TerraverbaAn atlas of the world’s languages 简体中文 Open the atlas

Siwi

Siwi is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt. Glottolog rates it threatened.

See it on the globeOpen in the family tree

Siwi · 29.2°N 25.5°E

Siwi (also known as Siwan or Siwa Berber; endonym: Jlan n isiwan) is the easternmost Berber language, spoken in the western Egyptian desert by an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people in the oases of Siwa and Gara, near the Libyan border.

Siwi is the normal language of daily communication among the Egyptian Berbers of Siwa and Gara, but because it is not taught at local schools, used in the media nor recognised by the Egyptian government, its long-term survival may be threatened by contacts with outsiders and by the use of Egyptian Arabic in mixed marriages; nearly all Siwis today learn to speak Egyptian Arabic as a second language from an early age.

Siwi has been heavily influenced by Arabic, notably Egyptian and Bedouin, but also earlier stages of Arabic.

From Wikipedia · Siwi language · CC BY-SA 4.0

Words in Siwi

MeaningWordRomanization
personat3rras*
nameism*
eyetit7t*
eartam3z7z7uxt*
nosetanzart*
toothasen*
tongueil3s*
handfus*
bloodidamm3n*
boneix3s7*
skinil3m*
kneefud*
breastif3f*
liverca*
wateraman
firet3msi*
suntfukt*
stariri*
stonetxux3t*
mountainadrar*
treetiss3Zr3t*
leaftw3r7q3t*
nightit7*
dogagurzni*
fishtism3kt*
lousetalS3t*
one3ZZ3n*
twos3n*
IniS*
youS3k*

* in the simplified ASJP transcription

Most similar languages

Vocabulary

Grammar

Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.

Nearby languages

Elsewhere

Something wrong here? Tell us

Glottolog · siwi1239 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · siz