The origin of Egypt's name

(Map of Egypt )

Written By : Nermin Sami Abd El Fattah.

Original article: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/kmt.htm

21-10-2002

Why Egypt is called "Egypt"-"Misr"?
Over the millenniums, Egypt has had many names in many different languages. Today, its official name is Jumhuriyah Misr Al-Arabiyah, which means in English the “Arab Republic of Egypt”.

The Egyptians themselves refer to Egypt as ‘Misr’, though this can also be
a name for the city of Cairo.

Interestingly, it’s common among Egyptians who live outside of Cairo to refer to the city itself by saying ‘Misr’, in a certain respect; this is a custom that dates to the earliest times of ancient Egypt.

The different names of Egypt can be divided into 3 main groups, according to their chronology:-

The 1st group (Dating back to the Old Kingdom) :-

In the early period of the Egyptian history, during the Old Kingdom, Egypt was referred to as ‘Kemet’ (Kermit), or simply ‘Kmt’, which means "the Black land" or "fertile land".

-And the ancient Egyptians had named themselves "remetch en Kemet", which means the "People of the Black Land". The term refers to the rich soil, found in the Nile Valley and Delta.

-Also they used the word “Deshret", or "desert’, which refers to the "Red Land", or 'Deserts’
of which Egypt is mostly comprised.

2nd group :( Dating back to The New kingdom):-

Later, the ancient Egyptians referred to their country as (Ht-ka-Ptah) or (Hout-ak Ptah) , which means "Temple for Ka of Ptah", or more properly, "The House of the Ka of Ptah" ; Ptah was one of Egypt's earliest Gods. As in modern Egypt, this was the name for the administrative centre of Egypt (Memphis), as well as the name of the country as a whole.

-Then during the 9th century B.C., the ancient Greek poet writer ‘Homer’ has mentioned for the first time the name of ‘Aegyptus’ in one of his epics ‘Odyessey’; which explains that the word of ‘Egypt’ derives from the Greek mythological figure ‘Aegyptus’ who ruled over Egypt, and was the son of the king Belus ( the son of Poseidon )and Queen Anchinoe .
He had a twin brother called Danaus,the two brothers had 100 children- Aegyptus had 50 sons ,and Danaus had 50 daughters.

The brothers were on bad terms; and to make peace, Aegyptus wanted his 50 sons to marry Danaus's 50 daughters, the Danaids' daughters refused, and Together with their father, they fled to Argos where Danaus became a king.

Aegyptus and his 50 sons followed them there, at which point Danaus decided to let the marriages happen. On the day of the wedding Danaus gave each of his daughters a knife and instructed all of them to kill their new husbands in their wedding beds.

All but one were successful - the disobedient daughter; Hypermnestra; was put in prison by her father for disobeying his order, but later on she was rescued by her husband.The Greek Goddess Artemis killed the Danaids' for their crime and they were sent to the underworld, punished forever by a cruel penalty.

-During the Ptolemaic Period, the ancient Greeks have referred to Egypt with the word ‘Aegyptus’ that was originally derived from ‘Ht-Ka-Ptah’.The ancient Greek was having a difficulty in pronouncing the letter ‘H’ in ‘Ht-Ka-Ptah’ ,on account of that they omitted the letter ‘H’ and altered the ‘K’ with the letter ‘G’, moreover they added ‘os’ as an ending to this word.

This illustrates how the modern European languages have derived the word ‘Egypt’ from ‘Aegyptus’. Since then ‘Egypt’ has become the formal name for this country in English language, ’Aegypten’ in German, and ‘Egitto’ in Italian.

-After the Arab conquest to Egypt in 641 A.C., the word ‘Aegypti’ which formerly meant ‘Egyptian Citizen’ had been converted by Arab to become ‘Copti’ and it kept the same meanings. The word of ‘Copti’ hereafter was used to refer only to the Christian Egyptians.

3rd group: ‘Misr’ The modern Arabic name of Egypt :-

It’s interesting that the Arabic name ’Misr’ [ literally means Country] derives from an ancient Egyptian word ’Md_r’ ;means ‘fortress’ or ‘castellated’. It’s a name referring to Egypt as a land has been gifted natural protective borders from invaders.

‘Misr’ has frequently been mentioned in the Holy book of Qur’an, and it becomes the modern name that is used by Arabs for Egypt.