‘Cut deeper than a knife’: a folk-onomastic study of negative attitudes in Egyptian toponymic proverbs

Abstract EN

This paper examines Egyptian toponyms in colloquial proverbs and the attitudes of Egyptians toward these names.

it belongs to socio-onomastics, specifically folk-onomastics (Ainiala 2008) and folk linguistics (Vaattovaara 2009: 26-33).

it investigates Egyptian's perceptions and beliefs regarding the names of their villages, cities, and towns.

the corpus is based on 121 proverbs selected from Shac la: n's (2003), Taymu: r"s (2014), Maqa: r's (2009), and Egyptian newspapers.

this study proposes a two-fold approach to analyzing name data.

it begins with a semantic analysis of the proverbs' toponyms, including their origins, structure, and language.

the second phase investigates the attitudes underlying the diverse perceptions and beliefs that Egyptians may hold regarding these toponyms.

this paper postulates that eighty percent of toponymic proverbs, in the corpus of this study, contain offensive remarks, verbal slurs, stereotyping, and racial content that may promote violence against innocent people.

Egyptian toponymic proverbs are rhymed, repetitive linguistic formulas that lack wisdom and depend on figures of speech and proverbial exaggerations.

many of them can be attributed to historical, linguistic, social, and economic reasons.

in fact, they are the result of rough daily interactions, and they are used by Egyptians as jokes and as a means of releasing tension.