Abstract Very little is known about the existence of family names in Ottoman Egypt, except among the upper classes and urban society as a whole. In this respect, the Western Desert Oases of Dakhla and Kharga provide us with an exceptional documentation. Cross referencing texts found or still preserved in local family archives with the results of ethnographical fieldwork conducted over a century, enables us to reconstruct the onomastic culture of the Oases society through the last four centuries. Family names were in use among most of the inhabitants. This use developed in a complex way, by combining lineage names created a few generations ago with more ancient and inclusive names. Their combined use allowed to identify and classify all the inhabitants of a settlement, without knowing them personally. It reflects a non-tribal society, largely based on the ownership of scarce but perennial water resources, a key factor in the longevity of families.
Abstract Very little is known about the existence of family names in Ottoman Egypt, except among the upper classes and urban society as a whole. In this respect, the Western Desert Oases of Dakhla and Kharga provide us with an exceptional documentation. Cross referencing texts found or still preserved in local family archives with the results of ethnographical fieldwork conducted over a century, enables us to reconstruct the onomastic culture of the Oases society through the last four centuries. Family names were in use among most of the inhabitants. This use developed in a complex way, by combining lineage names created a few generations ago with more ancient and inclusive names. Their combined use allowed to identify and classify all the inhabitants of a settlement, without knowing them personally. It reflects a non-tribal society, largely based on the ownership of scarce but perennial water resources, a key factor in the longevity of families.
Titre
fr
Noms de famille dans les oasis d’Égypte à l’époque ottomane
Auteur(s)
Nicolas Michel1, 2
1
AMU ALLSH -
Aix-Marseille Université - Faculté des Arts, Lettres, Langues et Sciences Humaines
( 203985 )
- 29, avenue Robert Schuman - 13621 Aix-en-Provence cedex 1
- France
Aix Marseille Université ( 198056 )
2
IREMAM -
Institut de Recherches et d'Etudes sur les Mondes Arabes et Musulmans
( 218986 )
- 5, rue du Château de l'Horloge BP 647 13094 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 2
- France
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR7310 / UMR6568 / UMR107 ( 441569 )
Langue du document
Français
Nom de la revue
Eurasian studies
(ISSN : 1722-0750, ISSN électronique : 2468-5623)
Publié par Brill
Revue non référencée dans Sherpa-Romeo
Vulgarisation
Non
Comité de lecture
Oui
Audience
Internationale
Date de publication
2017-04-26
Volume
15
Numéro
2
Page/Identifiant
183-199
Projet(s) ANR
Dynamiques de transmission: familles, autorité et savoir dans le Moyen-Orient médiéval et moderne (XVe-XVIIe siècles)
[En savoir plus]
DYNTRAN -
ANR-14-FRAL-0009
FRAL
- 2014
Domaine(s)
Sciences de l'Homme et Société/Histoire
Mots-clés
en
Egypt, Egyptian Oases, family, family name, onomastic, Ottoman period, patronymic, tribal society, Western Egyptian desert
fr
Égypte, oasis d'Égypte, famille, nom de famille, onomastique, période ottomane, patronyme, société tribale, désert Libyque
Nicolas Michel. Noms de famille dans les oasis d’Égypte à l’époque ottomane. Eurasian studies, 2017, 15 (2), pp.183-199. ⟨10.1163/24685623-12340035⟩. ⟨hal-03549914⟩