The Beja Languages and Ancient Egyptian

Hotepe and his wife Renpet-nefert, from Old Kingdom Giza
Credit: EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
http://www.qal.berkeley.edu/~hearst/egyptarc.htm

According to C.G. Seligman and A. Paul, the Beja are a modern link to the ancient Egyptians. Sir E.A. Wallis Budge thought that the Beja languages of the Eastern Sudan were the best ones to study in order to learn ancient Egyptian.

A good modern source on the Beja language (in German) is A. Zaborski, "Der Wortschatz der Bedscha-Sprache. Eine vergleichende Analyse", in ZDMG, Supplement VII (Stuttgart, 1989), 573-91. The Beja may have inhabited the region from Egypt to Eritrea from as early as 4000 BC. Today about 2.5 million Beja occupy the eastern regions of southern Egypt, the Sudan and Eritrea. The Beja of Egypt are known as Bisharin. Some have lost their original tongue and speak only Arabic. They live along the Red Sea and on both shores of the Nile. They also inhabit the areas around the ruins of Luxor, Karnak and Aswan. Some are still cave-dwellers. They are known as "Fuzzy Wuzzies," after Rudyard Kipling described them as such because of their giant crown of Africoid hair. Similar types of hair style have been found in Egyptian rock paintings from 2000 BC.

References

Paul, A. A History of The Beja Tribes of the Sudan. London: Frank Cass and Co., Ltd., 1971.

Seligman, C.G. Races of Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.

Seligman, C. G. and Brenda Z. "Note on the History and Present Condition of the Beni-Amer (Southern Beja)," Sudan Notes and Records, Vol. 13, Part 1 (1930), pp 83-97.

Zaborski, A. "Der Wortschatz der Bedscha-Sprache. Eine vergleichende Analyse", in ZDMG, Supplement VII (Stuttgart, 1989), 573-91.

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