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ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF EGYPT

Edited by F. Ll. GRIFFITH, M.A., F.S.A.

SIXTH MEMOIR

A COLLECTIO N ( ) F

HIEROGLYPHS '

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN WRITING

BY

F. Ll. GRIFFITH

WITH NINE COLOURED PLATES

From facsimiles by

ROSALIND P. E. PAGET, ANNIE PIRIE

and HOWARD CARTER

SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE EGYPT EXPLORATION FIND

LONDON
SOLD AT
The OFFICES OF THE EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND, 37, Great Russell Street, W.C.
and at 5f>, Temple Street, Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
and by KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRLTBNER & CO., Paterkoster House, Chamng Cross Road, W.C.
B. QUAR1TCH, 15, Piccadilly, W. ASHER & Co., 13, Bedford Street, Covent Garden, W.C.
;

1898
 EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND.
president.

SIR JOHN FOWLER, Bart., K.C.M.G.

Uicc=iPrc3iC>cnt6.

Sir E. Maunde Thompson, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D. The Hon. Chas. L. Hutchinson (U.S.A.).
Lt. -General Sir Francis Grenfell, G.C.M.G., Tne Hon. John Geo. Bourinot, D.C.L.
K.C.B. (Canada).
The Rev. Prof. A. H. Sayce, M.A., LL.D. Prof. G. Maspero, D.C.L. (France).
Charles Dudley Warner, Esq., L.H.D., LL.D. Prof. Ad. Erman, Ph.D. (Germany).
(U.S.A.).
Josiah Mullens, Esq. (Australia).
The Rev. W. C. Winslow, D.D., D.C.L.
(U.S.A.). M. Charles Hentsch (Switzerland).

Iboit. treasurers.

H. A. Grueber, Esq., F.S.A.

F. C. Foster, Esq. (Boston, U.S.A.). Andrew Mills, Esq. (New York, U.S.A.

II3011. Secretaries.

J. S. Cotton, Esq., M.A.

The Rev. W. C. Winslow, D.D., D.C.L. (Boston, U.S.A.).

The Rev. Ciias. R. Gillett (New York, U.S.A.).

Members of Committee.

T. H. Baylis, Esq., M.A., Q.C., V.D. The Marquis of Northampton.

Miss M. Brodrick, Ph.D. (for Boston). D. Parrish, Esq. (U.S.A.).
Somers Clarke, Esq., F.S.A. Francis Wm. Percival, Esq., M.A., F.S.A.
W. E. Crum, Esq., M.A. Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie, D.C.L., LL.D.
t

Sir John Evans, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S. (for Chicago).

Arthur John Evans, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. F. G. Hilton Price, Esq., F.S.A.

F. Ll. Griffith, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. Mrs. Tirard.

Mrs. F. Ll. Griffith. The Rev. H. G. Tomkins, M.A.
T.Farmer Hall, Esq. The Lord Bishop of Truro.
John Horniman, Esq., M.P. Hermann Weber, Esq., M.D.
Mrs. McClure. Major-General Sir Charles W. Wilson,
The Rev. W. MacGregor, M.A. K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S.
A. S. Murray, Esq., LL.D., F.S.A.
 CONTENTS.

PAGE
I j I ST I IF ABBREVI ATIONS ix

Preliminary Note on the Transliteration op Egyptian X

Table of the Egyptian Alphabet xi

Note on the Semitic consonants a lif and i

ain xii

CHAPTER I.
Introductory :

1 Previous work on the hieroglyphic signs : materials available for

their study ... 1

2. Powers of the signs : history of their employment 3

CHAPTER II.

Hieroglyphs collected by the Archaeological Survey:

1 Sources of the facsimiles ... 9

2. Discussion of the signs in natural groups 11

Addenda 67

Errata (to Hieroglyphs and Bent Hasan III.) 68

Order op the Signs ... 60

Index to Facsimiles ... 71

 PBEFACE

publication of detailed hieroglyphs, &c, Beni Hasan III., seems to have met
The in

been received in the scientific press.

a want, to judge by the welcome with which it lias

The criticisms of Maspbro (Rev. Grit., xliii., pp. 201 et seqq.) and Borchardt (A. Z '.,

1*97, pp. 103 et seqq.) have at once displayed how little is positively known with

regard to the origins of individual signs, and furnished new material and ideas for
Piehl (Sphinx, pp. 33 et seqq.) has also contributed some
the study of them. ii.,

suo-Tstions and M. Loret, in a private letter, has communicated a number of interest-

ing observations on those representing natural objects.

At the last moment also

the Rev. Arch. (Ser. 1898,

appears a long and friendly notice by M. FoTJCART in iii.,

vol. xxii., pp. 20 et seqq.).

The present work is in continuation of the task begun in Beni Hasan 111. :
that

hieroglyphic characters.
of ascertaining and illustrating the history and origins of the
hoped that
Much special study has meanwhile been devoted to the subject, and it is
more elaborate, will show a marked advance in the
the present Memoir, besides being
somewhat hasty descriptions in the preceding
explanation of the signs upon the

volume.
The oTeater number of the coloured facsimiles given herewith are from hieroglyphs

Carter (a few by Mr. Blackden), in the tomb

of the Xllth Dynasty, copied by Mr. II.

of Tehutihetep at El Bersheh. This tomb has been already published— in outline

There also a considerable collection of XVIlIth Dynasty

only—in El Bersheh I. is

Bahri, beautifully copied by Miss R. F. E.

Paget.
si«ms from the temple of Deir el

and colouring of the inscriptions at Deir el Bahri are well known

The relief-sculpture

to be exceedingly fine. The signs selected are from parts of the temple already
Lastly,
published by M. Naville, and the originals are in very good
preservation.

Survey, for use in the

Miss A. Pirie has most kindly presented to the Archaeological
of hieroglyphs from the tomb
present volume, her facsimile drawings of a number
The tomb of Paheri was published in the Xlth Memoir
of
of Paheri at El Kab.
viii
PREFACE.

the Egypt Exploration Fund by Mr. J. J. Tylor and myself, as well as separately

by Mr. Tylor in an edition de luxe. It is of the same age as the temple ol

Deir el Balm.
In order to extend the enquiry over a wider field, and so obtain more solid

results, the text has not been confined to the new collection of hieroglyphs, but

includes most of those already published in Beni Hasan 111. and in the coloured

plates of Beni Hasan I.

It will be observed that a special fount of alphabetic hieroglyphs has been made
for this volume. This has been done in order to obviate some of the standing

difficulties in transliteration, a matter discussed below in the Preliminary Note.

Neat and clear though they be, the founts of general hieroglyphic type now in

use are very unsatisfactory. They were modelled on late forms, and often without

understanding of the objects and actions which the signs were meant to represent.
A few of the most misleading have here been corrected, but materials are not yet
available for a thorough revision.

In parting from the pleasant task which has long occupied him, the author would

crave indulgence for the many imperfections of his work. After much close

application to it, time spent in definite research has often appeared almost

wasted when its results were compared with those afterwards obtained casually

in pursuing other branches of Egyptology. Scarcely an hour now spent in

looking over inscriptions fails to reveal new and often decisive evidence touching

upon one or another of the innumerable points of discussion raised in the following

pages.

It is useless at present to hope to achieve anything like finality in the study.

The whole field needs investigation, and many thousands of good facsimiles are

required to put the subject of the origins of the hieroglyphs on a firm basis.
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. 1

TERMINOLOGY.
Ab. Abbreviation (p. 7). M.K. Middle Kingdom.
Alph. Alphabetic phonogram (p. 3). N.K. New Kingdom.
Det. Determinative (p. 6). O.K. Old Kingdom.
Dyn. Dynasty. [pp. 3, 5). Phon. Phonogram (p. 3).

Id. Ideogram (representing idea, not somid; cf. Phon. trans. Phonetic transference (p. 3).

Id. trans. Ideographic transference (p. 3). Rad. ext. Radical extension (p. ?>).

REFERENCES.
Ab., i., ii. Mariette, Abydos, 2 vols. Methen. Dyn. III.— IV. : tomb in L., D., ii., 2 et segq.

Zeitschrift fur Aegyptische Sprache, Berlin. Miss. Arch. Mission Archiologique Franeaise au Caire,
A. Z.
Lepsius, Aelteste Texte. mi/moires.
A. T.
Morgan, Becherches. de Morgan, Becherches sur les Oriyines de
B. H-. Beni Hasan, 3 vols. (E.E.F., A.S.)
i-, ii., iii.
J.

JH-. of />. Book of Dead, ed. by Budge. rSgypte, 2 vols.

Box., Sore. Bosojii, Sarcophagus of Oimenephthah (i.e Xnqada. Petrie, Naqada and Ballas.
Sety I.). Paheri. Ed. Tylor and Griffith, in Ahnas and
Breasted de Hymnis. Breasted, de Hymnis in So/em. Paheri (E.E.F.).

Br., D. G. Brugsch, Dictionnaire Geographique (with Pap. Any. Papyrus of Any (Brit. Mus.).
supplement). „ Eb. Papyrus Ebers, 2 vols.
Har. Facsimile of a Papyrus (Harris) of the Reign
„ Thes. „ Thesaurus. ,,

„ Wtb. and Suppl. „ Worterbuch and supplement, 7 vols. of Barneses III. (Brit. Mus.).
Bui. Pap. M a uiette, Papyrus du Musee de Boulaq, 3 V( >ls. Petrie, Dec. Art. Petrie, Egyptian Decorative Art.
Chajipolliox, Monuments de I'Egi/pte et de „ T. A. „ Tell el Amarna.
Ch., Mon. e.

la Nubie. Piankhy. Stela of Piankhy, in Mar., M. D., PI. i. et

de Morgan, Fouilles a Dahchour. segq.

DaAehour. J.
Deir el Bahari, 2 vols. (E.E.F.). Prisse, Art. Prisse, L'Art fojyptien, 2 vols, and text.
D. el B., i., ii.

(E.E.F.) „ Mons. „ Monuments.

Deshasheh.
Dumichex, Historische Inschriften, 2 vols. P. S. B. A. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeo-
DiJM., H. I.
der Grabpalast des Peduamenap, logy.
„ Peduamenap. „
3 vols. Ptahhetep. Tomb published in Quibell, Ramesseum.

Pes. Resultate der . . . Expedition, Pyr. Pyramid texts (Maspero, Les Pyramides de
„
Theil i.
Saqqareh).

El Bersheh, 2 vols. (E.E.F., A.S.). „ M. „ of Merenra.

El B. i., ii.

X
,

Erman, Aegyptische Grammatik. „ „ of Neferkara Pepy II.

Elm., Gr.
Hetnub Blackdex and Fraser, Hieratic Graffitifrom „ P- „ of Pepy I.
graffiti.
the Alabaster Quarry of Hetnub. „ w. „ of Unas (Wnys).
Horhotep. In Miss. Arch., Tome i., pp. 136-180. Bee. de Trav. Recueil de Travaux relatifs a la Fhilologie
Petrie, Illahun, Kahun and Gurob. et a V Archeolofjie Egyptiennes et
Ilia hurt.
Kahun. „ Kahun, Gurob and Haivara. A ssyriennes.
Eah. Pap. Griffith, Kahun Papyri. Bev. Arch. Revue Archeologiqve.
Petrie, Koptos. Bev. Bel. Bevue de tHistoire des Religions.
Koptos.
Laxzoxe, Dizionario di Mitoloyia Eyizia. Ros., M. C. Rosellixi, Monumenti delta Egizia e delta
Laxz., Biz d. Mit.
Lepsius, Benkmiiler aus Aegypten und Nubia: Monumenti Ciri/i.
L., D.
M. d. C. „ » del Quito.
Aethiopien. „
M.S. » Storici.
Lebensmiider. Erman, Gesprach eines Lebensmuden mit seint r „ „ „
Schack, Index. Schack-Schackenburg, Index zu den Pyra-
Seele (from the Abhandlwngen of the
Berlin Academy, 1896). miden texten.

- Schiap., I. d. F. SCHIAPABELLI, Libra del Funtrali, 2 vols

Levi, Foe. S. Levi, Vocabolario Geroglifico - Coptico
text. 3 vols, plates.
Ebraico, 8 vols.
Coffin in A. T.
Mar., Alb. MARIETTE, Album du Musee de Boulaq. Sebekaa.
Sharpe, Egyptian Inscriptions, 2 series.
Cat. Catalogue des monuments d'Abydos. Sh., By. Ins.
„ „
Deir el Bahari. Shelley, Bird*. Shelley, Birds of Egypt.
„ IK el B. „
Les Mastabas de VAncien Empire. Sign pap. In Two Papyri from Tunis (E.E.F.).
„ Mast. „
Monuments Divers. si nt. Griffith, 77k- Inscriptions of Si&t and Der
„ M.D. „
Bifeh.
Masp., Et. Eg. Maspero, Etudes Egyptiennes, 2 vols.

les momies royales de Deir Bahari Todt. Todtenbuch, ed. by Lepsius. by Navilib, and
„ Mom. roy. „ el

(in Miss. Arch., i.)

by Budge (Book of the Dead).
Lefebure, Tombeau de Sety I, in Mil
Table d'offrandes. (in Bev. de IHistoire des Religions, Tomb. Sety I.
Arch., ii.
1897-8.)
Miss. Trois annees. Maspero, Trois annies de fouilles, in Miss.
Trois ar.nees. „ Trois annies de fouilles in
Arch., i.
Arch., i.

Inscription of Una, in Mai:.. Ab., ii., 4445.

Math. Pap. Eisexlohr, Bin Mathematisches Handbuch. I 'mi.

M. G. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen

Medum. Petrie, Medum.
Gesellschaft.
M, ntuhotep. Steixdorff, Der Grab des Mentuhotep.

r. Addenda,
 PRELIMINARY NOTE

THE TRANSLITERATION OF EGYPTIAN.

