"I can read and write Ancient Egyptian, and translate hieroglyphs
and Hieratic, and I'm the only person within a thousand miles
who can properly code and catalogue this library ."
Evy Carnahan explaining her librarian raison d'etre to her boss Dr Bey the closet Med-jai.
This page is a quick guide to what was said in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns when anyone was speaking Arabic. I am indebted to my friend Sam for this - he speaks it and was actually out in the desert himself reading the Koran for a while so he should know his stuff!
The Mummy (1999)
In this film the makers were very lucky to have Omid who played The Warden Hassan and is in fact a fluent Arabic speaker himself. They wouldn't have had such  a variety of Arabic used in the film if he wasn't around and you will notice that most of it is actually spoken by him in the Cairo Prison scenes. Only Oded as Ardeth Bay really has more lines, and they are rather dodgy according to Sam!
Here are a few words and phrases from The Mummy to start you off:
"Yah himar!" - spoken by Hassan to the hangman about to hang O'Connell who is holding up proceedings after O'Connell has asked bim to let him go.
This means "You donkey!" and is not very polite!
"Wokof andat" - spoken by Hassan to the hangman to get him hold on when Evy suggests a price to save the Legionnaire.
This means "Stop right there!!"
"Y'Allah" - Yelled a lot by Ardeth Bay when he is attacking Hamunaptra with his Med-jai.
This means "lets go!" and uses the word "Allah" so is really "We go in the name of Allah"
"Im-shi" - Also yelled a lot by Ardeth Bay when he is attacking Hamunaptra with his Med-jai.
This also  means "lets go!" but is used as an order to ones subordinates. If used to normal people it would be seen as being rude, and ladies definitely don't use this word!
The Mummy Returns (2001)
In this film minus Omid there was a great dearth of Arabic. The only line understandable according to Sam was:
"Asalama akee" - Said by Ardeth Bay at the end of the film to O'Connell
This means "Peace be upon you brother" even I could understand this one after Sam's tutition!
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