FELLAH

FELLAH, the name applied contemptuously by the Turks during Ottoman period to the agricultural labourer of Egypt, but now it refers to villagers and farmers. The Fellahin (pl. of Fellah) comprised about three-fourths of the population. They were of good physique, and capable of much toil, but were, despite their intelligence and sobriety, lazy and immoral. Girls were being married off at the age of 12, and the children grew up amidst the squalor of their mud-built villages. Their food was of the poorest kind, and scarcely ever included meat. Tobacco was their only luxury.

Their condition, however, improved under British rule. Even today their condition is not very good.