In previous volumes of the Archaeological Survey we have followed the highly conventional
transliteration of hieroglyphs into a system of consonants and vowels such as has become
customary in England. But since our present discussion involves especially the true powers of
the sio-ns and the origin of their phonetic values (as far as we can ascertain them), that system,

unchecked, would here be misleading. The roots of Egyptian words, like those of Semitic,

consist of a certain number of consonants, and— as perhaps will become clearer on perusal of
this Memoir— the phonetic value of almost every sign in hieroglyphic writing corresponds

simply to these bare consonantal roots of one, two, or three consonants (or semi-vowels). Any
person acquainted with a Semitic language, say Hebrew or Arabic, will comprehend at once the
force of these statements as regards both the palaeography and the language. In Egyptian, as in

unpointed Hebrew, and Arabic written without vowels, occasionally a semi-vowel is used in good
writino- to indicate a vowel, but it never becomes a mere vowel-sign. To transliterate ««=» as da
in the following pages, without warning, would be as misleading as to transliterate say J^c\ by
aaul in a discussion of the verbal roots and the values of the letters in Arabic. In the latter case,
J c
if the vocalization were unknown, no safer transliteration could
be given than wl happily in :

Arabic we are generally saved from such atrocities by the simplicity of its own alphabet, which
makes conversion into any other almost superfluous. It is not so with the highly complex

hieroglyphic syllabary : in this, for close scientific work, transliteration is constantly a necessity,
c
and occasionally a distressing group of conventional signs, such as > or ", seems almost
unavoidable.
There is, however, one way out of the difficulty. The hieroglyphic system included
twenty-five alphabetic letters, and iuthem the values of all the phonetic signs of the system
can be expressed. They thus provide a very natural means of transliteration. It is not difficult
to learn the values of twenty five pictorial signs, and if words artificially expressed by this
alphabet are kept quite distinct from those in genuine hieroglyphic spelling, there seems no
objection to their use where European letters fail to satisfy. As Professor Petrie once suggested
in discussing thisvexed question of transliteration, the distinction can be secured by the use of a
specially small type for the hieroglyphic alphabet, which shall at once sufficiently represent the
Egyptian signs, distinguish the transliterations from the true words, range with ordinary English
type, and be clear and not unpleasing to the eye. Each of the various systems hitherto advocated
employs European letters modified by diacritical points, and arouses the wrath of those who have
adopted any one of the other systems. In the present work we endeavour to conciliate all by :

the side of the inoffensive hieroglyphic transliteration, which represents in fact the basis of every
system, we constantly give European spellings, and so we trust that none of our old supporters
will be embarrassed by the additional equipment required for working on this branch of Egyptian
study.
 PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE TRANSLITERATION OF EGYPTIAN.

THE EGYPTIAN ALPHABET.

For the alphabetic signs and their values see Steindorff, Das Altaegyptische Alphabet und seine
Umschreibung, Z. der Morgenl. Gesells., xlvi., 709 (cf. Baedeker Egypt, 1898, p. exxiii.) Erman, ;

Die Umschreibung des Aegyptischen, A.Z., xxxiv., 51 (especially valuable for a clear exposition of
the consonantal character of ^, [], \, „), cf. Grammar, pp. 6-8.
In many cases in the present volume two transliterations into European characters are given
side by side, one being consonantal, the other admitting vowels in conformity with the old system.
In the following table the third column shows where either of these systems differs from that
of Berlin in the fourth column are given Arabic and Hebrew equivalents of values that cannot
:

be so well expressed in English letters.

\\ is used at the end of a word for the vowel i as a distinctive

grammatical ending.
H<\ is a strengthened form of I), used after the O.K. when I) had lost
the full force of y.

\ > 9 , ( 1
1 ), \ are weak consonants or semi- vowels. «=» is also a weak
consonant; and P (prefixed), ^ (prefixed), (|, \\, \, w and ^ (suffixed)
are formative letters at the beginning or end of words. All the above
may thus sometimes be neglected in deriving phonetic values from words.
\ often changes to \, and each at times seems less than consonantal.
The distinction — very important in separating roots —between p and
-*- was lost after the O.K. In the following pages whenever there is

uncertainty in this matter we use the combination -p-.

In early texts »- varies with °=, and in late writing it was confused
with o. In Coptic — becomes kh, while o often becomes sh. Thus the
sounds represented by »- and s seem to have crossed each other, travelling
in opposite directions. To distinguish them as Teh and ch is & mere
convention.
s=> generally changed to t, so that in N.K. => often represents q ; but
in some words the distinct sound remained firm. ^ became d in many
words, and varies with = even in old texts. In the following pages the
use of the combinations =s>, ^ indicates when the sounds are subject to
 PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE TRANSLITERATION OP EGYPTIAN.

NOTE ON THE SEMITIC CONSONANTS ALIF AND 'AIN.

The following rough statements may give some idea of the use of Alif and 'Ain, and of
the semi-vowels w and y in Semitic and Egyptian.
Though regarded as a consonant, the Semitic alif (Hebrew aleph), like the Greek soft
breathing and the French h, has little or no sound in pronunciation.
'
It is called a guttural,

and is often marked by an interruption of sound. It may be defined to be a breathing as the

support for a vowel, and is of great importance both as a radical and as a formative sign.
I. As a radical it may support a syllable in the same way as any other consonant. Thus the
root s
J
/ makes sa^ala (sa'^a'la), just asfth makes fa'ta'ha. When not itself vocalized i.e. followed —
by a vowel a lif lengthens the preceding vowel in one way or another.
II. Formative alif. To take a striking instance of this : when in inflexion a short vowel of
any kind — a, e, i, o, or u — is prefixed for euphonic reasons to a difficult combination of consonants,
its presence is indicated in writing by an alif written before the radical consonants. This is called

" prosthetic alif."

III. Alif has by nature a particular affinity to the vowel a — as y has to i, and w to u, so

that a' = d, iy = i, uw = a. When not itself vocalized, it especially lengthens preceding a to a,

and hence is used in writing to indicate long a (a). (So also y and w are used in writing to

indicate % and u.)

\ seems to correspond to the Semitic alif, especially as a radical. There are probably only
two cases, each rare and obscure, of its use as a formative ; but occasionally it seems to have
been written quite superfluously, even in early texts, its feeble value leading to uncertainty or

confusion.
\ is properly y, but the sounds of \ and t\ seem to some extent to have changed places in

course of time (cf. very often omitted in writing at the beginning of a

the case of «~ and o). q is

word, and in this situation may often have been reduced to the value of alif at a very early
period. It is commonly prefixed to a root, and it may be doubted whether it does not, even

in early instances, then represent "prosthetic alif" (see Sethe, Be Aleph Prosthetico in Lingua
Aegyptiaca).
It is natural that there should now reign some uncertainty about the use of these weak
consonants and the signs that expressed them in Ancient Egyptian : even in Semitic grammars
there is considerable complexity about the treatment of the mutual relations of alif and y.

'Ain (Arab., Heb. 'aiyin) is a peculiar guttural breathing unknown to European languages.
It counts as a strong consonant. In Egyptian 'ain is represented by —». In the New
Kingdom it was weakened, probably owing to the fact that the sound was unpronounceable
to some of the mixed population. It was quite lost during the Graeco-Roman period, but
was brought into Egypt afresh by the Arabs, and is still constantly heard in Egypt. I h is

related to this guttural.

 A COLLECTION OF

HIBEOGLYPHS.
CHAPTER I.

I NTRODUCTORY.

PREVIOUS WORK ON EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS: MATERIALS AVAILABLE FOR THEIR STUDY.

Until Professor Petrie published his Medum were taken without discrimination from texts
and Professor Erman his Grammar, no im- of all periods ; moreover, the outlines of the
portant work on Egyptian hieroglyphic writing signs were inaccurately rendered, their colours
had appeared in recent years. Charapollion in unnoted, and their phonetic and ideographic
his Gram/maire Egyptienne, issued after the powers very imperfectly determined. Thus,
author's death in 1836, gave descriptive names whenever doubt was possible as to the object

to large numbers of the signs. De Rouge, represented by a sign, little external help was
in his Catalogue des signes hieroglyphiques de forthcoming for correct identification. To a
Vim/primerie nationale, 1851, attached to each present-day student of the subject, the scholarly
of many hundreds of signs and varieties of understanding of De Rouge and the ingenuity
signs a short description, often very correct. of Birch are apparent, but the aid which they
In 1848, to the first volume of Bunsen's Egypt's afford him is small.

Tlace in Universal History, Birch contributed a In 1872, Brugsch, in his Gram/maire hiero-
long list of hieroglyphs, with descriptions and glyphique, published a useful list of signs with
statements of their separate phonetic and ideo- their phonetic and ideographic values, accom-
graphic values, and this list was revised and panying them with references to his Dictionary,

enlarged for the second edition in 18G7. In and distinguishing some of the specially early

the latter year De Rouge again dealt with the and late forms. In 1878, Rossi, in his

subject,and published a catalogue raisonnee of Gram/matica Geroglifica, from the materials

the more usual signs in the first livraison of his thus furnished by Brugsch and others, con-
Ghrestomathie Sgyptienne. Useful to the student structed for the use of students a catalogue
as these first lists were in the early stages of raisonnee of the most ordinary signs. The plan
decipherment, they are now of little value. on which it is carried out is a good one, but
For, at the time they were made, the fine early the work has little independent value. We
forms were mostly unstudied, and the signs may also note the careful list in Lemm's
r,
 INTRODUCTORY.

Aegyptische LesestiicJce, 1883. Several bare lists home students in regard to examples of form
of printers' founts of hieroglyphic signs have for the Old Kingdom, but for all periods
been published, e.g. that of F. Theinhardt, at occasionaldetailed and trustworthy drawings
Berlin, arranged by Lepsius, and that of the and photographs are found among the enormous
rich and elaborate fount in the Imprimerie mass of published texts. To these may now be
Rationale at Paris, already mentioned, and added the 105 coloured signs in Beni Hasan III.

re-issued without De Rouge's commentary in and more numerous examples in the pre-
still

a second edition. sent volume. The writer has also had access
The only critical list of hieroglyphs with their to the important collection of facsimiles at
powers published recently is that of Erman, University College, London, made for Professor

printed in his Gram/mar. The system by which Petrie by Miss Paget. A large proportion of
—
he classifies the values obscured in the English these are copied from our own collections from
edition by the substitution of the term " ideo- Beni Hasan and El Bersheh, others are from
graph" for Wortzeichen, "word-sign" — displays coffins of late period, and have only palaeo-
the authoi-'s keen insight into the nature of graphical interest, and others again are from
hieroglyphic writing, and the list itself is highly earlier coffins in the British Museum. But the
suggestive.
CO flower of the collection consists in exquisite
The only native list that has come down to drawings of sculptured hieroglyphs, sometimes
us, that of the Sign Papyrus of Tanis (see with traces of colour, from the tomb of Ptah-
IXth Memoir of Egypt Exploration Fund), is hetep at Saqqareh, supplemented by a few from
unfortunately of the Roman Period, when the other tombs in the same neighbourhood, and
original meanings of the signs had been well from the pyramid of Pepy I. These were all

nigh forgotten. It has its own peculiar interest, copied on the spot in 1895-G.
but seldom furnishes the smallest hint to the In investigating the powers or uses of the
seeker after origins. The famous " Hieroglyphics signs, dictionaries give most important aid to

of Horapollo " occasionally contains a remini- the student, and it seems ungrateful not to
scence of true hieroglyphs, but may well be a mention them each by name. The keywords to
composition of the Middle Ages embodying the the meanings, viz., the names of the objects or
tiny modicum of half-genuine tradition that had actions depicted, are often exceedingly rare in
survived till then. the texts, and one requires every aid in the

Scattered up and down Egyptological litera- search for them. Brugsch's great Dictionary
ture there are, as may be imagined, many (1867-1882) frequently settles with close accuracy
attempts at explaining individual signs. But the meanings of the words considered in it,

any endeavour to treat Egyptian hieroglyphs supplying by quotations the proof of his con-
critically, to ascertain their origins, the history clusions. Despite its uncritical method of com-
of their use, the original distinction or relation- pilation, Levy's bulky Vocabulary (1887-1894),
ship of signs that resemble each other, reveals with its two supplements and long tables of
how little is really known about them. For signs, is indispensable in this branch of research,
the study, good examples showing detail and since it gives a multitude of references to rare
colouring at different periods are needed, and words and forms of words that occur in notable

the evidence furnished by form and colour must publications of recent date, such as Maspero's
be checked by examination of their powers in edition of the Pyramid Texts. Special indices,
writing. such as Stern's excellent Glossary of the Papyrus
Professor Petrie's Malum is the mainstay of Ebers, Field's Vocabulary of the Harris Papyrus,
 POWERS OF THE 8IGNS.

Erman's Glossary of the Westcar Papyrus, i

as yet unfortunately little more than begun, but
and Dr. Budge's Vocabulary of the XVIIlth !

the synoptic index of parallel chapters prefixed

Dynasty " Book of the Dead," are often helpful, to the work is of the greatest value in the
Schack's great Index to the Pyramid Texts is search for variant spellings.

II.

POWERS OF THE SIGNS: HISTORY OF THEIR EMPLOYMENT.

