A Ṣa‘īdī (,

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet, t ...

: ⲣⲉⲙⲣⲏⲥ ''Remris'') is a person from

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancie ...

: ⲙⲁⲣⲏⲥ ''Maris'').

Etymology

The word literally means "from Ṣa‘īd" (i.e. Upper Egypt), and can also refer to a form of music originating there, or to the dialect spoken by Sa‘idis. The Arabic word ''Ṣa‘īd'', as a geographical term, means "highland, upland, plateau". The

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

"-i" denotes the adjective. The word ''Ṣa‘īdi'' is pronounced in the dialect itself as or and the plural is or , while pronounced in

Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and ...

(Northern Egyptian) as and the plural is . In the Sahidic (Upper Egyptian) dialect of Coptic, the name for a person from Upper Egypt is (pronounced rem/rīs) meaning "person of the South" or (pronounced rem/pma/rīs or rem/ma/rīs) "person of (the) place of the south (i.e. Upper Egypt)".

Stereotypes and jokes

Ṣa‘īdis and their dialect are the subject of numerous Egyptian stereotypes and

ethnic jokes An ethnic joke is a remark aiming at humor relating to an ethnic, racial or cultural group, often referring to an ethnic stereotype of the group in question for its punchline. Perceptions of ethnic jokes are ambivalent. Christie Davies gives ex ...

, mainly from the

upper-class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is g ...

Egyptians who own

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not sepa ...

es in Egypt's major cities and used to hire Upper Egyptian workers in construction fields. They are popularly assumed to be rural simpletons by other

Egyptians Egyptians ( arz, المَصرِيُون, translit=al-Maṣriyyūn, ; arz, المَصرِيِين, translit=al-Maṣriyyīn, ; cop, ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, remenkhēmi) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian ...

. An example of such

stereotyping In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

is the popular 1998 film ''Ṣa‘īdi fil-Gama‘a al-Amrikiya'' ("A Ṣa‘īdi in the American University") starring Mohamed Henedi, whose main character is portrayed as less fashionable than the other Egyptian students of the

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs ...

Socioeconomic status

Approximately 40% of Egyptians live in Upper Egypt, and 80% of Egypt's severe poverty is concentrated in Upper Egypt. The settling of family disputes and blood feuds by firearms (often antiquated, such as Mauser rifle) since at least the 1940s is a long cultural trend in the community, especially in the Hamradoum and

Nag Hammadi Nag Hammadi ( ; ar, نجع حمادى ) is a city in Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile in the Qena Governorate, about north-west of Luxor. It had a population of close to 43,000 . History The town of Nag Hammadi is nam ...

areas. Weapons smuggling from Libya and Sudan is also notable in the area.

Religion in Upper Egypt

The Upper Egyptians follow

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

and Christianity as Upper Egypt has a significant Christian population and a rich Coptic Christian history. For instance,

Sahidic Coptic (Bohairic Coptic: , ) is a language family of closely related dialects, representing the most recent developments of the Egyptian language, and historically spoken by the Copts, starting from the third-century AD in Roman Egypt. Coptic ...

was the leading Coptic dialect in the pre-Islamic period. In the last few decades the high proportion of Coptic Christians in Upper Egypt has enabled some Christians to hold prominent political posts there. For instance,

Qena Governorate Qena Governorate is one of the governorates of Egypt. Located in the southern part of the country, it covers a stretch of the Nile valley. Its capital is the city of Qena. Overview The rate of poverty is more than 60% in this governorate but re ...

had a Coptic Christian governor in 2011.

dialect of Coptic is used as a

Liturgical language A sacred language, holy language or liturgical language is any language that is cultivated and used primarily in church service or for other religious reasons by people who speak another, primary language in their daily lives. Concept A sacr ...

by the clergy and among Sa'idi

Copts Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are C ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:People, Saidi Ancient peoples Ethnic groups in Egypt Upper Egypt

Etymology

Stereotypes and jokes

Socioeconomic status

Religion in Upper Egypt

See also

References