Demotic Egyptian

[bnjtokyo]

I'm surprised others haven't beaten me to this post, but there is an interesting article
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/scien ... ef=science
in the NY Times about a dictionary of Demotic Egyptian published on line by the University of Chicago. It tells us the modern English word "adobe" has its root in "dby" meaning "brick." (Middle Egyptian) dbt (with vowels[djebet]) > (Egyptian Demotic) tby (with vowels[teby]) > (Coptic) toobe [long "o's"] > (Arabic) al + tuby [long u, the [l] assimilates to the [t]] > (Spanish via Moorish influence) adobe

A possible Word of the Day?

[Perry Lassiter]

Actually, the word is "demotic," not "demonic," although I suspect learning it might be a devil of a task!

[bnjtokyo]

Thank to all who pointed the misspelling out. How embarrassing! But it's fixed now.