We will now consider the connexion between a symbol for father ; very likely for a similar
the forms and the powers of the Egyptian reason. The ostrich feather, ^ \. ^ §wt (shu't),
hieroglyphs, and their use in writing of the is emblem of Maat, goddess of Truth, and stands

best periods. for her name also. Sometimes one value of a

Eollowing in the main Professor Erman's sign (see —
1, D, e -, tL) is probably derived
classification, we can see that the development from the name of a locality or geographical
of the use of the signs was somewhat thus division of which it represented the badge or
At first, a picture-sign was made to stand symbol, for reasons of religion, mythology, local
either simply for the name of the object produce or manufacture.
pictured by it, or for that of some state or From its Proper and other name-values the
action which it naturally indicates. Thus, -ess- further use of a word-sign developed in two
stands for (]=>• ^ yr't (dr't), "eye"; a o for ways, viz., phonetically and ideographically.
I
r~> <^ hnlc, " offer." Such may be said to be I. Phonetically. The word-sign might be
the Proper uses of the picture as a word-sign. employed to write other words of the same
Often there may be several Proper values. essential sound as those expressing its Proper
Undoubtedly the values commonly originate in or Transferred senses. Thus, to begin with, it

the names of the objects which the signs re- would be used by Radical Extension for other
present, but these names are not always trace- forms of the same root, with the formative signs
able. The ancient name may have become added in writing when necessary, but afterwards
obsolete at an early age, or even if it was by Phonetic Transference for any homophon-
current in historic times it may happen that it ous words, whatever their origin and meaning.
never appears in the inscriptions. At length it might become a purely phonetic sign,
The ideographic power is often extended or to represent part only of a word-root, the rest

transferred widely, and sometimes in a peculiar of which would have to be supplied by other
and rather unexpected way e.g. when &), a ; phonetic signs. These Phonograms, which are
pond, or a vessel containing liquid, is taken as very limited in number, may indicate one
the symbol of womanhood ; or a bone harpoon- consonant only, in which case they are termed
head is used for polished rods, or reed stems, Alphabetic more than one, in which case
; or
and for burial, as well as for bone and ivory. they are termed Syllabic. There is no further
Mythology and religion naturally played their essential difference between alphabetic and

part in this extension. The griffon vulture, svllabic characters.

named n r, Avas the emblem of Mut, the mother- The origin of many of the alphabetic
goddess, and so stands for her name mu-f or m't, values is still obscure, but it does not seem
"mother." Apparently k^^, the cerastes, was likely that the Egyptians ever consciously

b 2
 INTRODUCTORY.

resorted to the principle of acrophony, i.e. of consonants had to be abolished from its value
assigning to a symbol the value of the first and the radical consonants alone retained.
only of several sounds in the word which it When we remember the readiness with which
represents. In the Old Kingdom there are the Arab recognizes the few radical consonants
no homophones among the regular alphabetic upon which his highly organized verbal conju-
characters. Of these there are twenty-five, gations are built, we can better understand the
including the vowel-sign v\ ; but this was not ease with which the Egyptians reduced their
used as such until the Middle Kingdom. The word-signs to their radical values. The gradual
"syllabic" phonograms in regular use at a development of a phonetic system would enable
good period do not much exceed 40. them in course of time to supply the flexional
It is interesting and essential to further consonants by the addition of separate phono-
research to note the principles on which signs grams. Let us take as an illustration the sign
were employed for the expression of sound. ^7 . This represents a basket, and the root of
It was convenient as well as natural to the Egyptian name is nh, " hold," with the
employ a given word-sign for all forms of the feminine termination / = nb't, "the holder."
root to which the word itself belonged. In The sign very naturally was required to spell

the (sub-Semitic?) language spoken by the nh or nine, "holder, master" (masculine), nb't,

Egyptians the root of each word lay in con- "holder, mistress" (feminine), rib'w, "holders,
sonants, and the inflexions no doubt consisted masters" (masc. plural). Hence ^37 by itself

largely in vowel-changes, though these are not may stand for a "basket," nb't; it may also

traceable in hieroglyphic writing. For instance, stand for " master," and, with the addition of
the root ktp might perhaps take, amongst o t, for nb't, "mistress," or with the addition

others, such forms as hdtep, hatp, hotpe, l

lf
'l'-
of %> v, for rib'w, "masters." When this stage

Likewise, from the root rwd (which we con- had been reached, the sign was easily

ventionally write rinl) might be forms rowed, applied to the spelling of a verb uh, "swim,"
ra/wd (reduced to rami, the vowel and semi-vowel and of another verb nh, "melt," each with a
coalescing and forming a diphthong), rowde number of vowel inflexions that we cannot
(reduced to rude), reived. And from ;/•;; (which now follow, owing to the incomplete record
we conventionally write mi) there might be of sounds in hieroglyphics. We thus see that
in'm, inni, owne (reduced to fine), and wen. when a sign is employed for its phonetic value,

Possibly, under special circumstances depriving it is used to represent the skeleton only of the
the word of all accent ("construct" state), word for which it stands, i.e. the unvocalized
some form of wn might be reduced to a mere and uninflected root (v. Addenda).
/'// yet radically w and n would be recognized
;
Even the root was generally reduced to its
as still underlying. Thus, —^ " offering," " to simplest form, for through inherent weakness
be propitiated," stands for \ >= d h-t-p ;
"q\ " firm," of consonants or the coalescence of the last two
" knot," stands for «= \ *= r-w-d ; .^fau " run like radicals in any root in which they happened to
a hare," stands for \ /-> w-n. be identical (cf. Semitic seauulae geminatae)
Inflexion and derivation, however, also con- there might be a shortened form of the root
sisted in the addition of certain consonants, itself. Thus the hoe ^=, !'->'-' him (henen),
viz., 8 prefixed (for the causative form), m pre- has the syllabic value hn; and several of the
fixed, an added /, /', or ?/. Thus, when the alphabetic signs appear to owe their value to a

word-sign was used for all forms of the word, single geminated root letter : see description of

the vocalization and the flexional and formative — below, pp. 45, 47, 38. On the other
 TOWERS OF THE SIGNS.

hand, the plant or rush r~, ,~* . a nn'fc used for means of the Pyramid Texts, but in the case of
--> i-> nn, has to be doubled in writing, evidently many words not found in the Old Kingdom,
because its value would otherwise be reduced to we cannot tell which s is correct. Such cases
11 (see below, p. 29). are here indicated by -p-
The weak consonants are \, I), ^> and «=>. When the two allied consonants _j and I
They seem to have been more or less fugitive came together in a word, these being difficult
according to circumstances. Terminal r in so to pronounce, the —* was, in the Middle
many cases where it is found in the earliest Kingdom, often written and, generally, there I),

texts was lost, or changed to a vowel in course is some uncertainty about their use. Cf. G£\,

of time. Thus ®, j <=> hr, "face," became h[r], |, ^; also£;, ^, ^,

„S, |. The last
with the r changed perhaps to y, to which it sign is in many words —* —&, but in " navy " it
f

had a tendency. And if in good writing, after is \

—».
the earliest times were passed, it was required With other consonants also there are early
to write a word or syllable hr with a strong r, instances of change or loss, especially perhaps
the spelling had then to be ^ So also with in the case of <->, but at present they have
^
.

" house," " channel," not been reduced to rule, and are altogether
y p[r], m[r],
1
&c.
But <s>- yr retains its r, because the name of obscure.
the eye was yr't, and the presence of the II. Ideographically a sign becomes a
feminine ending <=, preceded by a vowel, saved Determinative, i.e. it is placed after a word
the weak final radical. The effects of final spelled in phonograms or in word-signs, in

r are best studied in phonograms of two order to indicate the meaning of that word,
consonants, because of the frequency with either in general or specifically. w is the
which they enter into combinations, but doubt- determinative of proper names of men, J)

less it prevailed also with word-signs of three of those of women, &c. ^J is a specific

consonants. determinative of words meaning ox, bull, &c,

Final \{aUph), \ (//<»/), and ^> (when radical) but UX, a hide, is a general determinative for
could often likewise be neglected, as might be all beasts, and may follow the name of any.
judged from Semitic analogies, though in what The use of determinatives is found to decrease
degree still remains to be ascertained. In the the further one goes back into antiquity, and
Pyramid Texts (£, ®^, is used alternatively for this, as Erman remarks in his Grammar, shows
kh, and ITJ h seems to have been originally the comparative lateness of their use, and agrees
n\, and H g, a\. Initial is often neglige- I) with their natural place in the evolution of the
able, but in such cases it is perhaps not radical. script. From picture-signs derive word-signs,

It has long been seen that (] must often be from word-signs phonograms, and then recourse
a euphonic prefix like the prosthetic alif in is again had to picture signs, or at least

Semitic, and in that position it is always weak ideograms, for determinatives to phonograms.
and liable to change or disappear.
Changes take place also among the strong The development of the hieroglyphic system

consonants ; thus, in most roots in course of of writing did not take place according to rule,
time """j
changes to =», here indicated by ^, and the employment of the signs cannot be
and sto°, here indicated by =>. completely and neatly tabulated even for a
The distinction between p and — was altogether single period of the writing. We may in a

lost after the Old Kingdom. For vast numbers general way distinguish Classical from Archaic
of words avc can verify the ancient form by usage, the spelling in the Old Kingdom being
 INTRODUCTORY.

very variable, while in the Middle Kingdom it hn ;

these, and others, may probably be con-
had become more or less fixed in principle and sidered as " false derivatives." It is often
so continued into the New. Some special difficult to say where Avord-sign ends and
developments and usages are as follows :
phonogram begins.
1. In classical writing strong flexional con- 3. There are two phonograms which are used
sonants are as a rule written separately from solely for marking inflexions. The eagle (p. 19),
the word-sign. Thus <s=-,
"
7^ in the Old ~ \\ \ tub] stands for the plural ending of

Kingdom may often stand for = ^ adjectives in ti, and 1 1 as a phonogram is i,

()
• yr't (art),

" eye," but later the spelling " 2> chiefly as the termination of the dual, and of
is
c j. Even in
adjectives derived from substantives. (flO in
late writing, however, if no ambiguity can good texts is used only for terminations, or at
result and conciseness is aimed at, the word-sign most as a substitute for final radical 1 or ^;
alone is made to stand for a derived form with when it replaces the sound of the latter, "^\
a strong consonant. This is the case not only is generally written as well. In the special
with the o of the fern, ending, as ©, for /-> ^ •
spelling for foreign names in the New Kingdom
n't, " city," but also with prefixed as when
|^ ;
it is used for y in any position.)
a d, 5 *-* <3» hnlc, stands for ^« I^^» m'hnk in Certain vowel-endings, being of particular
a certain title (Sethe, A. Z., 1893, p. 99), and importance, were rendered by special devices
x^c, — o <=
c
d (ad), stands for ^.js m' d
c
Thus the dual and the adjectival formative i
(m'dd), in the name of the sun-boat. So also
was in the Old Kingdom sometimes rendered
the scribe's palette, <--> _* ^ n " (nda), constantly by (1, and the same dual ending and the ter-
stands for the causative P
• <-, _i> _j tn" (i'ndd), mination of adjectives by "\\ (in Pyr. and Una,
" grind fine," in the prescriptions of the Ebers
Medical Papyrus. Again, the knot, properly
1. 30) ; later, 1 1 took the place of these. %
sometimes represents the vowel u as masc. sins'.
i» \
"=*
V" (adr), stands for == I)
\ •=> dy'r (see termination of nouns. In the New Kingdom
below, p. 44). Here dy 3r is treated as a deri- made
the attempt was to spell foreign names in
vative of *yr, and is perhaps so in reality.
open syllables of a consonant and a vowel, the
It is a remarkable fact that the flexional or
latter being represented by <R\ ,
v\, or w (see
formative consonants m, /, w, y, even when
Erman, Gram., § 70).
radical, are apt to drop out of writing, probably
4. When an ideogram or a phonetic sign has
by a kind of " false analogy." This may help
several values, or when it closely resembles in
to explain the occasional omission of ? at the
ys writing that is not detailed another ideogram
beginning or in the middle of words, and of ~
or phonetic sign with a different value, a
at the end, and the constant omission of and \
phonetic complement was attached to it in the
\ in early writing, while \ v always stands firm classical period, as a constant indicator; e.g. stn
at the beginning of words.
Sometimes a word-sign, say of two radicals,
2.
5. Occasionally a sign ideographic of a group
not being a phonogram, was used in spelling
of ideas is used to indicate particular words
another word of three, which happened to have
belonging to that group, by the help of one or
the appearance of a derivative from the bilitera]
more jmonograms which point out the special
root, a formative consonant being prefixed or
meaning. In such cases the ideogram is not
suffixed. Thus "fear" is sometimes written
merely a determinative, nor yet quite a word-
as if s'nz " strong," as if ri'ht " of
l>T , ; ,
sign. Thus the club (sec I!. II., iii., fig. 77),
/VWWA
Avood"; "statue," Vr_ ,,, as if derived from ideogram or determinative of foreign peoples,
 POWERS OF THE SIGNS— SPECIAL USAGES.

