FAQ #47- Black Egyptians
FAQ #47
47a. Why does it matter who the Egyptians were?
47b. Were Egypt founded by SubSaharan Africans?
Most theories bent on finding non African origins for ancient Egypt are based on the principle that they were unique in the region and that there were no related peoples to them then and that there no related peoples living in Africa right now.
The truth is best given if we put aside the pictorial testimony of ancient Egyptians, the writings of Greek writers such as Herodotus who referred to them as black, by a comparison between the language and culture of ancient Egypt and those of peoples who inhabit the regions next to Egpyt.
First the linguistic evidence; some people have tried to classify it as a language in a class of its own; linguistic comparison (semantic and syntax) gives unequivocal proof that was a Hamitic language allied to the living languages spoken in the Sudan (the Haden Adowa) in Eritria (the Agaw and the Beja), in Ethiopia and in Somalia.
Some words and these not all general words - some those of religion found in the language of ancient Egyptians:
Ancient Egyptian Somali and Afar dialects (the same is true of others)
Ra Ra (The sun)
Neter Neder (divine being)
Hipo Hibo (the sound b doe not exist in Hamitic languages - gift)
Horus Huur (a stork)
Tuf Tuf (spit)
Habi (the Nile) Wabi ( a river)
Ar Ar ( a lion)
cb kab (shoe)
brq biriq (lightning)
ayah Dayah (moon)
dab dab (fire)
anka aniga (I)
su, asu usi (he)
Ka Ka, Kaah (spirit)
medu muud (liquid)
I can go on and on to hundreds of words.
Grammatical evidence is given by the structure of OSV (object, subject, verb), the use of the predicative particle wa, the use of the interrogative ma and others.
Unless somebody proves me that they borrowed a language, I would believe they spoke an African tongue much me and were Africans much like me.
Culturally, the similitudes between present day African cultures and that of ancient Egypt is undeniable and has been amply demonstrated by Sheikh Anta Diop. I would just give the following:
1) the use of the dance zaar, recorded on the Rosetta Stone, and alive in African countries nearest Egypt. It is also alive in Egypt to the dislike of Muslim clerics for whom it is a heathen dance to be stamped out.
2) The use of the head-rest (wooden usually) found in African societies as far as Cameroon and Chad. It was used then and now to keep elaborate African coiffure from crumpling during sleep. It is one of the most common articles found in ancient Egyptian sites.
3) The practice of circumcision including female circumcision.
4) The practice of sacrifice and ritual after a house is completed; this too exists to some in today's Egypt but is mostly practiced, much like the zaar dance by Egyptians of darker complexion.
5) The practice of washing and touching the bodies of dead persons.
6) From the vestimentary (dress) code: the loin cloth, the broad bracelets, the chest and neck ornaments, etc.
There are more but I do not have the time to give them all. For the rest, the pictures and sculptures, they can be seen and understood even by those who have not done much study in the subject or do not have the benefit of growing up in those cultures related to that of ancient Egypt.
I am not here to prove notions of race; my piece is to say that ancient Egypt did not fall from the planet mars, as I read in some popular magazines, nor were the ancient Egyptians a unique people without contacts or roots in Africa. I would add that ancient Egyptians were a mixture of the Africans who live next today's Egypt, namely the Nilotics found in the lower half of the Sudan who are today struggling to survive (the Dinkas) and the Hamitic group, present in the Sudan although losing there their languages (Numeiry the ex-president of Sudan lost his mother tongue as a child), Ethiopia and Somalia. That counts for the argument to that some ancient Egyptianss had straight or long noses and thin lips. That is typical of the African group known as the Hamites. There has always been diversity in Africa - the Pygmy has existed as a group, so did the Hottentot with the yellow complexion, the Hamite, the Nilotic and the Bantu. They are all african groups and not one of them, to my knowledge, has origins other than African.
Nabad (peace)
M.Diriye 5/95m