Category talk:Ethnic Egyptians

Copts

Proposal to change the name of category from Ethnic Egyptians to Copts to distinguish better from Egyptian nationality. Copt currently refers to a sect of Christian Egyptians but has been used as a demonym for the people as a whole and shares linguistic roots with the word Egypt. Lacrossedeamon (talk) 17:17, June 23, 2018 (UTC)

Interesting proposal, but the problem with this is that Copts is a name that originated far after the fall of ancient Egyptian civilization. Moreover, it is almost invariably associated with Egyptian Christians just like 'Jews' refers to an ethnoreligious group. Finally, while Copts are regarded as the direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians via speaking a modern variant of the ancient Egyptian language, the vast majority of Egyptians today who aren't Copts are still descendants all the same. Sol Pacificus^(Cyfiero) 18:01, June 23, 2018 (UTC)

Only in English did it originate far after the fall. It’s etymological roots predate the Coptic Church. It was only after the Muslim conquest and the rise of Islam as the national religion that the term evolved to refer to the remaining Christians in the country. Lacrossedeamon (talk) 18:28, June 23, 2018 (UTC)

That's very interesting, but I still fear that given its modern religious association, it would only create confusion for readers. Sol Pacificus^(Cyfiero) 00:40, June 25, 2018 (UTC)