cannot by itself stand for the name of any tional way, either because of some magical
foreign people ; but
) ^= — ^^ n
] ,
power attributed to tbem,
present the reader with a puzzle for his amuse-
or in order to

ment, or for his bewilderment — as in secret

writing. Groups written with such hieroglyphs
occur in the Kahun Medical Papyrus, the Ebers
these words meaning respectively " Semite,"
Medical Papyrus, and the Rhind Mathematical
"Libyan," "negro," and "Libya." It is possible
Papyrus. Short inscriptions in the same style
that originally the form of the club may have
are found at Beni Hasan in the tomb of Chety,
varied to indicate the particular race, and that
and at El Bersheh in the tomb of Tehutihetep,
the phonetic complements were added when
and long mythological ones in the tombs of the
became too precarious in free
this distinction
Kings of the XlXth and XXth Dynasties at
writing. The use- of J\ (q.r.) in its phonetic
Thebes.
compounds for verbs of motion is on the same
10. In the Pyramid Texts signs representing
principle.
human beings are systematically deprived of
6. Abbreviations of various kinds are used
their bodies and legs, so that only heads and
in writing accounts, and also in other writing.
arms appear. The animals are generally treated
Sometimes a determinative stands for the whole
in the same way, and
t£^ are _£as and
word, as — in accounts ^-^-, for fafa >
<=* &» """I
often cut in two. Apparently this was an
dmz, " total ; or the principal sign alone
" deprive signs of magic motion.
attempt to the
is written, as in the group T* ' f° r
|
Similarly, in funerary texts of the Middle
— • <-»•, ^ f^, f« J (anfch, uza, senb), "Life,
"""i
Kingdom, birds and animals are sometimes
Prosperity, Health." Incomplete writing of one
deprived of their legs and serpents of their
sort or another is very common (cf. Erman,
tails. These mutilated signs are of course to
Defective Schreibungen, A. Z., 1891, p. 33).
be read as though they were complete, and
7. Sometimes, even in good writing, the
may, for the purposes of this volume, be treated
word-sisrn or determinative of a word is trans-
which
as identical with the complete signs to
ferred as determinative (not word-sign) to a
they correspond.
honiophonous word to which its meaning is not
Various other tricks of the scribes may be
appropriate e.g. .-"- in
"
" hand," — in
;
detected. The transferred use of ideograms,
^ a
"flax." It then seems determinative of
and the different employments of certain signs
sound, not of sense. In hieratic of the New as phonograms, vary with the period and even
Kingdom such common. uses are very
At some periods
with the individual scribe.
8. Sometimes we have a monogram or
certain word-signs were employed as phono-
graphic compound of two phonetic signs, each found at other periods
grams which are not so ;

to be read separately, as in la.J=> ht-hr,

e.g. Q, commonly used as phonogram for o \
" Hathor" of an ideogram or syllabic with its
;
J/ (hha) in the Pyramid Texts, has elsewhere a
phonetic complement, as in |
"^ hz, "white"; or New
very restricted use until the end of the
of an ideogram or phonogram with its deter-
K ingdom.
minative, as in 5^ hz, "silver." These are
It may almost be presumed that the farther
written respectively we push back into antiquity the greater exacti-
My
9. There are also " sportive " hieroglyphs tude shall we find in the use of the signs. To
(Erman, Gram., § 71). These are often ex- the early scribes each sign had a distinct

ceptional signs, and always used in an excep- meaning connected with its origin, but with
 INTRODUCTORY.

the development of cursive writing, and indeed used for mp, and even that for mp was used
the spread of writing into common use, the for tr, although the latter had no p. The sound
scribe gradually made himself independent of and meaning of each word being obvious from
the delicate differences which distinguished the the more systematic spelling out by a group
forms of allied signs. The tendency was to of several signs, there was little practical
express words either by one distinct sign or by importance in the distinction between { and { .

a group so arranged that the meaning would As might be expected, the colouring and
be unmistakable, even when the individual signs details of the signs of which the origin was not
might be confounded. This led to a larger use very obvious, were given with less and less

of determinatives and of phonetic complements, intelligence. In the following pages few re-
and eventually to a handling of signs as con- ferences occur to the uses and forms of signs
ventional symbols even in hieroglyphic writing, after the XXth Dynasty. By that time corrup-
and to the forgetting of their origins. Even in tion had set in strongly from various causes,
good writing of the Middle Kingdom improper and there is seldom much trustworthy light to
use of the signs had crept in, and in the be obtained from examples of this date on the
XVIIIth Dynasty this is still more marked. original significance of the signs. To trace the
Thus, for example, in the early times the origin and history of each sign minutely through
sprout (?) |
, having the two values ^ <=> tr and its different uses and forms, from the earliest
<=> r-A d mp, was often compounded with an times to the latest, would be a stupendous work,
alphabetic catch-sign, <=r> or D, to show the analagous to the construction of an elaborate
value, and the fern. => <~a d • a rnjo'i was generally dictionary " on historical principles." But even
compounded with a (see below, p. 26). In the from brief excursions into this comparatively un-
Middle Kingdom these began to be confounded : trodden field of research, much new information
in the New Kingdom the compound for tr was may be gained and many current errors corrected.
 SOUECES OF THE FACSIMILES.

CHAPTEE II.

HIEROGLYPHS COLLECTED BY THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

I.

SOURCES OF THE FACSIMILES.

Plates I. Hieroglyphs of the XVIIIth

-IV. East wall (]>. el B., L, PL x.), figs. 27-29, 50.
Dynasty, from Deir el Bahri. Copied (D. el B., L, PL xi.), figs. 1, 2, 13-14,
by Miss E. F. E. Paget. 23, 25.
West wall, unpublished, figs. 10-12, 37-39,
These hieroglyphs are of the age of Hatshepsut,
46.
fourth monarch of the XVIIIth Dynasty (about
Niche, North wall (inscription beyond
1520 b.c), and were copied in her great temple
I), el B., L, PL xv. ; cf. PL xvi.),
in the winter of 1895-6. The originals were
figs. 5, 34, 43, 45.
first sculptured in relief and then coloured.
Xiche, South wall [D. el B., L, PL xvi.),
All those here published are from portions of
figs. 3, 22, 40, 41.
the temple already described and published by
M. Naville memoir on Deir el Bahari,
in his
North- West Hall of Offerings

Parts I. and II. The greater number are from West or East wall (D. el B., L, PL xix. or
xxii.), fig. 36.
the chapel of Thothmes I., but some are from
scenes not included in the plates of the memoir.
AVest wall \d. el B., L, PL xxi.), fig. 24.

In this chapel, according to M. Naville (D. el B., Middle Colonnade, northern half (D. el B., ii.,

i., p. 4), the transparent varnish with which the PL xlviii., right-hand end), figs. 4, 33,
paint was overlaid has turned to an opaque 42, 44, 47, 48.

yellow. The effects of this are seen on many

of the hieroglyphs here published, in which the Plates V.-VI. Hieroglyphs of the XVIIIth
white ground is smudged with yellow or the Dynasty, from the Tomb of Paheri at
original colours obscured and altered, e.g. El Kab. Copied by Miss A. Pirie.
PL iv., figs. 23, 27-29, 40, &c, &c. Some of
From the table of his genealogy it is evident
our examples are from the North- West Hall of
that Paheri died in or about the reign of
Offerings, and others from the Birth Terrace, Hatshepsut and Thothmes III. (Paheri, p. 9).
from an inscription parts of which have escaped As the decoration of the tomb was probably
mutilation. The positions of the originals are
not finished much before his death, it is there-
as follows :

fore of almost precisely the same date as the

Altar Court, fragmentary inscription, unpub- temple of Deir el The small inscriptions
Bahri.
lished (cf. D. el B., i., PL v., &c), fig. 30. in the chamber are incised and coloured black,
Chapel of Thothmes I. but the large ones are well formed in relief and
Position uncertain, fig. 35. coloured. There are no indications that the
End wall (D. el B., L, PL ix.), figs. G-9, tomb-chamber was ever closed or hidden, and
15-21, 26, 31, 32, 49. the destruction of the facade has exposed it to
10 SOURCES OF THE FACSIMILES.

the full effects of atmosphere, wind, and wind- the fifth king of the XIIth Dynasty (El B., L,
borne sand. Although as a whole the sculptures PL v., and p. 3). Our collection of signs from
are in excellent preservation, the colour and it was begun by Mr. Blackden, who in December,
relief have suffered considerably in detail. In 1892, copied six, which I believe he found on
the winter of 1896 Miss Pirie, who was staying fallen fragments of the painting. The remainder,
at El Kab, copieJ some of the signs and kindly 104 in number, were copied chiefly from the
gave the copies to the Archaeological Survey. Avails of the tomb by Mr. Cai-ter in May and
The exact situation and context of each of June, 1893. All are from the inner chamber,
these signs was carefully noted, and this pre- but their precise positions are generally difficult

caution adds considerably to the value of the to identify.

examples. No great accuracy was observed Good examples of most of the facsimiled signs

by the draughtsman or sculptor in the use of may be found in El B., L, Pis. xv., xviii., xx.
the signs. The of
1
% %
V (PL iii., top 1 (
(right side), xxii.; the originals of several of the

left), copied by Miss Pirie, though not here hieroglyphs were probably on small fragments,
published, is the brown " eagle," rather than which have not been included in the plates of
the Egyptian vulture, and on PL x., east side, that memoir. In the following cases, however,
we have { instead of { as determinative of the exact positions of the originals may be

<=> (1 in the name (1 [i 1

noted :

The positions of the originals are as follows El Bersheh I.

in the plates of Paheri, all being from the PL xii., right, fig. 126.
interior of the chamber :
PL xv., row 1, fig. 161.

Front wall, PL ii., fig. 51. row 2 (or 3?), fig. 117.

West wall row 3, fig. 148.

PL iii., cornice line, figs. 57, 59, 60, 62, 70, row 4, fig. 149.
71, 77, 83. row 5, left, figs. 158, 191.
upper left, figs. 63, 66, 69. PL xviii., row 1, figs. 154-156.
PL iv., cornice line, figs. 61, 64, 72, 75, 78. row 3, figs. 119, 179, 180.
upper middle, figs. 53, 67, 76. PL xx., right, figs. 90, 97, 98, 136, (top)
lower right, fig. 52. 150.
East wall :

PL xxv., figs. 122, 186.

PL vi., offerings, figs. 79, 81.
PL xxxiv., top, fig. 11*.
upper left, fig. 80.
Not in the publication'(?), figs. 86, 165, 167, 190.
PL vii., cornice line, fig. 56.
upper left, figs. 68, 73, 74.
PL viii., cornice line, figs. 55, 65, 82.
upper left, fig. 58.
Facsimiles previously Published.
middle, fig. 54.
Hi hi Hasan, i., Pis. xxvii., xxviii. These two
Plates VII.-IX. Hieroglyphs of the XIIth coloured plates are taken from the tomb
Dynasty, from the Tomb of Tehutihetep of Chnoinhetep (temp. Usertesen II.).
at El Bersheh. Copied by Mr. Howard They contain several interesting hiero-
Carter and Mr. M. W. Blackden. glyphs.
The completion of the fcomb of Tehutihetep Beni Easan, iii., I'ls. i.-vi. (See B. If., iii., p. 3).

must be dated in the reign of Usertesen III., The dates of the tombs in Avhich the
 HUMANITY. 11

hieroglyphs were copied are as follows Tomb 2, of Amenemhat Uscrtesen I.

;

(for the proofs, see B. II, i., pp. 7 et (second king of Xllth Dynasty).
seqq.) :— Tomb 3, of Chnemhetep ; Usertesen II.
Tomb 17, of Chety ; end of Xlth Dynasty. (fourth king of Xllth Dynasty) : it is
Tomb 14, of Chnemhetep Amenemhat ; I. thus very nearly contemporary with the
(first king of Xllth Dynasty). tomb of Tehutihetep at El Bersheh.

II.

DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS IN NATURAL GROUPS.

A. Humanity. Word-sign for — =><= hrd (chred), "child":

in the name of Heracleopolis Magna, Hwn{?)'n 'stn
w> Fig. 184. Man seated on the ground in
(Huiienseten), it is regularly written, apparently
the usual attitude, i.e. kneeling on one knee,
both arms bent, with hands closed as if in effort
for 8 4" f\ "youth," \\^ hvm (Brugsch,
A. Z., 1886, p. 76, from- a variant hn in Todh,
to rise (?).
cap. 125, 1. 9). In B. H., i., PL xxxii., in a
In O.K. occasionally perhaps word-sign for
—h— group corresponding to B. II., i., PI. xxvi.,
s, "man," "person," and repeated ^v&^a
1. 189, it stands by exception for /— o /-* vhn
for <=• ^ =s) rmt, in the sense of " men " (
Una,
(iirkheti), "infancy," "innocence," "simplicity."
1. 21). After O.K., id. of first pers. sing, masc,
In late times it was used for ms, "child,"
standing for its suffix, y (a). It det. of
male persons in general, and
H

in particular
is

is
—\ s
J
(sa), " son."

used regularly after proper names, except in

*? Figs. 25, 182. Front view of human
the earliest period.
face, showing ears and artificial beard.

Properly J
<=> hr, " face," lit. " the upper
Fig. 152; B. II., iii., fig. 79. Woman
(thing)"; written © i, which is also the pre-
seated on the ground, closely wrapped, with
position hr, " u|3on."
long wig hanging over back [and shoulders].
The final r was soon weakened or lost ; and
Probably occurs as word-sign for S &,• ^ hmi,
in employing it as a word-sign, almost if not
" woman." Corresponds precisely to n£ in all
quite as a phon., it was usual, except at the
its uses as suffix and det.
earliest period, to add <=> in writing if the r
Group of man and woman ; with plural remained strong. Thus # *=•, not ©, is the
'I
sign after O.K. (figs. 184 and 152 were taken regular spelling for hr. The use of § i for
from this gi'oup in El B., i., PI. xv.). /i[r] is probably restricted to the two words
Word-sign for rm't, "people" (e.g. Kah. Paj)., already mentioned.
p. 35). Det. of human beings in general, of
their classes, tribal names, &c. A Fig. 59. Upper part of face, showing
nose and eye in profile.
Fig. 162. A baby, as carried by its Name o r^ ^ hnt (Ichait), with radical /, lit.

nurse, sucking its finger [and with a lock of " the foremost (part of the face) " ; cf. especially
artificial hair hanging from one side of its Pi/r. M., I. 306. In late texts it is word-sign
head]. for hnt. Gradually it was substituted for other
12 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

signs ideographic of the nose, and so stood for As det. it is also substituted for and for

its name «— <-*^ fnz, "nose," and for p /-* sn, O-fl (q.c).
" smell," P P — Sin, " breathe." Thus it became
det. of all actions of the nose — smelling, <^ Fig. 172; B. IF., iii., fig. 53. Human
breathing, kissing — sometimes also of pleasure, hand, open.
festivity, disgust, and of gentle behaviour (?)
Name, ' *
d't, "hand," lit. probably "the
giving," or "placing (thing)"; just as the
palm is called "the receiving (thing)" (v. 2Sc),
shank " the running (thing) " ^
^s>- Figs. 19, 188. The human eye. the ^ —* •=• •

c
Name, !)<=•= yr't (art), see Spiegelberg, ir rt (itart), and the thigh "the firm (thing)"
Bee. ih Tr., xvii., 93: written -cs=-, ^s>-^ |^f~>.Q mirt. The name of the numeral 5 is

(Pyr.), and j. Common phon. for q

= perhaps connected with it, but the pronuncia-
yr (dr). Det. of words of seeing, not un- tion of this is not certain ;
perhaps it may be
commonly. div' (dim) ; cf. * below. In Pyr., c^a as a
verb, varies with v* c=^> wd (ml); cf. Masp.,
£=> [B. 77., iii., fig. GO.] Side -view of St. Ei/., ii., 123.
mouth. From the above name of c±=> is derived
In El B ,
i., PI. xxvii., the title written with its value as alph. for d (or rather for t,

this sign in B. If., i., PI. xxx., is rendered with Ar. L).
5— ('/''), which in that instance may very well
The human
represent the outline of the lips. In any case, J
Fig. 131. foot and leg from
below the knee. In inscriptions of Dyn. I. the
the word probably reads o/-^(<=>).^ hn(r)'t or
hn-t (Jehen-t).
form is «=^D (De Morgan, Becherches, ii.,

fig. 786), but the length of the shank was

<=> quickly increased, and this part of the sign soon
Fig. 157; B. II., iii., fig. 57. Lips of
human mouth, slightly open (interior white). became disproportionately long and slender.

