On the Source of the Νεῖλος

• Alessandro Piccolo ^[1]
  1. [1] Università di Roma La Sapienza
• Localización: Aegyptus: Rivista italiana di Egittologia e di Papirologia, ISSN 0001-9046, Vol. 103, Nº. 1, 2023, págs. 221-230
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In this paper, it will be argued that the Greek word Νεῖλος (“Nile”) was derived from */'neħl/, the latter being a Phoenician term denoting a water stream, a river valley, a trench/tunnel, a seasonal riverbed ( وادِي ), and, like its Biblical Hebrew cognate נַ֫חַל , the Nile itself. This new insight could prove useful for shedding some light on the Graeco-Egyptian interactions during the so-called Dark Age of Greece, i.e. from the early Iron Age (12th century BCE) down to the early Archaic Period (8th century BCE), a stage corresponding to the Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt.