Aegyptius

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. A historical term referring to an inhabitant or native of ancient Egypt
2. A descriptor for anything pertaining to the culture, geography, or history of Egypt
3. Used to denote qualities or aspects associated with Egyptian civilization

Etymology: Aegyptius is the Latin adjective meaning "Egyptian," and it came into English as a learned borrowing, with the classical Latin form kept nearly intact. The Latin word derives from Greek "Aigyptios," which in turn was formed from "Aigyptos," the Greek name for Egypt. That name is itself a reshaping of an older Egyptian term, "Hikuptah," a name for the city of Memphis (roughly "house of the spirit of Ptah," the god Ptah being Memphis's patron). The Greeks heard this place name and applied it to the whole country, so a single city's name ended up naming an entire civilisation. In English, "Aegyptian" and the older forms "Egyptian" and "Egyptien" were far more common, and "Aegyptius" appears mostly in Latinate scholarly and taxonomic contexts, where writers preferred the classical spelling. Its use as a noun in English is rare and largely confined to such technical writing, usually for an Egyptian person or thing in the sense the Latin would allow.

Synonyms: Egyptian