Name, <=> I r, " mouth," Copt, put. Word- Since =^, J

is alph. for b, we may
sign for prep, r, " to," and alph. for r.
probably assume this to be derived from an
ancient word for " foot," or something similar ;

Fig. 100; B. U iii., fig. 59. Hu man the common word for foot is J rd, in which the
,

sign shows the leg above the knee, so that

arm to above the elbow, showing hand out- J
stretched.
and _f might correspond in the same way as
f c— =m and a for " hand." There is in fact a
Name, nl (a), "hand," presumably in-

cluding a portion above the wrist. There is,

common word J ^> hir (bu), written
J
in i

however, little difference of meaning between N.K. but almost invariably J \\ in early texts

- a and <=s as word-signs, and in parallel texts (for Pyr. see Schack, Index) that seems to be

they are sometimes interchanged (cf. a

the origin of the alphabetic value. It means
).
J
c "place," "situation," "condition," especially
is alph. for (a), Arab, e, Heb. V. In Pyr. it
in expressions "good state," like bw
appears to stand often for <= ^ i~* rmn, " fore- nfr,

arm," or " upper arm " (?) — later, ^--^ — and is

"felicity," &c. perhaps we may compare the ;

then usually distinguished by alphabetic com- English "footing" for status. The compound

plements <^> or «vw«. Sometimes it takes the | ^\ ^7 rifrf} ' b w nb means " everybody,"

place of ^_fl for the "cubit," §*J mh, and of which may be literally " every condition or
A a "give." class," or perhaps better " every foot," like
 AXTIIKOI'OMOKI'HIC HKITIES 13

i, another compound expression for taken for mere symbols, but at Luxor they are

"everybody," lit. " every face." of full figure size. Thus it may seem that the

sign repivsents a god of long life, of a multitude

It may be noted that in Pyr. ^d3 is det. of a

» of years. On the other hand, he seems to be

word J => J ^ {T., 312, &c), which perhaps
,

means "footstep," "tread," or "foot," and of also thegod of teeming productiveness.

r=> j • o " sandal." Hh, ^T, means a "vast number," and is an

expression for higher numbers than 100,000
(Mar., D. el B., PL viii. L., D., iii., 77, c) but ; ;

its sense, like that of Q , was rather vague, and

B. Anthropomorphic Deities; Human
it is never used in real accounts.
Ranks and Classes.

Human figure seated on the king with

$ Fig. 149. ^} Fig. 148. The figure of a
ground, closely wrapped, with ibis-head or mask uraeus on forehead, false beard, wig, and pig-
and heavy wig. tail, seated on the ground and closely wrapped,

Word-sign for Thoth. In the tomb of Tehuti- his hand alone appearing and holding the f\
hetep, who was priest of this great god at the (<j.r.). Usually he holds the crook likewise.
centre of his worship in Upper Egypt, the sign In El B., L, PL xv., row 3, this figure is det.

is used as det. of ,-*=><=> ntr, "god," as well as of the word H~\ yty (dty), "king." It is the

of the name of Thoth. usual det. of royalty, and is the royal sign of

The representation of Thoth as an ibis-headed the pronominal suff. of first pers. sing.

man occurs as early as the IV th Dyn., L., D.,

ii., 2, c. This raises the question whether the |$ Fig. 1 61 . A person of high rank walking
early Egyptians did not conceive of the god as with tall staff in one hand and mace (?) in the

existing in this form but the type may very ; other. The sign usually has the addition of

well have arisen as a graphic compound of the ram's horns and two plumes on the head, j|
figure of the (anthropomorphic) god with that (Pap. Any, PL i., 1. 8).

of his sacred bird to distinguish him from other Usual det. of the word \ - q yty (dty), " king."

gods. So also with Anubis, Ra, &c. The det,

of a god's name is commonly A Fig. 1 47. A beardless figure, completely

enveloped, except head and arms ; seated on a

animal legs and ornament like a

^ A
bearded figure, seated, i.e.
Fig. 21. chair with

kneeling on one knee, arms extended and hands papyrus-head behind; over the low back a
raised, perhaps to symbolize counting by tens ;
cloth or skin.

on his head the symbol of a year or season. In El B., i., PL xv., this sign is det. of ^^
There is also the form f-fl^j (Siut, tomb i., 1. 227, "master," and \ - "father"; possibly it in-

&c). dicates were deceased, or it may

that they

This god or symbolical figure is represented signify that those persons were such as were

in the vignettes of the TodL, cap. xvii., as a god to be treated with respect.

of moisture, and in Pap. Any, PL viii., his name

[B. H., fig. 74.] Watchman. The
given | $ Heh. His function is well shown fef) iii.,
is
object on the staff here resembles Q,
but the
in the birth scene at Luxor (L., D., iii., 74, c),
uphold the symbol of form varies greatly (cf. Medum, Pis. xxii.,
where two such figures
PL xxviii., and the figure in the boat, PL xxiv.).
life. At Deir el Bahri (D. el B., ii., li.),

the two figures are so small that they might be Cf. also |, p. 02.
14 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

Word-sign for — VS"

-
*'""'
i*"' '), 1 "watch- titles disappeared very early, probably at the
man," with phon. trans.; and for I) •=> \\ yri (dri), end of the IVth Dynasty.
" concerned with." The fern., yr't, is often
written with a female form

Human Action.
L& Fier. 159. Soldier holding bow and
quiver full of arrows ; lightly clothed and
Fig. 163. Man standing, raising his
kneeling on one knee in an attitude of alert- I
hands on either side of his head.
ness generally wearing a feather, cf. Medum,
;
Regular det., and occasionally word-sign for
ix., &c. cc
5_^_jj h (had), "rejoice," and after O.K. for
Word-sign for l& "$ "host," "infantry,"
& \ <i
(qa), " high " ; for either of these it may
"soldiers," and for J$ ^_^ an "expedition" stand as ab. (Petrie, T. el A., xxii., 13; Kah.
with an army, either for peaceful objects Pap., xiv., 1. 33).

quarrying and conveying stone — or for war;

apparently it never stands for a single soldier, [-A Fig. 34. Man building a rectangular
]
c
except as clet. of the name h\vli (ahauti), lit.
enclosure with battlements.
" fighter." Word-sign for a o qd, " build," not used in
Bbugsch, A. Z., 1880, p. 8, and Pieiil, I.e. O.K., at which time, however, the enclosure by
p. 135, have shown that the title rik\ in the itself is det. of the word, and sometimes has the

XXXth Dyn. varies with *~1 °= -F mr form f*\ (1'yr. M., 1. 566, &c.), but generally is
.?.,
in 7
^
J
a rectangle of varying breadth (A7 1174; Methen, .

ss (mer shes), and that J$ is actually at that '

L., IK, ii., 7, 6).

time written for *, ss (shes), "rope" or "fine

linen." Apparently, therefore, => ss is the

-f-
\B. IT., hi., fig. 54.] Arms held down-
reading of this sign. It is at present generally
c
wards, with or without vase, corn-rubber, or
read J^™-^ ms (mesha), through equating the
other object which they are taking or holding.
O.K. title ^ jx. r~^ pj| with the later ^k. Jk !

Word-sign for -— o /-> shn (sehhen), and d a\

as mr ms ; but an examination of the former l"f (l"'U' )i
" embrace," "comprehend," &c, with
l

shows that the equation is wrong :

phon. trans. also det. of J o
; hpt, <-* a ynq <=> (|

which have a similar meaning.

%21#i^' L" D- ii -' 4 -v, j, (dnq),

mr ms c
nfrw, " director of the marching of
Vp Fig. 165; B. II. iii., fig. 43. (q.v.)
recruits," corresponds exactly to
Jg^ ^
J^. yo l|f ,

J
between the two arms held downwards. In
WWW, L., D., ii., 97, a, mr ms c
ss, " director of
O.K. the arms are held more squarely.
the marching of trained soldiers," and although Graphic compound denoting 8<-^-^I» hale
3

the writing of the latter title varies greatly (hen Tea), " /.'/-servant," or " 7«&-priest." The
(Medwm, ix. ; L., D., ii., 21, 22) down to second element is the usual form of \ |
lc' in

-^
C
""
i^on. div., PI. xx.), the three this compound group, probably because it
fjjf
would have been considered irreverent to place
elements can always be distinguished, and
the sign for "servant" above that for the; ka,
w' ^f m (
c^ Una, 1. 25, for the same spelling
though m also is found. So also in the earliest
independently of the title) w& www is evi- inscrij)tions we have ( ), but when compounded
dently a separate word, viz. ss. Both of these with ^*, for " the spiritualized lea" it is turned
 HUMAN ACTION. 15

downwards (Dk Morgan, Becherches, ii., p. 240, 4 I %> 1/V) (Mar., M. D., xc. b.), which, from the

figs. 802 and 806). context, is certainly the verb yh\ "fight," and
The sign [_J is phon. for *=*\ h
J
(lea). not hw, " strike."
Much has been said on the ka of Egyptian
religious belief, but I am not aware that any Vp Fig. 68. Two arms grasping a paddle,

explanation of the sign by which its name is as in paddling, issuing from an object shaped

written has been attempted. If, as seems like (S,, but in M.K. more like <=> (hollow).

probable, the sign was intended to represent the "Word-sign for "paddling," x >-** • No
lea symbolically, and not merely phonetically, early variants of the sign are known, but a few

one may perhaps believe that the latter was, very late ones give o <-. hn (khen), and this is

from one point of view, regarded as the source probably accurate, since it never occurs in the

of muscular movement and power, as opposed to name of the m'hn't boat, and there is already

1^ ba, the will or soul which set it in motion. the semi-phon. y^ for —^ Tin (chen). The
use of \cp is confined to a few words, and it is
The human arms, hands, and fingers are the
members of the body which carry out the most hardly a phon. The & (?) h' (Ma) may be an
intelligent and intricate promptings of will and indication of its phonetic value.

desire, and produce the most surprising results.

They might therefore well be chosen to repre- W^ [B. H., Arm, or two arms,
hi., fig. 50.]

sent the muscular life, the energy and activity W , holding magic wand named &><=»|> mJcs,
of man. On the other hand, they might be or <->
I J • <=> nhb't; for which see Mentuhotep,

considered as held up, [_), to receive life from the p. 18, no. 7, and Pyr.
sun, and offerings after death, and downwards, Word-sign for ^P •=> zsr, "sacred," &c. (Pyr.

A, to receive the service of the hen-lea. But P., 1. 121 = T., 1. 175), the sign indicating that

The word what and profane warded Used

this seems less probable. ^ jjT)
J
>
is evil is off.

•^\>~ k'-t (Jca't), "labours," "handiwork," is with rad. ext.

not improbably from the same root ; and may be
the origin of the value for the sign (see ^z^>).
V 1\
Fig. 1 22. Human arm, the hand holding
a short stick.
This sign is found (probably not till after
Q£l Fig. 177. Human arms holding shield
O.K.) as det. of strength and of actions demand-
and mace the form of the shield varies in
;

ing strength. In N.K. it occasionally is word-

different instances (Malum, PL xii., L., D., ii.,
sign for <-*&<=. nht (nefcht), "strength" (Budge,
91a, &c). The printed type shows a halberd
Ble. of D., p. 11, 1. 1), and so it agrees in use
or war axe for the mace.
almost precisely with «f
Word-symbol (but not det.) of fighting,

= ^11" fight," with rad. ext. In Pyr. we

have Q£l, N., 689 = M., 1. 179 = & o Fig. 64. A human arm in the open ;
1.
q^J, f£ hand a cake or other mass of material.
T., 1. 170. In M.K. a changed to (j, as usual
From O.K. onwards this is the word-sign
before (see p. 5), Horhotep, 1. 104 = 1. 529
for the verb x^_fl, £— Q a l so written m,
j[
f^ >
J\
(Todt., cap. 17). The proper name which found only in the imperative m, e.g.
(]| J^ is

Yh 3 (Aha) is apparently the alphabetic spelling Pyr., N., 1. 660, and as an optative with suffixes

of Q£l, e.g. El P., ii., tomb 8, p. 38, and m'le, m'tn, having the force of the English

PI. xxi., though it does not actually vary with "Behold" — thou (or ye) a certain thing in a
it. In XXVIth Dyn. we have (1 8 Q£j. (for certain state. One might be disposed to connect
 16 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

its meaning with the of

J$ss
' {Pyr. N. 1002 = M. 604) ;
—j sb, "conduct
"

(used also as phon. in msb, " offer and

more correctly I)
fe, ym (dm), ") ;

= 1 .'/("')>
" come," &c. ; or with their word-
"give," "place," and of
|^ a^J\, JJ my sign, e.g. a sins, " follow," ^g?> ism, " conduct."
(md), " Come !
" &c. "We should then suppose it

to indicate "giving," " placing," like the graphic

[/?. II., fig. 94.] Vase on a pair of
compound A — D, of dy (da), "place" (see A ,
I\

human "feet"
iii.,

(v. in O.K. the shanks are

below), with which it is often confused in print,
J);
thick in proportion to their length. To give
especially as a d (which is really J
<~* ^ hnlr,
prominence to the O they are closer together
"present") sometimes stands for G_-fl.
than in ~rs~, but are otherwise identical with J\ .

