hey good question.. it means the coptic book of hours. we had a disscusion about it in sunday school like last year. the book of hours are filled with prayers and psalms that we can read and understand the words of god!! basketball
Just a side question: the word "Agpeya" i know comes from "ti agp", but what would have ancient Copts who did not know Arabic call the book of hours? From what I remember (and please someone correct me if I am wrong) the word "Agpeya" is an Arabic corruption.
Anyone who says a word is a "corruption" from another language does not understand how contact linguistics works. Tiagp is Coptic. It is a feminine noun with the feminine definite article "ti". Knowing it is feminine, one can bilingually transform the Coptic feminine definite article into the Arabic definite article and add a feminine suffix to conform its feminine linguistic status. Thus, Coptic "ti"=Arabic "al". Agp is the borrowed Coptic word. "eya" is the Arabic feminine suffix. So al-agb-eya exhibits classical bilingual code switching.
Also, you don't kneed to know Arabic to use the word agbeya. This code switching occurs organically and once it becomes registered in the second language (arabic). It becomes an Arabic word. It is just like any other Egyptian Arabic word borrowed from Coptic or Greek. Most of the time we don't even know it is a borrowed word. For example, "bara" in Egyptian colloqualism, which means outside, comes from the Greek "para" which means beside or alongside. The vast majority of Egyptians have no idea this is originally a Greek word.
Dear @minasoliman and @Remnkemi, To convert a feminine word into Arabic you simply add taa marboota (closed form of taa), so it'd be alajba, not alajbeya.. Other examples are: aljaketta from the jacket, alkeisa from the case, almanga from the mango. Ajbeya on the other hand is a Coptic feminine word and also comes in a masculine form of ajbi. Please note the pronunciation ajbeya like metaneya, awkharesteya to refute the recent innovative pronunciation of evkharestia! Oujai khan ebshois
It is a simple Coptic word means the hours, that was adopted to the book. I don't believe that the 'ia' at the end is a corruption it is how the word is used.
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Thank you :)
lol ur welcome!!.. :)
God bless you!
laura
To convert a feminine word into Arabic you simply add taa marboota (closed form of taa), so it'd be alajba, not alajbeya.. Other examples are: aljaketta from the jacket, alkeisa from the case, almanga from the mango. Ajbeya on the other hand is a Coptic feminine word and also comes in a masculine form of ajbi. Please note the pronunciation ajbeya like metaneya, awkharesteya to refute the recent innovative pronunciation of evkharestia!
Oujai khan ebshois