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egiptean

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word egiptean

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1559–1560 Codex Bratul, as eghiptean More words from the 16th century
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek Αἴγυπτος

Forms

egiptean m or n (feminine singular egipteană, masculine plural egipteni, feminine/neuter plural egiptene)[1] The old form is eghiptean, as in the Palia de la Orăștie (1581–1582): „Să spuniu în urechile ficiorilor tăi şi nepoților tăi, de câte ori i-am zdrobit pre eghipteani” “that I may tell in the ears of your sons and grandsons how many times I crushed the Egyptians”.[2] MDA2 also records the rare variant egiptian, the old eghipțian and egipțian, and the regional ighiptean.[3] Egipțian was a French-style form used by Camil Petrescu.[4]

Etymology

It is usually explained as formed from Romanian Egipt + -ean, from the name of the country.[5][6][2][7][1] MDA2 gives the same formation and compares French égyptien.[3]

DELR explains the old form eghiptean differently: it takes it from Old Church Slavonic, from the plural Old Church Slavonic егѵпьтѣне (egypĭtěne) of егѵпьтѣнинъ (egypĭtěninŭ, “Egyptian”), a word built on the Slavonic name of Egypt, which comes from Ancient Greek Αἴγυπτος (Aíguptos).[8][9] The word was later reshaped after the Romanian name of the country and after the French adjective, and the variant egipțian is French.[8][2] DELR adds that the Greek name is traced to an Egyptian name of Memphis meaning “temple of Ptah”.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the form eghiptean in the Codex Bratul of 1559–1560.[8] Tiktin cites it from the Codicele Voronețean, in the Acts of the Apostles (21:38).[7] In these texts and in the Palia de la Orăștie the word names the people of ancient Egypt in the Bible.[2][8]

Semantic evolution

For two centuries the word named the Egyptians of the Bible and of ancient history: Dosoftei's lives of the saints of 1682 tell of Moses killing an Egyptian, and Cantemir lists the empires of the Greeks, the Persians and the Egyptians.[2] The modern sense, a person of the present-day Egyptian nation, came later, and DEX now gives it first.[5][8] The feminine used as a noun names the language of the Egyptians.[5][3]

In printing the feminine plural, mostly in the form egipțiene, names a modern typeface with letters of nearly geometric build and rectangular serifs.[8][3] French had used égyptienne for such a typeface since 1835.[10] MDA2 also records the feminine, rarely, for an Egyptian cigarette.[3] The derived feminine egipteancă is also the name of a plant, the Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum).[8]

Timeline

  • 1559–1560 – eghiptean in the Codex Bratul, the first record.[8]
  • c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean (Acts 21:38).[7]
  • 1582 – eghipteani and the adjective eghiptenesc in the Palia de la Orăștie.[2][8]
  • c. 1660 – the variant eghiptinean in a chronograph.[8]
  • 1682 – eghiptean and the adjective eghiptesc in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.[2][8]
  • 1686 – the feminine eghipteancă in Dosoftei.[8]
  • 1688 – eghiptineanii in the Bucharest Bible.[2]
  • 1772 – the adverb eghiptenește “in the Egyptian manner; in Egyptian”.[8]
  • 1794 – the Alexandria, MDA2's first record.[3]
  • 1873 – the loanword egiptolog “Egyptologist”.[8]
  • 1936 – egipțiac “Egyptian”, of ancient Egypt, in Călinescu.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An Egyptian: a person of the nation of the present-day Arab Republic of Egypt.[5][3]
  2. In the plural, the ancient inhabitants of the Nile valley and delta, who founded one of the great states of the ancient East; in the singular, one of them.[5][8]
  3. Feminine: the Egyptian language.[5][3]
  4. Feminine plural, mostly egipțiene (printing): a typeface with nearly geometric letters and rectangular serifs.[8][3]

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to Egypt or the Egyptians: bumbac egiptean “Egyptian cotton”.[5][4]

Word family

  • egipteancă
  • egiptenesc
  • egiptenește
  • Egipt
  • egiptolog
  • egiptologie
  • egipțiac
  • French égyptien

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. egiptean
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 792
  4. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 201
  5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 344
  6. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. egiptean
  7. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. egiptean
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. egiptean
  9. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
  10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Egiptean.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/egiptean. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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