Languages in the Near East
Egyptian lies geographically and in its position as language between two major families of languages:
The two families together are often called Afroasiatic
|ink (anok) - I||aniga (Somali)||anaku (Akkadian)|
|gemi - to find||egmi (Tuareg - to look for)|
|khenet - face, front||hancii (Hausa - nose)||khanna (Arabic - speak nasally)|
|jan - baboon||yani (Bantu - kind of ape)|
|semu - pasture, plant||shamu (Akkadian)|
Takács 1999 (an etymological dictonary of Egyptian)
Map showing important languages in the Near East (at about 2000- 1000 BC) and North East Africa (about AD 1000-2000). Because of the lack of written sources in most areas, it is hard to trace the origins of African languages in detail.
After each language name on the map, is written in brackets the language family to which it belongs.
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