I have been reading Beneath the Sands of Egypt: Adventures of an Unconventional Archaeologist by Donald Ryan [too much about him so far and not enough Egypt! I hope the balance improves soon!]
So here are some random words ...
A gaffir is a guardian - like a watchman or, in this context, they are tomb guards.
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| A gaffir at the Kushite tomb at El-Khurru from Source |
howagas (apparently) means foreigners - I have seen one suggestion it come from 'hat-wearers' but I can't verify that. I am also having a heck of a time getting any kind of etymology for this word. Hummm... (it seems to really mean idiot in some cases though.) Anyone know Arabic ?
aish baladi roughly translates as 'peasant bread' according to Ryan. Aish baladi is a form of pita bread that is unique to Egypt and is a staple of most meals.
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| Egyptian woman baking aish in a traditional clay oven. SOURCE They have posted a recipe. |
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| They have a kid friendly recipe here with photos |
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| koushari Photo Copyright Lean Droid at Flickr |
shawarma (Arabic: شاورما / ALA-LC: shāwarmā; Urdu: شاورما) which is more of a preparation than a specific food. Meat (lamb, turkey, beef, chicken, whatever) is put on a spit and slow roasted all day. The meat is shaved off from the outside and served on a plate or more commonly in a sandwich. The accompaniments depend on where buy it. Again a ubiquitous street food.
Which totally means that I have to throw in a still from that bit at the end of the Avengers movie where they are eating shawarma because Tony wants to try it ...
Maybe next week I will actually remember which day of the week is Wednesday (doesn't seem likely though the way things are going).
It's too bad the author interjects himself too much because the parts about Egypt sound good! All of your words are new to me.
ReplyDeleteThese are all new words for me. I like the photos. :)
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