Ancient Greek words from Egyptian
5 Ancient Greek words with Egyptian in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
βᾶρις
1. The boat is a word of Egyptian origin, borrowed from Egyptian bꜣjr (“transport ship”). Beekes compares the Coptic word for a boat, Coptic ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ (baare). Wiktionary traces the Greek word through…
βάσανος
It is borrowed from Egyptian bḫn (“a hard stone”), the name of a stone that the Egyptians used as a touchstone for gold. It reached Greece through Lydia, as the Greek name “Lydian stone” for the…
βῖκος
It is probably a loanword. Following Hemmerdinger, Beekes considers it borrowed from Egyptian bꜣkt (“oil flask, used as a measure”), and Wiktionary gives that origin as probable. E. Masson thought…
ἐλέφας
Like Latin ebur (“ivory”), ἐλέφας is a foreign word. Beekes classes it as a loanword from Egyptian: apart from the suffix ⟨-ντ-⟩, its end recalls borrowed from Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant; ivory”), but…
νίτρον
It is an Oriental loanword, ultimately borrowed from Egyptian nṯrj (“natron”). The same word is found in Biblical Hebrew נֶתֶר (néṯer, “washing soda”) and probably in Hittite nitri-. Rosół classes…