Vol. I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

Brugsch on
the Semitic
origin of the
Egyptian
language.
Stern's
opinion.
Ixvi Introdiiction.
Egyptians, but all the peoples of Africa, 1 which is obviously
absurd. Although his excursions into Coptic had disastrous
results so far as his reputation was concerned, his view that there
was a close affinity between the Egyptian and Semitic languages
found acceptance with many scholars, among them being E. de
Roug, Ebers and Brugsch, all of whom were Egyptologists.
Birch's view was that the "
greater portion of the words
[in the ancient Egyptian language] are an old form of the Coptic ;
others, no longer found in that tongue, appear (to be) of Semitic
origin, and have been gradually introduced into the language
from the Aramaic and other sources. A few words are Indo-
Germanic." 2
Brugsch stated categorically
that the oldest form
of the ancient Egyptian language is rooted in Semitic, and he
prophesied that one day philological
science would be astonished
at the closeness of the relationship which existed between Egyptian
and the Semitic languages. He was convinced that they had
a mother in common, and that their original home was to be
sought for on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. 3
Brugsch
held these views practically to the end of his life, for in his Die
Aegyptologie, Leipzig, 1891, p. 91, he quotes from his Worterbuch
the words which he wrote in the preface in 1867. Stern, the
eminent Coptic scholar, also declared that the Egyptian had an
affinity with the Semitic languages, which shows itself in the
formations and in the roots which are common to
pronominal
all, but thought that it separated itself from its Asiatic sisters
at a very early period and developed along lines of its own. 4
These views, which the older Egyptologists expressed in
general terms, were crystallized by Erman in a paper which he
contributed to the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenliindischen
1
Benfey, Uber das Verhaltniss der Aegyptischen Sprache zum Semitischen
Sprachstamme. Leipzig, 1844.
' Bunsen, Egypt's Place, Vol. V, p. 618.
* Es steht mir namlich fest, dass die altagyptische Sprache, d. h. die alteste
Gestaltung derselben, im Semitischen wurzelt. . . . Im
voraus kann ich es
weissagen, dass die Sprachforschung eines Tages erstaunt sein wird iiber das
enge Band der Verwandtschaft, welches die agyptische Sprache mit ihren
semitischen Schwestern zusammenkniipft, und iiber die mir jetzt schon feststehen-
de Thatsache, dass alle cine gemeinsame Mutter haben, deren Ursitze an den
Ufern des Euphrat und Tigris zu suchen ist." Worterbuch, Bd. I, p. ix.
1 Es bestcht eine alte verwandtschaft zwischen der agyptischen, welche dem
hamitischen stamme angehort, und den semitischen sprachen, wie sich unverkennbar
noch in der pronominalbildung und in manchen gemeinsamen
wurzeln zeigt ; doch scheint sich das agyptische von den asiatischen schwestern
friih getrennt zu haben und seinen eigenen weg gegangen zu sein, Koptische
Grammatik, p. 4.