Editing Culture of Egypt (section)

==Languages==
[[File:Cultural Fashion and Adornment, El Moez St., 00 (70).JPG|thumb|left|[[Arabic calligraphy]] has seen its golden age in [[Cairo]]. This adornment and beads being sold in [[Muizz Street]]]]
{{Main|Languages of Egypt}}

[[Arabic language|Arabic]] is currently Egypt's official language. It came to Egypt in the 7th century,{{sfn|ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd Yūsuf|2003|p=vii}} and it is the formal and official language of the state which is used by the government and newspapers. Meanwhile, the [[Egyptian Arabic]] dialect or ''Masri'' is the official spoken language of the people. Of the many [[varieties of Arabic]], the Egyptian dialect is the most widely spoken and the most understood, due to the great influence of [[Egyptian cinema]] and the Egyptian media throughout the Arabic-speaking world. Today many foreign students tend to learn it throughout [[Egyptian music|Egyptian songs]] and movies, and the dialect is usually labelled by the general public as one of the easiest and fastest to learn, mainly due to the huge amount of accessible sources (movies, series, TV shows, books, etc.) that contribute to its learning process.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} Egypt's position in the heart of the Arabic speaking world has made it the centre of culture and its widespread dialect has had a huge influence on almost all neighbouring dialects, having so many Egyptian sayings in their daily lives. {{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

[[Image:Sarcophage Ankhnesneferibre.jpg|thumb|[[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Hieroglyphs]], as this example from a sarcophagus from [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] of about 530 BC, represent both [[ideogram]]s and phonograms.]]

The [[Egyptian language]], which formed a separate branch among the family of [[Afro-Asiatic languages]], was among the first written languages and is known from the [[Egyptian hieroglyph|hieroglyphic]] inscriptions preserved on monuments and sheets of [[papyrus]]. The [[Coptic language]], the most recent stage of Egyptian written in mainly [[Greek alphabet]] with seven demotic letters, is today the [[liturgical language]] of the [[Coptic Orthodox Church]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-29 |title=Afro-Asiatic languages {{!}} Semitic, Berber & Cushitic {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Afro-Asiatic-languages |access-date=2025-01-16 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

The "Koiné" dialect of the [[Greek language]] was important in Hellenistic Alexandria, and was used in the philosophy and science of that culture, and was later studied by Arabic scholars.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ancient Greek Language |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195389661/obo-9780195389661-0044.xml |access-date=2025-01-16 |website=obo |language=en}}</ref>

In the upper Nile Valley, southern Egypt, around [[Kom Ombo]] and south of [[Aswan]], there are about 300,000 speakers of [[Nubian languages]]; mainly [[Nobiin language|Noubi]], but also Kenuzi-Dongola. In Siwa Oasis, there is also the [[Siwi language]] that is spoken by about 20,000 speakers. Other minorities include roughly two thousand [[Greek language|Greek]] speakers in [[Alexandria]] and [[Cairo]] as well as roughly 5,000 [[Armenian language|Armenian]] speakers.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}