But in Paheri, PI. iv., top middle, the sign

Word-sign for »~> yn (an), " carry," with
^—
()

figures as det. of ;$& D a §sp (shesep),

Q n ,
rad. ext. ;
probably O enters into it as forming
"receive." The idea in JA—o seems thus to be
a good picture-compound with -A, the det. of
of " receiving " rather than " giving," " placing,"
motion, and as supplying approximately the
A — Q, while o— o can symbolize apparently either
phonetic value by its own value n(w).
"receiving," m, or "offering to deities," hnk.
Hence expressions like ^~^ %\ ^ -^^x %> ^§> ,

k'^l^lll'^^l m'Jc wy y'kwy," Behold thou

am "
me, I arrived," i.e. "Behold, I am come !
D. Mammals and Parts of Mammals.
literally mean something like, " Receive me, I
am come," "receive" having here the sense ^JD Figs. 91, 93. Forepart of lion,

"perceive," "behold" (v. Addenda). showing head, shoulder, and foreleg.

After O.K. &_q is often written t\- or The name of this portion of an animal's
^
a

, with det. _r, or f\ alone ; and k, body is 8--.- l/'t (ljd,-t), "front part,"
,

whether formative or otherwise, at the begin- and thence it has, by phon. trans., the value of
ning of words, is very frequently written with 1/, occasionally changing to § \ 1/ (ha) (see
£_Q (3 d in some texts) or its equivalent p. 5): e.g. in l/'ti, "heart," in M.K. sometimes
-J. Cf. Ebm., Gram., §§35, 102, 256. hHi, v. <r.

The title ~=^, in spite of its spelling, is an

c
J\ Fig. 156. A pair of human "feet," ab., and ought to be read -j ^ h -fi (hd'ti), \ • \\

(<j.v.), joined at the top and striding.

J " he who is at the front," " leader," " dux "

Word-sign for the common verb J\\\ "travel," derived from the above ^=^ li't. This is pretty
" step," " come," which varies with clearly proved by N.K. texts and in early
J\ in %^ ;

the name of the goddess Iws-da's (Pyr. P., times the fern, is written =^ jj-oq h
c
-tt,

1. 423 = N., 1. 1210), and therefore reads q \ corresponding to a masc. h

c
-ti.

yw (du). ^ £, apparently ywwt, is a not

uncommon expression for "movements" and £sk» Fig. 2.The desert hare (Lepus aegyp-
" visits." Also det. of all words of motion. tiaca), common in Egypt the length and size ;

A number of verbs of motion are written by of its ears are always absurdly exaggerated in
compounding this sign with their principal Egyptian drawing. In fig. 175 the ears are
consonant, e.g. cjp = <?°
k sm (shem), " go
"
more preposterous even than usual.
(used also by rad. ext.) ; ^p = = I) rs> ytt In the tombs of Beui Hasan the hare is called
(dthefh), "take," "seize" (used also as phon. .p. <— _j o xAW (sechd't). But in Ptahhetep,
.

for tt in bit, " colic ?"); -^- s, " pass (?) " TT = PI. xxxii., and elsewhere, -^> /% \ r~> von ,
 MAMMALS. 17

(un), " ran," "bound along swiftly " Met., out- Its name is -p- •=* sr, ecoov, "sheep," in the
stretched legs joined at thighs), suggests that it tomb of Renni at El Kab, where it is distin-
was once called "the swift runner," or at any guished from t\\r goats (C, Nous., ii., PL cxlii.,

rate that it symbolized such motion. 3). It was sacred to Clinem, and is det. of his

Common phon. for ^ <~» "'» ("«)> especially name. At Mendes was sacred to Osiris it

after O.K. under the name of $y^, meaning " soul " or ;

perhaps, with reference to the employment

v^p Fig. 175. The hare as a sacred badge of rams in agriculture (L.. !>.. ii.. 1066), really
raised on the sacred perch ^- (q.v., p. 58), " plougher," v. f^, but this does not seem
with food as usual, planted in the symbol of a to be otherwise a name for the ram.
nome, tott .

The nome-sign of the XVth nome of Upper && Fig. 48; B. II., iii., fig. 31. An in-
Egypt (Hermopolis Magna) compare that of ;
determinate-looking animal newly dropped, in
the XVIth nome, B. II., hi., frontispiece, and fig. 18 having some of the features of an ass's

p. 6. It is difficult to ascertain the reading of foal, but with sprouting horns. As Borchardt
this class of symbols. The nome-signs appear remarks, it can hardly he a calf; possibly a kid
to be of the feminine gender, for the qualifying was intended as the type.
adjectives hnt't, "upper,"' and ph't, '•lower," Phon. for yw (du) in the O.K. and
H ^
which occur with several of them, are fern, onwards. As the word \ <=» \
yirr (dur),
in inscriptions of good period (see Ptahhetrp, "conceive," generally U1$^<=>, is sometimes
PL xxxv., for XXth-XXIst nomes, and Siut, written %^ in Pyr. (M. 406), it is clear that
{J

Tomb hi., 1. 21, for Xlllth nome of Upper this sign has an affinity to //"'[*'] with weak r ;

Egypt). The p resent symbol also is often cf. also Kah. Pap., p. 11, for further evidence
written £^ . with fern, termination in the of this. j£^ may thus be taken as " the con-
early M.K. (El It., ii., xiii. 2 ; Eetnub Graffiti, ceived thing," " embryo (?)," properly written
viii., 1. 1, ix., 1. 1, &c. ; cf. Siut, Tomb iv., 1. 36, .y»"[r], but used regularly for yw. Cf. V for a

i., 1. 151). The badge itself, J=s», may have its very similar case. It is possible that it has also
c
usual value wn (see above), especially as the a word-sign value y , the root of the word <\
~*

nome capital was named ^"O^K®, Wnw for "heirship," "inheritance," &c. cf. Pyr. M., ;

(('mi) (see Hetmih Graffiti, i., 1. 7, viii., 1. 11); 1. 760, (j

a^S.^" heir." But an occa-
and the whole nome-sign may thus read 1! n't
sional variant, t&^a y c
,
indicates that the
(Un't). It is almost certain that :
ffffl= has no <
reading in this case is really yw (dud), the
separate value in this sign (/•. a*).
"foal" having its ordinary value (yw) as phon.;
and this is the opinion of the best authorities.
3&} [B. H., iii., fig. 35.] Ram with hori-
zontal horns. Similar animals are shown in
the earliest sculptures (Naqada, PL lxxvii., top •^ [B. H., iii., fig. 55.] Shoulder and fore-
right; De Morgan, ltechcrches, ii., PL iii.), but leg of an animal.
it is difficult to say whether they represent Word-sign for oo^ hps (Ichepsh), "shoulder"
sheep or goats. (The variety of sheep with (as a joint of meat), "strength of arm." In

curved horns, ^J^l, which superseded this kind, N.K. the name of the scimetar, }/, from its

was the animal of Amen, probably first con- shape ; later, a word for the human arms, as in

secrated to him in N.K. ; as the sacred ram it Coptic :'i!oii:'i (Sign Pap., passim). It seems
was called => m ^w rhui.) never to mean "the haunch," though in the
is DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

printed sign the jointing corresponds to that of perhaps for some similar reason, the signification
" reward."
the hind leg.

Fig. 1 21 . This sign, resembling a spiked O Figs. 46, 166. A conventional picture
club in outline, at Meduin is coloured black and of the heart with arteries ; the vessels at top
white, most of the "head" being white. Petrie and sides trimmed short ; in the first example,

(M< ilma, p. 30) pointed out that the projections the paler colouring of the upper part of the
are clearly mammae, and that the sign represents heart itself seems to indicate a covering of fat.

the teats and other sexual parts on the belly of Fig. 166 is a very common type : the markings
an animal. upon it may indicate conventionally the interior
The word for "belly," "loins," "womb," is structure as displayed in section. Cf. Medum,
^"j h't {chet), and this is evidently the origin PI. xiii., and the lute (?), T.

of the alphabetic value »- h. «-=• constantly The heart, O, must be distinguished from
varies with rrrn in O.K., while O does so only the heart-shaped vase, which, being a charac-
very rarely. The distinction between o and »- teristic form in granite, is word-sign and det.
was pointed out by Steindorff very recently, °f &s» &s m ^t (math), " granite."
and it is found that the two signs are seldom Word-sign for I)
J yb (ah), " heart," " desire,"

confused until a very late period. Ac. {Pyr. W., 1. 451 = T., 1. 259). Det. of
f-jioi,, in M.K. sometimes J \> q\s, Ifti, Iffi

^=^ Fig. 155. A rib bone, in the present (Jidti, liuti), another word for "heart."

example (/'.'/ B., i., PI. xviii., 1) very clearly

represented. Often identical in form with the Fig. 47. A difficult sign to explain,
lip, /-=v sp-t. but probably representing in a conventional
The name of the rib is p o <=> Spr. Used with manner some internal portion of mammalian
phon. trans, (usually accompanied by the alph. —
anatomy such as a pair of glands and the duct
complement <=> r). —
belonging to them the kidneys or the liver (?).
Word-sign for — ^ \, ^\%, *m\ m (sma, s
3

g3j Fig. 192.

i
The haunch or shoulder, saw), generally with the meaning "unite." Y
trimmed and shrunk by boiling. is the name of the kidneys with perhaps the
(?),
This joint was of two kinds, called in the
liver; andT^k <? in Pap. Eh. is " colon "(?),
tables of offerings respectively -£>a , ? ^ —" or "liver" (?), and in Pyr. the plural (IF., I. 518';

4 — o ynf or if (dud or da), and ]^§\q, p ^> <=> T., 1. 328) stands for kidneys (so Maspero), with
swt (Sut), perhaps with radical / ; one is probably perhaps the liver and other edible portions of
the shoulder, the other the fore-leg (cf. in N.K. the viscera; and T"! sm'-fi (dual) in Pap. Eh.

C^) ^^ I
tT^ "sut of the fore-leg is " testiculi " One or other of these two
(?)," Leyd. (?).

Mon., hi., PI. xxiv.). words must be the origin of the phonetic

With the value of the former name it is value.

transferred to other meanings, and is then

written with the alph. complement — o. In <*=<u \ II. II., iii., fig. 46.] Hide of domestic
"S, y it is also word-sign for \ p \ ys'w (dsu), animal, stripped off and wrapped together. In
"reward," "price." From Slut, Tomb i., 276, 1. Veshasheh, PI. xxv., it is shown tightly twisted,

it seems possible that when an ox was given for with a peg through one end, perhaps with
sacrifice, the awa-joint. was customarily set apart reference to the common meaning " pull,"

for the special benefit of the donor- hence, or " strain," of the word-sign.
 BIRDS. 1!'

Word-sign for ~ «=» srf, "pull," 'strip off," to the use of a compound colour from which the
and for sd'w, "water-skin," which in Deshasheh, vegetable element has disappeared ; it has been
PI. xix., is very clearly shown hy its det. ; the remarked that the green may have been mixed
last use suggests that sd, " dragged off," is one with pink madder (used in Roman times, cf.

name for a hide. Also phon. for sd. Loret Russell in Malum, p. 47) in order to obtain a
has studied the sign and its uses, Rec. de Trav., grey. The flesh at the base of the bill is naked,
xl, pp. 117-131 (r. Addenda). and the scanty feathering beyond often makes
the neck appear thin; in O.K. drawing this

j? Cf. Fig. 167. Hide of wild animal. long sparse feathering appears as a kind of
Word-sign for "^ J Vi {ah) from the earliest crest (see Medum, PL xiv., and Methen, L., D.,

times (De Morgan, BechercTies, ii., fig. 786) ; it ii., 6). These characteristics, and the weak bill

may be connected with the much-prized hide combined with the short neck, determine the
of the leopard, the name of that animal being species absolutely.
T
iv J *
V Max Muller thinks it the origin of The name of the bird and the origin of its
J
the phon. j =
V>, Rec. de trav., ix., 159. alphabetic value , i.e. alif (conventionally a),

Det. of hide, names of animals, &c. are unknown.

Fig. 76. A bird of raptorial aspect,

*1| Fig. 167. A hide — perhaps hung as a
but with two small tufts at the back of the
target —pierced by an arrow or dart.
head and a longer tuft on the neck. There is
In O.K. word-sign for jf"^ apparently
1

no original colour left on the example figured

p»^ stt (sethrt), "shoot," "throw," and pro- ;

good examples of this curious bird-hieroglyph

bably equivalent to stt (written with 5t=^, Pi/r.
are much needed. In early instances the head-
W., 1. 422; T., 1. 242), "engender" (cf. B. II.,
tufts are absent, but an additional tuft some-
ii., PI. iv., top row, left). Later it stands for
times hans;s like a beard or wattle from the
allied words St, "sprinkle" (which is perhaps
base of the beak, and often the form is almost
only a simplified form of stt, reduplicated =>
that of the chick \\, with one or more tufts.
being sometimes =><=>) — and others with value
Probably it will prove to be not raptorial.
-f-
<= st, and is completely interchangeable with
Name, AJk'n^s ^i nh, in Todt, cliii. b.

