6000–3100 BCE: (Nilo-Saharan Loanwords in Early Egyptian — Specific Words for Important Cultural Features Borrowed from Eastern Sahelian Languages of the Nil…

6000–3100 BCE: (Nilo-Saharan Loanwords in Early Egyptian — Specific Words for Important Cultural Features Borrowed from Eastern Sahelian Languages of the Nilo-Saharan Family, Including ds “Jar” from Early Nilo-Saharan *DoS “Water Pot,” s3 “Cattle Byre” from Proto-Eastern Sahelian *sar, mrw “Bulls” and mry “Fighting Bull” from Proto-Sahelian *ma:wr “Ox,” pg3 “Wooden Bowl or Trough” from Proto-Eastern Sahelian *pookur, bd “Watermelon” from Proto-Eastern Sahelian *bod, and t3 “Beer” from Proto-Eastern Sahelian *tɛr): The words in early Egyptian for a number of important features of culture came from early languages of the Eastern Sahelian sub-branch of the Nilo-Saharan family. Not surprisingly, at least one of these borrowed words evokes the south-to-north contributions to the shared ceramic styles: the Egyptian word ds, meaning “jar,” derives from early Nilo-Saharan *DoS, meaning “water pot.” Other word histories reveal southern influences not just on the pastoral economy of the wider Middle Nile Culture Area but also on crop raising: the Egyptian s3, meaning “cattle byre,” from proto-Eastern Sahelian *sar; the Egyptian mrw, “bulls,” and mry, “fighting bull,” from proto-Sahelian *ma:wr, “ox”; the Egyptian pg3, “wooden bowl or trough,” from proto-Eastern Sahelian *pookur; the Egyptian bd, “watermelon,” and bddw, “bed of melons,” from proto-Eastern Sahelian *bod; and the Egyptian t3, “beer,” from proto-Eastern Sahelian *tɛr. Each of these loanwords is a fossil record of cultural exchange. The Egyptians did not merely live alongside their Nilo-Saharan-speaking neighbors. They learned from them. They adopted their pottery terminology, their cattle vocabulary, their words for watermelons and beer. The jar that held the water, the byre that sheltered the cattle, the bull that symbolized royal power, the melon that fed the household, the beer that accompanied the feast — all of these carried Nilo-Saharan names into the Egyptian language. The pharaoh who was called a mighty bull was using a metaphor whose very vocabulary was borrowed from the south. The beer that fueled the labor gangs who built the pyramids was called by a Nilo-Saharan word. The cultural debt of ancient Egypt to its Nilo-Saharan-speaking neighbors is inscribed in the language itself, word by word, concept by concept, one borrowed term at a time.