The Egyptian language is related, not only to Semitic tongues (Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Babylonian, &c.), but also to the East African languages (Gall, Somali, &c.) and the Berber idioms of North Africa. Its connection with the latter groups, together known as the Hamitic family, is a very thorny subject, but the relationship to the Semitic tongues can be fairly accurately defined. In general structure the similarity is very great; Egyptian shares the principal peculiarity of Semitic in that its word-stems consist of combinations of consonants, as a rule three in a number , which are theoretically at least unchangeable. Grammatical inflexion and minor variations of meaning are contrived mainly by ringing the changes on the internal vowels, though affixed endings also are used for the same purpose; more important differences of meaning are created by reduplication, whore or partial (exx. sn 'brother', 'sbsb 'be brotherly towards'; smsw 'elder', later form smsm[1]), or, in on one of two special cases, by prefixed consonants (causatives in s, like s`nh 'cause to live'; nouns with the formative consonant m, like mhnt 'ferry-boat' from Hni ' row' ; n-formations, like nftft 'leap away', beside ftft 'leap'). There are, moreover, many points of contact in the vocabulary (exx. Eg. hsb 'count', Arab. hasaba; Eg. ink 'I' , Hebr. 'anoki; Eg. hmnw 'eight', Hebr. shmonch), though these are very frequently obscured by metathesis and by unobvious consonantal changes (exx. Eg. sdm 'hear', Arab. sami`a; Eg. ib 'heart', Arab. lubbu; Eg. snb 'be healthy', Arab. salima). In spite of these resemblances, Egyptian differs from all the Semitic tongues a good deal more than any one of them differs from any other, and at least until its relationship to the African languages is more closely defined, Egyptian must certainly be classified as standing outside the Semitic group...

The most striking feature of Egyptian in all its stages is its concrete realism, its preoccupation with exterior objects and occurrences to the neglect of those more classical languages. Subtleties of thought such as are implied in 'might', 'should', 'can', 'hardly', as well as such abstractions as 'cause', 'motive', 'duty', belong to a later state of linguistic development; possibly they would have been repugnant to the Egyptian temperament. Despite the reputation for philosophic wisdom attributed to the Egyptians by the Greeks, no people has ever shown itself more averse from speculation[2] or more wholeheartedly devoted to material interests; if they paid an exaggerated attention to funerary observance, it was because the continuance of earthly pursuits and pleasures was felt to be at stake, assuredly not out of any curiosity as to the why and whither of human life. The place taken elsewhere occupied by exceptional powers of observation and keenness of vision. Intellectual and emotional qualities were ordinarily described by reference to the physical gestures or expressions by which they were accompanied, this 'liberality' is 'extension of hand' (;wt-`), 'cleverness' is 'sharpness of face (sight)' (spd-hr). Another features of Egyptian is its marked preference for static over dynamic expression; apart from the rare survivals of the active Old Perfective, there is no genuine active tense, all others being derived from passive or neuter participles. No less salient a characteristic of the language is its concision; the phrases and sentences are brief and to the point. Involved constructions and lengthy periods are rare, although such are found in some legal documents. The vocabulary was very rich, though, as may be inferred from our previous statements, not equally well developed in every direction. The clarity of Egyptian is much aided by a strict word-order, probably due in part to the absence of case-endings in the nouns. There remains to be mentioned a certain formality that is conspicuous in Egyptian writings — a rigidity and conventionality which find their counterpart in Egyptian Art. The force of tradition discouraged originality alike in subject-matter and in expression, there are some notable exceptions.