“One morning in class, Rifaat taught the word for ‘mud brick.’ In ancient hieroglyphics, it was djebet, which became tobe in Coptic, and then the Arabs, adding a definite article, made it al-tuba, which was brought to Spain as adobar, and then to the American Southwest, where this heavy thing, having been lugged across four millennia and seven thousand miles, finally landed as 'adobe.’”
- “Talk Like an Egyptian,” Peter Hessler.
- “Talk Like an Egyptian,” Peter Hessler.