Throughout history, Egyptians used to speak a multitude of languages: Starting from Hieroglyphics and Hieratic in the Pharaonic era, and ending with Arabic after the Islamic conquest, which became the official language in Egypt. Alongside with Modern Standard Arabic or Literary Arabic, which is being taught in schools and mainly used in writing literature, and apart from the “Common Arabic” spoken by most of the population, there exist various regional vernaculars and dialects of Arabic differs from one locale to another. For instance, there exists the Sai’di dialect in Upper Egypt, which is spoken by 29% of the population, and the Bedouin dialect spoken in the Eastern desert and Sinai Peninsula. Aside from these dialects, the question here is: Are there any other languages still spoken until now in Egypt? The answer may shock you.
Well, yes! There are minority languages still spoken in Egypt up till this moment. This language diversity reflects the various civilizations and ethnicities Egypt embraced over the time. Unfortunately, none of these languages are taught at local schools, used in the media, or recognized by the Egyptian government. Curious to know them? Then let’s find out!
Let’s start with a relatively well-known language in Egypt: Nubian. Nubian languages are part of the Nilo- Saharan language family. In fact, the name “Nuba” is already attested for Old Egyptian, the language of the Pharaonic period in Egyptian history, so it is not a surprise that Nubian languages are spoken in Sudan and southern Egypt, chiefly along the banks of the Nile River, with about 900,000 speakers. If you have been to Luxor and Aswan before, or if you are a fan of Mohamed Mounir’s songs, then you probably know some Nubian. The most popular Nubian languages are Nobiin and Kenzi. Believe it or not, during the October war in 1973, Egypt employed Nubian-speaking Nubian people as code talkers.
Domari (Dômarî) is an endangered Western Indo-Aryan language. Domari speakers are estimated to be more than 281,000 speakers, who are called “the Dom people”. They are mostly located in Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Jordan and Sudan. As you can notice, Domari is mainly spoken in the Middle East region, that’s why it is known as Middle Eastern Romani. There are about 9 dialects of Domari, but Nawari is the most popular one in Egypt. Moreover, Domari has 3 writting forms as There is no standard written form: It can be written with Arabic, Hebrew or Latin alphabets.
Beja, also known as Bedawi, is one of Cushtitic languages family, to be more precise, North Cushitic languages, and considered as a separate division of Afro-Asiatic. Beja is spoken by more than 2 million people in southeastern Egypt and eastern Sudan. People of “Beja” in Egypt are estimated to be 77,000 speakers, mostly located at the Eastern desert. Like Domari language, Beja can be written in either Latin or Arabic alphabet.
If you have been to Siwa Oasis before, you may have noticed that people there speak a strange language. Well, it’s time to know what it is: Siwi language, also known as Siwa Berber. It is an Easternmost Berber language spoken in Egypt by an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people living in the oases of Siwa and Gara near the borders with Libya. Siwi used to be the normal language of daily communication among the Egyptian Berbers, but now, nearly all Siwis learn to speak Egyptian Arabic as a second language. Siwi has been heavily influenced by Amazigh, Bedouin, and earlier stages of Arabic.
Another widely spoken language, especially in Upper Egypt, is Coptic language. Coptic is an Afro-Asiatic language that was spoken in Egypt from about the 2nd century CE, and represents the final stage of the ancient Egyptian languages. It was written in the Greek alphabet, supplemented by seven letters borrowed from demotic writing. Coptic language is divided into six dialects, four of which were spoken in Upper Egypt and two in Lower Egypt; they differ mainly in their sound systems. In fact, Coptic has been used for everyday life till the 12th century and for religious purposes since the 11th century by all Coptic Christians. Till now, Coptic is still used in Egyptian churches. Surprisingly enough, some of our everyday words are originally driven from Coptic language.
Of course, we cannot forget the Armenian, Greek & Italian minority groups mostly located in Cairo and Alexandria. These groups are mainly from immigrants who first settled in Egypt decades ago with large numbers, when Egypt embraced various nationalities, ethnicities and religions on its land. However, their numbers declined dramatically after the 23rd July revolution in 1952.
Hope this article encourages you to learn more about these minority linguistic groups and their rich and authentic cultures and customs.
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