近代中东地区流传的游戏(El-Tab-el-Seega)起源于古埃及桌上游戏塞尼特。
塞尼特(Senet、Senat),又可名卅格戏(30 Squares),出现于古埃及前王朝时期,最早的考古实物是约前31世纪,是世界上已知最古老的两人版图游戏,属于掷赛游戏,与苏美的乌尔王族局戏相似。
塞尼特常见于古埃及神话、历史文献,也是埃及古墓常见的陪葬品。神话中,底比斯三神的月神孔斯与智慧之神托特玩此游戏,并以光为赌注,孔斯输了比赛,因此除了满月时无法展现它所有的光芒。 此段神话牵涉到神话中的努特生下孩子的典故,拉神知道努特所生的孩子会夺取他的地位,所以诅咒努特只要月亮还是圆的一天,奴特就无法生下孩子。托特听从了努特的请求而与孔斯打赌,并为努特赢取了五天新月之夜,努特便利用了这五天生下了阿活西斯、欧西里斯、伊西斯、赛特、奈芙蒂斯五个孩子。
在图坦卡门之墓出土的物品中,考古人员发现四组完整的桌上游戏 Senet,其意为「pass or move」。已知最早Senet游戏部件是以尼罗河黏土制成的,但此处的Senet则是以象牙、乌木等高级材质制作。
这项游戏的胜负取决于复杂的机率与运气而非高超的游戏技巧,游戏目标为将对方的棋子先一步从棋盘上移除,并到达最后指定的方格内。
Senet为古埃及人带来许多乐趣,尤其在酷热夏季时人们更热衷于这种室内游戏,当时便流传着这句话:“坐在大厅上,配着啤酒与葡萄酒,一起玩着Senet。”甚至是建筑金字塔的工人,闲暇时也会在工地玩起这种桌上游戏,甚至早在古王国时期法老陵寝的壁画里也能看到墓主人与其亲人对弈的场景。
到了新王国时期,Senet开始成为葬礼中具宗教象征的游戏——连结了生前与死后世界。游戏的目标即是避免棋盘上危险的方格,其代表逝者的灵魂在阴间步步为营,而为了赢得游戏必须移除对手的棋子直到胜利,那时象征灵魂获得了重生、也获得了永恒的来世。
Seega可以看做是塞尼特的平民版,从规则到玩法都得到了改动。它被称为埃及的穷人和游牧民族的游戏,没有花哨的游戏用具,最极端的状态下,只是在沙子上挖洞来做一个临时的游戏板,或将它们刻在岩石上,然后用两种不同颜色的鹅卵石就能玩。
埃及阿拉伯语方言有显著的科普特语底层。
Egyptian Arabic appears to have retained a significant Coptic substratum in its lexicon, phonology, and syntax. Coptic is the latest stage of the indigenous Egyptian language spoken until the mid-17th century when it was finally completely supplanted among Egyptian Muslims and a majority of Copts by the Egyptian Arabic. Some features that Egyptian Arabic shares with the original ancient Egyptian language include certain prefix and suffix verbal conjugations, certain emphatic and glottalized consonants, as well as a large number of biliteral and triliteral lexical correspondences.
A syntactic feature particular[citation needed][dubious – discuss] to Egyptian Arabic arguably inherited from Coptic[41] is:
Wh words (i.e. "who", "when", "why" remain in their "logical" positions in a sentence rather than being preposed, or moved to the front of the sentence, as in Literary Arabic or English).
Examples:
/rˤaːħ masˤrI ʔimta/ ( ) "When (/ʔimta/) did he go to Egypt?" (lit. "He went to Egypt when?")
/rˤaːħ masˤrI leːh/ ( ) "Why (/leːh/) did he go to Egypt? (lit. "He went to Egypt why?")
/miːn rˤaːħ masˤr/ or /miːn illi rˤaːħ masˤr/ ( [ ] ) "Who (/miːn/) went to Egypt/Cairo? (literally – same order)
The same sentences in Literary Arabic (with all the question words (wh-words) in the beginning of the sentence) would be:
/mataː ðahaba ʔilaː misˤr/
/lima ðahaba ʔilaː misˤr/
/man ðahaba ʔilaː misˤr/
Also since Coptic lacked interdental consonants it could possibly have influenced the manifestation of their occurrences in Classical Arabic /θ/ /ð/ /ðˤ/ as their dental counterparts /t/ /d/ and the emphatic dental /dˤ/ respectively. (see consonants)
以上引用自维基百科。埃及阿拉伯语方言的一个重要特征是表何时、何地、何人的Wh词汇会放在句子的末尾,而不是像标准阿拉伯语和英文一样放在句子的开头。这被认为是从科普特语继承而来的。
麟之趾
(先秦)佚名
麟之趾,振振公子,于嗟麟兮。
麟之定,振振公姓,于嗟麟兮。
麟之角,振振公族,于嗟麟兮。
麟之趾
(先秦)佚名
麟之趾,振振公子,于嗟麟兮。
麟之定,振振公姓,于嗟麟兮。
麟之角,振振公族,于嗟麟兮。