(Budge, 3D7, 1. 12, cf. Nav., i., PL clxxviii.,

1. 13). Phon. for nh.

E. Birds and their Parts.

V\ Figs. 1, 75. A brown raptorial bird,
Figs. 4, 73, 120 ; B. II., hi., fig. 13. having fully feathered neck and strong beak.
It is very satisfactory to be able to illustrate In the fine example, fig. 1, it must be an eagle
this bird and the eagle by such decisive In fijr. 75 the form is less distinctive. In
examples as figs. 1 and 4. Their outlines are Medum, frontispiece, figs. 1, 3, the appearance

often very similar in inferior writing, and is very different, but may still be an unsatis-
copyists generally confound them, but in hieratic factory rendering of the eagle.

the two birds are always distinguished, and The sign has the value <= \\ ^ tiw (tin) as a

generally in linear hieroglyphs. This bird is grammatical termination, this being the plural
the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus). ending of adjectives in ^ \\ ti derived from fern.

In early examples the colouring of the wing is substantives in ^ /. The origin of this value is

grey or blue. Later it is green, probably owing at present obscure.

c 2
20 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

[cf. II. //., iii., Sparrow-hawk;

fig. 5.] substituted for grey — as in the case of the

a male bird, fairly well represented in form and Egyptian vulture — and the breast marking dis-

colour. appears (see />'. IT., iii., fig. 14, Chnemhetep,

Det. of, but apparently never word-sign for, and below, fig. 99). (e) In the present instance

its name J \ <=* byh (hah). Word-sign for l-=>-\ the green remains, but the under parts are
II, „• (the god "Horus"), lit. "the soarer," "he flushed with orange. The form (a) seems to
who flies up "
(See '^T, the hawk-perch). represent the sand martin (Gotyle riparia) ;

without the dark mark it may be the common

[£\] [B. II., iii., 5.] Graphic compound of martin (('. urbica). The substitution of green
^
and the sparrow-hawk. for grey in (l>) is apparently of no specific
Word-sign for ;=-?•= Ilt-ll, (Hathor). significance. An orange or rufous tinge on
Professor Maspero considers that the literal the under parts, as in (<•), is found in some
meaning " House of Horus " is not to be in- swallows.
sisted on, and that the compound is merely The true swallow (Hirundo rustica) and its
h i i n] in .

an attempt to spell the name of the goddess congeners are named <=>, 'L <--> • <-> mn't, and
phonetically. are pictured in the vignette of Tod!., cap. 86,
sometimes with true swallow tail, at others

Figs. 7, 183, 185; B. II., iii., fig. 7. (

I'd j,. Bui., iii., PL 21) Avith that of the martin.

Owl ; the type varies but is not long-eared The latter form is well shown on a stele figured

until very late times. in Maspero, Premieres Melees, p. 536 ; Lanz.,

To account for the alphabetic value m it may Biz. d. Mlf., PL cxviii.

be suggested that the Coptic name uotms is The sign is, however, phon. for ^ => wr —
possibly a compound, of which the first element, which as a word means " great," " old," —and it

m (?), represents the ancient name. Note the is supposed that a bird ^^ JX- wr (with det. of
owl-names in Ar. bum, in Latin bubo, from deity) occurs in Pyr. N., 1. 157. Loret, A. Z.,

which it would appear that m would be 1892, p. 28, quotes this group in connexion
onomatopoeic. A very curious use of the sign with
f
Sr=t, and identifies the bird — if bird it be,

occurs in Pyr., where it stands as det. for \ p a and not merely "the great (deity) " — with the
hs/j, " chop off" the head or limbs, in N., 1. 904 ;
Coptic ovaa, baa, which in a compound word
while in M., 1. 26, &c, -=\X is the symbol for seems to mean "domestic pigeon," i.e. the rock-

the same word. Perhaps this points to the owl dove (Golumba livia, not G. oenas, as has been
bein" a bird of ill-omen, which
-
it was desirable stated, cf. Shelley, Birds, p. 211). His ex-
to behead when caught. |)lanation seems possible, for in Piahhetep,
PI. xli., third rowDim., Res.,
of offerings (=
^ Figs. 3, 99; ll. II., iii., figs. '.), 14. PL xiii.), the name of the pigeon, ^, ^ ~
»
^^ •

Swallow : to include under this term perhaps mnwt (menu't), is apparently determined by a
martins and swifts (C'///w//^). The general bird of ^3te=3 outline. %=» does not, however, in

outline and broad, slightly forked, tail are the least resemble the pictures of pigeons in
constant, but colour and markings vary con- Ptahhetep, Pis. xxxi., xxxvii., and II. II., i.,

siderably, (a) In the earliest examples (M~nlinu, PL xxx. ; and it is not improbable that the
frontispiece, fig. 4 ;
II. II., iii., fig. '••, Ameny) it figure in Ptahhetep is a slight mistake of the
is grey, with white belly and a black spot on sculptor, due also in part to the close similarity

breast, though in Medum the Latter is often of names mnwt, "pigeon,'

the and mn't,

absent (cf. Ghelidon urbica). (b) Later, green is "swallow" [v. Addenda).
 BIRDS. 21

Figs. 5, 189 ;
Ji. H., iii., fig. 15. Chick the ground or ooze in search of food in the
of a gallinaceous bird. newly-sown corn-fields; Tr , in fact, in Pyr. is

The chick referred to in />'. If., iii., p. 8, as

occasionally word-sign for J %, h' (/»'), "soul,"
figured in Ptahhetep, apparently for the typical
see Schack, Index. c^ is also phon. for l>\
quail of the farmyard, appears in PI. xxxi, of
must commonly spelt I 11 tue stereo-
the new publication of that tomb. Probably J ^&*]j^-
the eggs of quail (and occasionally partridge), typed group ^fes ^r?6 (once
J
b&^^z^, Su.,

found abundantly in the harvest field, were Eg. Ins., ii., 22, 1. 10, from Louvre, C, ii.),

hatched artificially in the farmyard, and thus "servant," "serve," "work," there is no need
the chicks were familiar objects. Quail flying to assign a special value, bk, to the sign ;
it is,

over a cornfield are very well rendered in the as usual, simply b\ As in so many cases, the
tomb of Khaemha (Prisse, Art, ii., 11 = Mons., // changed to b in the N.K., hence the rare
PI. xl.). The sign ^K is perhaps not without N.K. spelling V '
bk, Rec. de Ton-., v., 74.
significance too in connexion with the peculiar
form of the adult bird. The alphabetic value '%.-; Cf. Fig. 168. Sacred ibis ([hi* rr/i^iusa),

//• (u) for V> is perhaps onomatopoeic. white, with black unfeathered skin on head and
neck, black legs (and tail). The bird of Thoth.
Fig. 28. An unfledged bird with open Name, ra j hb, lit, " plougher," cf. fTJ
as often represented in
JJ
mouth, eager to be fed
= J ^,
;

"plough," Pyr. /'., 1. 763 [T] M., 1. 764.

uests in paintings of the N.K.
The name
just hatched is
for a chick either in the shell or

$^', = 1, t' (tha); cf. Breasted

V Fig. 168. "Sacred" ibis on sacred

De Uymnis, p. 44. The meaning of the name perch, ^r (q-v-, P- 58) ; the usual food held in
place by a peg (other food (?) beneath its feet),
is probably " taker " (from => \ " take "), owing
cf. Medum, PI. xxi.
to the eagerness of the nestling to take its food.
Emblem of the XVth noine of Lower Egypt,
See the fine outline in Medum, PI. xxi., which
is very suggestive of this meaning. Phon.
the name of which was apparently ^ 5 \ Q•

Z/in-t (Zhu'i). Hence must be derived the

for => \
well - known name of the nome - god •
,

of the
^ Fig. 74 ;
II. II., iii.,

type of the Grallatores, with tuft on

figs. 3, 10. A bird ^l^.^w
Zhirii,
(Kahun,
"Thoth," lit.
PL v.;
"the Zehutiau "
El
com-
B., ii.,

;
&c.)

-a u . ^ w Anz'ti, "he of
'

breast. In O.K. generally without the tuft pare Osiris called r~. j

(Medum, PI. xxi. ; Ptahhetep, PI. xli., fourth Anzet," from the IXth nome of Lower Egypt.
row of offerings). This type may have been
suggested in a general way by plover, ibis, Fig. 118; B. 1L, iii., fig. 4. Crested

crane, or snipe, but does not agree with any ibis (Ibis comata). This bird is glossy purple,

particular species. It reminds one also of the with naked red flesh on head. It is now found in

bustards. South Algeria and across Abyssinia into Arabia

Name unknown. Word-sign for J % V (/»') (Heuglix, Omithologie, p. 1144). It has ap-

meaning, amongst other things, "soul" (v. ^7), parently never been recorded from Egypt, but

and "hoe," "break up earth," sometimes There is no other bird with which the type can

written S* We may best connect its value be identified.

.

with the habit of the plover tribe (as well The value as a word-sign, Q&s // // (dakh) —
the crane) of digging their bills .into or perhaps A only —with phon. transf., is given
as of
 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

by Pyr. IT., 1. 51)0, by variants quoted in Br., dently Anser albifrom in spring plumage, though
117//., and by the variation with m ifh in later the colouring of the head is inaccurate.
times. If this was the name of the bird, it In L., J)., ii., 616, the bird is figured, with
probably means "'the glossy." The radical idea its name 5J ,
as the first — thus suggesting that
of ifh may be that of red light, like the light of it was the largest — -of all the geese there; but
the rising or setting sun (cf. c — '
, ll° ,Q y'h't it is rarely shown as domesticated. It is the
(dalch't), " the place of sunrise or sunset") but
it refers especially to the glorified state of the
;
wild goose
^J^^> *J-\ gb-w, of I'ii/l

ILir. (500 verso, p. xii., 11. 7. !)) ; it is perhaps

dead in heaven, as spirits illuminated by the
" also the S^Jffi^r-^ of Pap. Eb. The
sun (cf. the quotation below, s.v. ). In a few
passages of the TodL, the '^, © " glorified name of the god fe^ jl Greek Krjfi, varies with

spirit," appears as something parallel to the SJ ijh, ajj^ gbb* (gebba), &c, see Brugsch,
V7^fe* (ba), and the \_J {lea), as if it might be, A. Z., 1886, j). 1 ; Spiegelberg, Bee. de Trav.,
like them, a distinct part of the human organism. xvii., 94. As a word-sign the goose is always
But such instances are extremely rare. In the distinguished by the complement . In form
J
Lebensmiider I read it that the man is not it is probably often confused with the duck of
conversing with his '^>, but with his ^b^ (ba), fig. 11.
J
"soul" ;
for & in hieratic sec A. 'J'., xvii., 1. 40.
In late Egyptian and in Coptic the
used for "ghost," "demon," with no suggestion
word is
^ [II. II., iii.,

rather short neck, apparently a white-fronted

fig. 12.] In spite of its

of blessedness, but the reverse. goose, in pale winter plumage, and domesticated.
Word-sign for l<*%> him, written | "^ ,

/JT Fig. 97. White plumeless egret (. I rdea), generally meaning " supply," " fill," and
with fish, (represented with the present value in "destroy." " Supply," " completeness," is per-
various attitudes seizing or swallowing the fish haps the idea here indicated by the fat goose
cf. Ptahhetep, PI. xli., fourth row of offerings
j" 5
ready for killing. How far the species is

Pahei'i, PI. iv. ; L., Jj., ii., 70, heron (?) with constant in the early hieroglyphs it is as yet
plumes). impossible to say. In El P., i., PI. xxv., the
Word-sign for J \^ J/m {hum), later km, outline resembles that of the pin-tail duck,
" catch fish." The pelican in Coptic is named which likewise was domesticated and fattened.
"the fisher," ?im (masc), ?inii (fern.). In II. //., iii., j). 8, the name of the material

^, was read |
-»- "^ As'; but the spelling of

JT ^'^' ^' The flamingo (P/weracoptems the name is constant, the only variant being
antiquorum), characteristically portrayed in Q r (Di'M., Peduamenap, PI. xx., no. '11), so

Milium, frontispiece, fig. G. there can be no doubt that it reads him.

The name of the bird, ' = mo dj$r (desher),
is preserved in the late text of Leps., TodL, ^^ Fig. 11. A brightly coloured duck
cap. xxxi., 1. !), unfortunately not found in the with two long feathers in the tail: tin; latter
earlier papyri. means " the ruddy," and by
It peculiarity is copied from the pin-tail duck
rad. ext. flic sign i< used for all other words (Ihijihi acuta). Tin.' colouring, however, is

derived from flic same root. much exaggerated, evidently as a. general

distinction of ducks from <j:a^r.
II. //., iii., fig. (!.] Wild goose; evi- This example (fig. 1 I ) stands for the word
 BIRDS—REPTILES. 23

"son," -hi- s. In /'//;•. we have the word for Word-sign for f--,^ snz, "fear," "helpless
"son" written £. , that for " daughter " 7^. fear" ;
probably due to the practice of plucking
In Medum, PL by exception the colouring
xiii., geese, &c, alive, the feathers being then more
of the bird is more sober, and thus more like easily removed. Det. of ^ = <-> wsn (ushen),
that of the pin-tail. The domesticated duck, " prepare birds for table."

named s't, which, like the small ser-duck,

is never absent from scenes of the poultry-farm. '! Fig. 150. The head and neck of duck

has the two long central tail-feathers of the (as here) or goose is a frequent ab. for the
pin-tail, e.g. in Piahhetep, PI. xxxvii. It is whole bird as det. at all periods. In the
thus clear that the Dafila acuta, which abounds present instance the sign probably accompanied
in Lower Egypt (Shelley, Birds, p 284), is the S (destroyed) as part of det. of
"7
£5 o o o
Egyptian type of a large duck, and was regularly "offerings." In Ptahhetep, PL xxxix., table of
domesticated. To all appearance it is also offerings, different sorts of geese are represented

identical with the phon. for -»- ^ -v

J
(sa), and if by a phonetic indicator, followed by det. of a

so, its name -— • ^ is no doubt from a root s

J
goose's head, viz. <) "/--goose," <\ " trp-goose."
,

J
perhaps s\ "keep" (cf. i< sb, from root sfe ,

p. 30). [/>'. E., iii., fig. 72.] Feather (of ostrich?).

