트(ijiptu)


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## apmoy70

Greek:

*«Αίγυπτος»* [ˈeʝiptos] (fem.) < Classical Gr. toponym *«Αἴγυπτος» Αí̯guptŏs* (fem.) --> _the land of Egypt_; its masculine form...*«Αἴγυπτος»* (it's a 2nd declension noun which means it has identical masculine & feminine forms) described the river Nile.
The word is an ancient borrowing, probably from the Akkadian name of the Egyptian city of Memphis, Hikuptaḫ > Aἴγυπτος.

Strabo in his Geography gives a folk etymology in which «Αἴγυπτος» comes from *«Aἰγαίου ὑπτίως» Ai̯gaí̯ou hŭptíōs* --> _(the land) below the Aegean (sea)_.


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## AndrasBP

Woland said:


> Hungarian : Egyptiom


Better later than never: the correct form in Hungarian is: *Egyiptom */ˈɛɟiptom/.
"GY" is a digraph in Hungarian, pronounced /ɟ/. The Greek-derived spelling with "y", as in the English form E*gy*pt, interfered with the Hungarian digraph, resulting in the present-day form, instead of *Egiptom. I'm not sure about the ending -om, though, as no other languages seem to have it. It may come from the declined Latin form "Aegyptum".


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## Stoggler

The Welsh name is yr Aifft, coming from the same root as the other European languages for the country name.


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## ilocas2

AndrasBP said:


> I'm not sure about the ending -om, though, as no other languages seem to have it. It may come from the declined Latin form "Aegyptium".



Maybe it's from a Slavic language, from the instrumental ending -om.

for example:
Slovak:
Egypt
instrumental - Egyptom


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## AndrasBP

ilocas2 said:


> Maybe it's from a Slavic language, from the instrumental ending -om.


Probably not, it's just a coincidence. There are plenty of Slavic words in Hungarian, but none of them were borrowed with an instrumental case ending.


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## desi4life

Lugubert said:


> It's admittedly a problem (although IMO minor) that for example Dr. Bulcke: _An English-Hindi Dictionary_ writes Egypt: मिस्त्र _mistra._



Bulcke's dictionary has मिस्र _misr _for Egypt and मिस्री _misrii _for Egyptian. No "t".


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## Ghabi

kareno999 said:


> Japanese/Korean/Chinese use transliteration of western Egypt


In ancient Chinese texts, Egypt is Masr~Misr (勿斯里/密昔兒 and other variants).


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## oveka

Setwale_Charm said:


> Египет in Russian.
> 
> Latvian: Ēģipte
> 
> Estonian: Egiptus.
> 
> Ukrainian: єгипет
> _(yehypet)_


Ukrainian: Єгипет


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## Dymn

*Catalan*: _Egipte_


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## AndrasBP

Setwale_Charm said:


> the Georgian one, although, I`m afraid, I cannot type Georgian here, but it is pronounced something like *Egvipte*.


Yes, it is "Egvipte" and in Georgian script it is ეგვიპტე*.*


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## Olaszinhok

AndrasBP said:


> *Egyiptom */ˈɛɟiptom/.



That ending in _-om_ reminds me of the Slavic instrumental case (singular).  Couldn't the Hungarian name for Egypt come from one of those neighouring languages?! Mine is only a hypothesis…
If I think it better my hypothesis is probably wrong, since hungarian _templom_ should derive from Latin_ templum_, therefore, even in the case of _Egyiptom_, the final -um might have been transformed into -om in Hungarian.


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## Dymn

You also have _finom _"delicious" and _templom _"church", both of them from Latin which makes me think it's a preservation of the Latin _-um _suffix.


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## Olaszinhok

Dymn said:


> You also have _finom _"delicious" and _templom _"church", both of them from Latin which makes me think it's a preservation of the Latin _-um _suffix.



Yes, you can read the second part of my previous post…


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## Perseas

apmoy70 said:


> Greek:
> 
> *«Αίγυπτος»* [ˈeʝiptos] (fem.) < Classical Gr. toponym *«Αἴγυπτος» Αí̯guptŏs* (fem.)


Also *«Μισίρι»* [mi'siri], but very rarely and mainly attested in Greek poets/authors who came from Egypt, like Kavafis.


> Το ωχρόν μας *Μισίρι*
> με βέλη ο ήλιος πλήρη
> πικρίας και πείσματος καίει και δέρει,


Κ.Π. Καβάφης - Ποιήματα - Αποκηρυγμένα


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## Dymn

Olaszinhok said:


> Yes, you can read the second part of my previous post…


Ok, but you still hadn't edited it by then.


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## Olaszinhok

I was rewriting it when you edited your post.


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## AndrasBP

Olaszinhok said:


> That ending in _-om_ reminds me of the Slavic instrumental case (singular). Couldn't the Hungarian name for Egypt come from one of those neighouring languages?! Mine is only a hypothesis…


We discussed this already just a few posts ago (#38-39).



Dymn said:


> You also have _finom _"delicious" and _templom _"church", both of them from Latin which makes me think it's a preservation of the Latin _-um _suffix.


Yes, we have a number of Latin loans with this ending: _alabástrom, salétrom, cimbalom, liliom, etc._


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## Olaszinhok

AndrasBP said:


> We discussed this already just a few posts ago


Sorry, I hadn't read your post No. 39


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## Circunflejo

cherine said:


> Seeing from the contributions posted so far, there are mainly two words for Egypt, with different forms:
> 1- Egypt
> 2- M-S-R



A so far unquoted exception: In Sango, it's Kâmitâ Kâmitâ — Wikipedia


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## apmoy70

Circunflejo said:


> A so far unquoted exception: In Sango, it's Kâmitâ Kâmitâ — Wikipedia


Which resembles the Coptic name of the country ⲭⲏⲙⲓ


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## jimquk

Amharicግብፅ Gïbt: considering the close connection between the Egyptian and Ethiopian Orthodox churches, it may be taking directly from the Coptic form, or it may be an adaptation of Greek Aigyptos.

Edit: actually more likely influenced by Arabic qubT/qibT meaning Copt, as in Maria alQubtiyya, wife of the Prophet.


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