ϩⲉⲛⲧⲟⲩ

Coptic

India

Alternative forms

• ϩⲓⲛⲧⲟⲩ (hintou) — Bohairic

Etymology

Inherited from Demotic Egyptian hntw, from Egyptian hndwꜣy, from Old Persian 𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁 (h-i-du-u-š /⁠Hiⁿduš⁠/). Compare Persian هند (hend), Hebrew הודו (hoddū), Aramaic ܗܢܕܘ (hendu).

Adjective

ϩⲉⲛⲧⲟⲩ • (hentou)

1. (Bohairic, Sahidic) Indian

Proper noun

ⲡⲓϩⲉⲛⲧⲟⲩ • (pihentou) m (Bohairic, Sahidic)

1. India (a country in South Asia)
2. (chiefly historical, proscribed in modern use) India (a region of South Asia, traditionally delimited by the Himalayas and the Indus river; the Indian subcontinent)

Related terms

• ⲑⲉⲛⲧⲓⲕⲏ (thentikē)

References

• Vycichl, Werner (1983), Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Copte, Leuven: Peeters, →ISBN, page 305
• Černý, Jaroslav (1976), Coptic Etymological Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 289
• Kircher, Athanasius (1643), Lingua Aegyptiaca Restituta, Romae: Hermann Scheus apud Ludouicum Grignanum
• Isḥāḳ, Emile Māher. 1975. "The phonetics and phonology of the Boḥairic dialect of Coptic and the Survival of Coptic Word in the Colloquial and Classical Arabic of Egypt and of Coptic Grammatical Constructions in Colloquial Egyptian Arabic". University of Oxford, p.167