The present volume is a collection of essays that seek to provide some answers to a long-standing debate in Egyptology concerning the meaning, history, and application of one of the many names of ancient Egypt: i.e., km.t . Two working hypotheses have dominated the Egyptological literature. Hypothesis 1 argues that km.t means “the black land,” referring to the color of the alluvial deposits left after the flood waters of the Nile River has receded. This hypothesis has been with us since the beginning of the discipline of Egyptology. Hypothesis 2 argues that km.t means “black people” and refers to the skin color of the ancient Egyptians. This hypothesis originates with the late Cheikh Anta Diop who argued this point at the famous Cairo Symposium held in 1974 in Cairo Egypt. Both hypotheses assume that the word km.t derives from a root km (adj.) “black.”
The contributors to this volume take the position that both hypotheses are incorrect and that the meaning of the place-name Km.t has no color connotation. The essays in this volume are the extension of the presentations by the contributors at the 36th Annual Ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) Studies Conference organized by ASCAC at Medgar Evans College in Brooklyn, NY April 18-21, 2019. A Contribution to the Debate on the Meaning of the Place-Name Km.t is a prelude to a larger work (forthcoming) by the authors focused on the etymology, meaning, and application of the place-name Km.t. The current volume presents some of the ideas and considerations that aided in their position that Km.t means “a riparian land; a pasturage with an abundance of grass and water,” and not “the black land/soil” or “black people” as proposed by previous scholars.
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quote:Originally posted by Punos_Rey: Even though there are cognates in other Afro-Asiatic languages that refer to blackness/dark things(such as shadows) of some kind?
You have to be careful when someone argues that there are cognates in other languages. You can only establish a cognate by showing a series of reoccurring, non-accidental sound-meaning correspondences between the languages with all the phonemes involved. This has not been don't for Km.t. And Afro-Asiatic is not a valid construct and would render your results null-and-void. So focus on individual languages, whether people say they are related or not. All that matters is the systematic sound correspondences. IF you can establish that, you are well on your way to answering the question.
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