Editing Alexandria (section)

== Name ==
{{hiero|''r-ꜥ-qd(y)t'' (Alexandria)<ref name="Wörterbuch">[[Adolf Erman|Erman, Adolf]], and [[Hermann Grapow]], eds. 1926–1953. ''Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien''. 6 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'schen Buchhandlungen. (Reprinted Berlin: Akademie-Verlag GmbH, 1971).</ref><ref>John Baines, "Possible implications of the Egyptian word for Alexandria", ''Journal of Roman Archaeology'', Vol. 16 (2003), pp. 61–63. (Appendix to Judith McKenzie, "[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-archaeology/article/glimpsing-alexandria-from-archaeological-evidence/A95F62A34EE0CD1B091CAE0BFF0A757E Glimpsing Alexandria from archaeological evidence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180611233239/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-archaeology/article/glimpsing-alexandria-from-archaeological-evidence/A95F62A34EE0CD1B091CAE0BFF0A757E |date=11 June 2018 }}".)</ref>|<hiero>r:Z1:a A35 t::niwt</hiero>|align=right |era=default}}

Alexandria was located on the earlier Egyptian settlement, which was called [[Rhacotis]] ({{Langx|grc|Ῥακῶτις|Rhakôtis}}), the Hellenised form of [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] ''r-ꜥ-qd(y)t''. As one of many settlements founded by Alexander the Great, the city he founded on Rhacotis was called {{Translit|grc|Alexándreia hḗ kat' Aígypton}} ({{Lang|grc|Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ κατ' Αἴγυπτον}}), which some sources translated as "Alexandria by Egypt", as the city was, at that time, in the periphery of Egypt proper (the area beside the [[Nile]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chugg |first1=Andrew M. |title=The Pharos Lighthouse In Alexandria: Second Sun and Seventh Wonder of Antiquity |year=2024 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-04-000272-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0QXsEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT20}}</ref> Some of the Alexandrian and Greek populaces, e.g., [[Hypsicles]], also referred to the city as {{Translit|grc|Alexándreia hḗ prós Aígypton}} ({{Lang|grc|Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ πρός Αἴγυπτον}}, "Alexandria near Egypt").<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Getzel M. |title=The Hellenistic Settlements in Europe, the Islands, and Asia Minor |year=1995 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-08329-5 |pages=409 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6p4lDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA409}}</ref> In the course of [[Roman Egypt|Roman rule in Egypt]], the city's name was [[Latinisation of names|Latinised]] as {{Lang|la|Alexandrēa ad Aegyptum}}.

After the [[Siege of Alexandria (641)|capture of Alexandria]] by the [[Rashidun Caliphate|Rashiduns]] in AD 641, the name was [[Arabization|Arabicised]]: initial ''Al-'' was re-analysed into the [[Arabic definite article|definite article]]; [[Metathesis (linguistics)|metathesis]] occurred on ''x'', from {{IPA|[ks]}} to {{IPA|[sk]}}; and the suffix ''-eia'' was assimilated into the feminine adjectival suffix ''-iyya'' ({{Lang|ar|ـِيَّة}}).