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2 - Call Me by My Names

Naming the Delta through Time and Space*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2024

By
Katherine Blouin
Edited by
Katherine Blouin
Katherine Blouin
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

The ancient-to-modern Nile Delta has been consistently conceptualised as a coherent, distinctive region, and toponymy is one of the manifestations of this space-making process. In that regard, available evidence, which ranges from the Old Kingdom to modern times and covers a variety of scripts and languages, testifies to two partly overlapping yet simultaneously distinctive takes on the region. One adopts an insider’s, fluvial and south–north vantage point; the other, an outsider’s, maritime and north–south one. The etymology, diachronic endurance and translation of the toponyms (t3-)mḥw and Δέλτα indicate a tension between the unswerving appeal of the indigenous understanding of the Delta as a place and the long-lasting, far-reaching posterity of the ancient Greek tradition beyond and within Egypt. This chapter analyses available literary and documentary evidence of the name(s) given to what we now commonly call the Nile Delta, from Antiquity to the modern period. I propose that we consider these place names as both manifestations and vectors of stories, and reflect on their contribution to our understanding of human pluri-millennial entanglements with this territory. I first discuss the two, Egyptian and Greek, names associated with the region, before focusing on the polysignificance of the apex region.

Keywords

HistoryEgyptNileDeltaEnvironmentToponomyTerritory
Type
Chapter
Information
The Nile Delta
Histories from Antiquity to the Modern Period
 , pp. 68 - 104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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