Αἴγυπτος

See also: Αίγυπτος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Egyptian ḥwt-kꜣ-ptḥ (literally “The temple of the ka of Ptah”), referring to Ptah’s temple in the important city of Memphis.

See also the Mycenaean Greek demonym 𐁁𐀓𐀠𐀴𐀍 (a3-ku-pi-ti-jo, “Egyptian”) (Ancient Greek Αἰγύπτιος (Aigúptios)).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ǎi̯.ɡyp.tos/ → /ˈɛ.ʝyp.tos/ → /ˈe.ʝip.tos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ǎi̯.ɡyp.tos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.ɡyp.tos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.ʝyp.tos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈe.ʝyp.tos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈe.ʝip.tos/

Proper noun

Αἴγυπτος • (Aíguptos) m or f (genitive Αἰγύπτου); second declension

1. (masculine) the Aegyptus river, i.e. the Nile River
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.477–478:

     Αἰγύπτοιο, διιπετέος ποταμοῖο, / (...) ὕδωρ

     Aigúptoio, diipetéos potamoîo, / (...) húdōr

     to the water of the Nile, the river fallen from Zeus

2. (masculine) King Aegyptus
   • 470 BCE, Aeschylus, The Suppliants 9–10:

     γάμον Αἰγύπτου παίδων ἀσεβῆ / 'ξονοταζόμεναι.

     gámon Aigúptou paídōn asebê / ’xonotazómenai.

     abhorring marriage to the sons of Aegyptus as profane

3. (feminine) Egypt (an ancient country and region of North Africa and Western Asia)
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 17.425–426:

     ὅς μ' ἅμα ληϊστῆρσι πολυπλάγκτοισιν ἀνῆκεν / Αἴγυπτόνδ' ἰέναι

     hós m’ háma lēïstêrsi poluplánktoisin anêken / Aíguptónd’ iénai

     who sent me alongside ever-wandering pirates / to go to Egypt

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 17.448:

     μὴ τάχα πικρὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ Κύπρον ἵκηαι·

     mḕ tákha pikrḕn Aígupton kaì Kúpron híkēai;

     lest swiftly you come to bitter Egypt and Cyprus;

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ, ἡ Αἴγυπτος; τοῦ, τῆς Αἰγύπτου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	ὁ, ἡ Αἴγυπτος ho, hē Aíguptos
Genitive	τοῦ, τῆς Αἰγύπτου toû, tês Aigúptou
Dative	τῷ, τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ tôi, têi Aigúptōi
Accusative	τὸν, τὴν Αἴγυπτον tòn, tḕn Aígupton
Vocative	Αἴγυπτε Aígupte
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of Αἴγυπτος; Αἰγύπτου (Epic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	Αἴγυπτος Aíguptos
Genitive	Αἰγύπτου / Αἰγύπτοιο Aigúptou / Aigúptoio
Dative	Αἰγύπτῳ Aigúptōi
Accusative	Αἴγυπτον Aígupton
Vocative	Αἴγυπτε Aígupte
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Derived terms

• Αἰγυπτιάζω (Aiguptiázō)
• Αἰγύπτιος (Aigúptios)
• Αἰγυπτιόω (Aiguptióō)
• Αἰγυπτιστί (Aiguptistí)
• Αἰγυπτιώδης (Aiguptiṓdēs)
• Αἰγυπτογενής (Aiguptogenḗs)

Descendants

Descendants

• → Aghwan: 𐔴𐔲𐔼𐕢𐕜𐕒𐕚 (egipṭos)
• → Albanian: Egjipti
• → Old Armenian: Եգիպտոս (Egiptos)
  • Armenian: Եգիպտոս (Egiptos)
• → Amharic: ግብፅ (gəbṣ́)
• → Bulgarian: Египет (Egipet)
• → Coptic: ⲅⲩⲡⲧⲓⲟⲥ (guptios) (see there for further descendants)
• → Old Georgian: ეგჳპტჱ (egwiṗṭē)
  • Georgian: ეგვიპტე (egviṗṭe)
• Greek: Αίγυπτος (Aígyptos)
  • → Thai: ไอยคุปต์ (ai-yá-kúp)
• → Hawaiian: ʻAikupika, Aigupita, ʻAikupita
• → Latin: Aegyptus (see there for further descendants)
• → Macedonian: Египет (Egipet)
• → Middle Persian: 𐭯𐭲𐭮‎𐭠𐭢 (agīptôs)
• → Old Church Slavonic:
  • Old Cyrillic script: Єгѷптъ (Egüptŭ)
• → Rarotongan: ‘Aiviti

References

• “Αἴγυπτος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Αἴγυπτος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “Αἴγυπτος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• Αἴγυπτος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• “Αἴγυπτος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G125 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • aegyptus idem, page 15.
  • egypt idem, page 263.