dellEgitto

Dell'Egitto is an Italian expression used to indicate origin, belonging, or association with Egypt. It is formed from the preposition di combined with the definite article l’ in front of the proper noun Egitto, producing dell'Egitto before a following element that begins with a vowel. It is standard in Italian to say arte dell'Egitto, storia dell'Egitto, or monumenti dell'Egitto to mean art of Egypt, history of Egypt, or monuments of Egypt. The construction is common in scholarly writing on Egyptology, archaeology, and art history, and in the naming of institutions or collections, for example Museo dell'Egitto or collezione dell'Egitto. The form with the apostrophe reflects proper Italian orthography; forms such as dellEgitto without punctuation are considered non-standard or incorrect.

The term should not be confused with the adjective egiziano, meaning Egyptian, which is used to describe people or things more directly (for example lingua egiziana, artigiano egiziano). In English translation, dell'Egitto is rendered as “of Egypt” in genitive phrases or as “Egyptian” when used adjectivally about people or culture, depending on context. Etymologically, Egitto derives from the Latin Aegyptus, and the expression dell'Egitto is a common genitive construction in Italian that links a noun to Egypt as its subject, origin, or domain. See also Egitto; Egiziano; Egittologia.