P
Goose and duck being closelv similar in out- Word-sign for swt, "feather," with rad.

line, are generally written with phonetic com- ext., having such meanings as " desert-waste,"

plements to distinguish them, thus: ^ s

J
;
••shadow," " empty," the god Shu,
"
i.e. "empty
space the first-born of the Sun, &c.
*^. J \gb; §<^.htm. The principal exceptions
Word-sign for the name of the goddess of
to this rule are ^^ , sg^ " son," and ^^ Truth, k^k-"-- m
x
-t (Mad't), " the true" or
" daughter."
"just," with phon. trans. The connexion be-
tween the feather and truth or justice may partly
[B. II., iii., figs. 1, 8.] Plying duck
be suggested by the feathering of an arrow,
(pin-tail, Dafila acuta).
which allows it to fly " straight." Tlie just
Word-sign for o ^ p' (pa), " fly," and phon.
for p\
man is said to act
"" ,

a— jj ^ l
" not leaning

to one side." The lightness of a feather, which

"5> [B. II. , iii., fig. 11 ; B. If., i., PL xxvii.]. would not materially affect the weight in a
Duck, fed to repletion. In both instances the rude and primitive balance, might also be held
type is the same, but it is difficult to fix the as symbolic of justice, that will not introduce
species ;
perhaps the widgeon (Mareca penelope) personal bias into a question (r. also ft).

is intended.
Word-sign for \ ^^ /cJ
J
(iisha), "feed by
cramming" PL xxvii.; cf. L.,
(B. If., L, P., ii.,
F. Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, Shells, &c,
62, fourth row, and I02l>). The reading in the

group "Sv^- '> B' B-, id-, p. 7, is uncertain; Fig. 83; 11. If. , iii., figs. 102, 103.
'

perhaps it is "|*— "iv ~f {->'/"), a word for rich

l }
Piece of crocodile-skin, from the tail, with

food (fatlings ?), which in N.K. has this sign spines ; or in the third example, offish-skin with

for det. spines, from the hack of the fish. This is

apparently the " crocodile's tail" of Hwapollo,

<£2> [Cf. B. II., iii., fig. 29.] Goose or duck i., According to Borchardt, a suggestion
70.

plucked. of Schafer's that the sign represents a heap of

24 Discussion ov the ^igns.

charcoal from which flames issue, is confirmed less snake. In the Gnostic papyrus of Leyden
by the ancient examples. This explanation (p. xvii., 1. 21) of about the second century a.d.,
would account for the meaning ''black," lem, the "gall," shy (selchy) of a =^=_(j(] /// (with
but it is not confirmed by our facsimiles. det. ussi or ^=^) is prescribed, and this cannot
Word-sign for =» „ lem, probably not used as apply to a slug, which has no gall. It is there-
phon. word (J^lzdIx, var. (W
There is a fore certain that at that time the «—H /'//, no
ylcm (akem), meaning "shield," which occurs doubt our *^~f, was considered to be a cerastes.
constantly on M.K. coffins, &c. Not improbably Borchardt states that on the coffin of Antef
the crocodile plates, or fish scales, r— , were (M.K.) at Berlin, the $^. is regularly figured
known by the same name, !) ^ ;., ylcm {ahem), with a forked tongue; so here again we have
"shield." This would account for the value the cerastes.
Jem. Cf.
(]
J £ »= ybh (dbeh), " tooth," giving It seems, therefore, that the *^=— after all

to >= the value J J bh represents the cerastes, and that the Theban
artist (Prisse, Mons., ii., PI. 62), seeing a slug
^K [!' //•, iii., fig. 21.] Green lizard. ascending a stem, noted its resemblance to the
The name of the lizard is ;
•
>\ (-'^•\>) *u^_, and drew it in the manner prescribed for
/ml', or more fully, hnfy'io. that. Perhaps a confusion between the slug
r 3
"Word-sign for -*<=>\ s (asha), "numerous," and the cerastes led to Herodotus' account
presumably from the numbers in which it was (ii., 74) of a small, harmless, twodiorned serpent.
found anciently. which was sacred to Zeus (Amen) at Thebes.

A slug, Avion ater, recorded from Egypt,

^ Figs. 16, 173.
green band below the throat.
A snake, often with according to Mr.
is

Edgar Smith of the British

Museum. In ancient times it may have been
Word-sign for z% "serpent," written "^ more common in the gardens of great houses
^ L,
,

in Pyr. X., 11. 703, !J55. &c, which and in the marshy lands.
perhaps stands for the Echis or viper, in From the earliest period we meet with p^ 3 ,

contradistinction to the uraeus. By phon. probably "rock or mount of the *,- ," as the
trans, used also as word-sign for the "body,"
name of the Xllth nome of Upper Egypt. This
^, 27(,
:
' eternity," &c.
expression implies a serpent rather than a slug.
Alph. for Q=a
z.
Opposite the nome of , on the east of the
The group (in which fig. 16 occurs) is ab. Nile, lay the Xlllth, that of on the west
^
jp} y ,

for k<^$ zd mdw, "say words/' of the river, and beyond this the XlA r th, which
]Zt III'
was of the same name. Late inscriptions in-

^^ Figs. 35, 151 ;

B. II., iii., tig. 69. dicate that the reading of Q is l^"— 'If

Cerastes (?). Slug (?). This animal, according (atcf), or perhaps :]-«_ ,/tf (at*-/) (see lb;.,

to Prisse, Mons., ii., PI. 62 (reproduced in //. //., D. G., p. 6). But probably, on the analogy of
iii., p. 23), was capable of creeping up the stem f^ we should divide this into i-i
\t -

of a water-plant, and should therefore be a sing and the ancient reading may have
(afrf),
— to which animal it hears considerable re- been )&-•«- "Perch (?) of the *__," like
semblance — or perhaps a snail represented as
without
(]1\ ~^\, which probably means "Perch (?)
its shell. But it also resembles in

many points the cerastes, with the -'horns" of the \N, '''• ''"' griffon vulture (Pyr. '/'.,

immensely exaggerati d, and in the vignette- of I. 76). *^_ appears also in the late hieroglyphs

Todt., cap. 1"><> (Nebseny), it varies with a horn- 'jo ollt. enter.'
 REPTILES— SBELLS;

Alph. for/. Especially common as represent- which one may guess to mean " to be flexible,"

ing the suffix of third pers. sing. masc. This •'

to be jointed," and I.e., lxxviii., 9, is a worm,
value may
be derived from fy, the name of the n qWrsi,
apparently living in human flesh.

cerastes, but as the name fy occurs only in the Possibly the centipede shared its name with
latest period, that name may be only a late any worm or grub. In Pyr. W., 1. 329, &c,
J
derivative from the /value. Hsss* ,sy; is the dead body, perhaps in connexion
In the common groups J ° , reading with the articulated skeleton, or perhaps with
j yt (at), "father," and found from the earliest the idea of the chrysalis. Cf. ~°| ft for the
times as variants of •=>, \^ (Ekm., Gram., §31), body, ' '
h^t (cha't) for the corpse. The root

the v.— may be considered as the suffix /', used must not be confused with that of 3Hffi, P o • <=

redundantly for some cause or other, perhaps to Sj, t. nome.

give the word a more distinctive appearance.
On the other hand, it may be regarded as a & Fig. 72 ; B. II., hi., fig. 33. A bivalve
true id. or det., possibly from some superstition shell of variable form ; in O.K. generally a
connected with the cerastes or slug. In N.K. I'n in, a hue example being in Mar., M. Ik,

the plural of the word is often (1 *^_ " fathers."

I'l. 94. In Pyr. N., 1. 1136, it has scalloped
edges, and is presumably a sea-shell. Professor
There is also a variant j>\ ', l|c-^-,o<=» yt ntr
Maspero has noticed the resemblance of the:
(at neter), "divine father," as the name or
sign to the fans used for fanning flame (Rev.
description of a kind of clothing (Pyr. M.,
Arch., xxxii., p. 27); but though the form in
1. 118; /'., 1. 94), for j^ w. (N., 1. 57), which B. H., iii. may suggest this identity, the colour
thus indicates that ^=_ may sometimes actually does not, nor do I know of any instance of the
be read ~ yt (at). Perhaps =u=_, the "fy (?) furnished Avith a handle such
!|

sign in which it is

serpent," represented (1 yt (at), " father,"

as is invariably found with the fan.
just as >N, the raer-vulture (see above) repre- The name of the shell is not known. Pearl

sented AN. n, ^s- Q m't, " mother." shells engraved with the names of kings are
One may perhaps derive the phon. value / found dating from the Xllth Dynasty, and
for *— - from the suffix of the third pers. sing, were evidently valued, ruins, Sec, are com-
masc, /, supposing the symbol for " father " to mon among prehistoric remains. In the title

(j^j we may perhaps read "superin-

~~1
be taken as representative of " he," " his." Cf. "V I

\
= sw, p. 29, and I = s, p. 45.
tendent of horns, hoofs, feathers, and shells,"
and in some names of metals one sees a similar

Fig. 98. The bulti (Chromis nilotictus), sign. But here, as so often, we are in want of

the most delicate of the Nile fish. facsimiles to settle the identity.

The example is taken from a group of three The sign is regularly found at all periods in
fish of different kinds, used as word-symbol the word o\ \-^ hawt (Tchawt), "altar," and
for •=•
^ ^ rm'w, "fish," in which it takes the perhaps only in this word; but it is a peculiarity
place of honour ; but this position is not in- of the Pyramid Texts that (x is in them
variable. The bulti is named (l'^ ^, \ <-» • Q used very commonly, not only as a word-sign,
1 /WVAA
yn't (dn't), and is phon. for Q i-» yti (an). but also as phon. equivalent to T for o \ h

(kha), and apparently for h alone in many

^==< Fig. 45. A centipede (Myriapod). words. It is not so found again till a very
Word-sign for -*- a
\ sp
J
(sepa) and sp. In late period. From its special use in spelling

Pap. Eh., x 1 i
.
, 11, is a verb the word for •'altar,' it would seem that the
:x-
26 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

she]] was called // V/ rather than h' ; on the commonly a special form, 1 •=>, is found, e.g.
other hand, the name of the lotus leaf, T h% is />'. II., i., PI. viii., and in many symbolical
probably derived from the same root, on account representations, apparently indicating the suc-

of its shell-like outline — or vice versa. cession of years by an artificial multiplication of

the buds upon the shoot. Whether (u) or (/<)

were derived one from the other is difficult

to say. (r) It is also word-sign for «=>«=> rr,

G. Trees, Herbs, Grasses, &c. written j in Pyr. ('/'., 1. 63; P., 1. 162), pro-
bably meaning " to renew " and word-sign
(</)
s=r^- Fig. 170. Trunk or branch of tree ;

or det. for ^ <= tr, "season of year," "time of

cut down and roughly trimmed.
^ same
Word-sign for ^7% o^hf (khet)(with radical ~),
day," written j o ; also phon. for the
value, then written i (once perhaps j , N.,
"wood," "timber," "tree." Used by phon. tr.
1. 975). (<?) After O.K. it began to be written
for many other words, including the pseudo-
after any word ending in -=11. This value is
derivative(?) ^\fi nht, "strong, "strength.
wood and of objects made of wood.
apparently derived from (e), the ancient ==,
Det. of
which now sounded <z=> j ry (rd) ft : ancient
^ <=> was thenceforth written (1
j
,
to
| Fig. 57. Pod of carob bean ('?).
correspond.
In Sign Pap., p. xvii., no. 2, this is described
In N.K. there was great confusion in the use
as T 1\ ^X ~«w A " pod of the nzm tree."
8
1
1 i

°l
I { 1-
As r-,^ ^
nzm means "sweet," "pleasant" of
flavour, odour, &c., and is the word-sign value
of this pod, the latter must be the pod of the
^ [B. II., iii., fig. ID.] Herb. The form is

very variable in early times. Of the present

carol) bean, as has been shown by Loret, example M. Loret remarks, " il fait penser a

lire, de Trav., xv., 114. The sign is used also une fleur nee a mi-hauteur de la tige, comme
in spelling the pseudo(?)-derivative 1

|
jA M par exemple Yacorus." In Medum, PL xv., we
s'rvzm, "sit on a chair." have a single stalk terminating in four short
shoots irregularly spreading from the top.
| Fig. 69. Graphic compound of with "^
j
iName, 8 \t¥ hit, a marsh-plant, referred
the phon. <^=>. The former seems to represent
to as a type of greenness in Pyr. '/'., 1. 100 ; cf.
the first sprout from a root or seed with a bud
I<U I!., ii., p. 23, Pap. Wb , and T. el Y., PI. xxv.,
at the side.
11. 1(5, 21 Phon. for Ini. Another name
The first element symbolizes (1) yearly growth,
for the same (?) marsh-plant is ft \
II \f[, q p-
and so years and renewal (2) seasons, since the ;

ys (as) (Br., Wtb. Suppl, p. 14; Pap. fib.;

<Towth of vegetables took place after the hum-
Maspero, Ef. Eg., i., p. 237) ; for this value <£[
datioii,and at other regular seasons by help of
is used with phon. trans., and stands alone by
irrigation. Its value- are, then-lore, (a) word-
all. tovys, "old" (AW/, Pap., PL xx., 24).
sign, — >-> a rnp, "grow freshly, vigorously,"
Det, of herbaceous plants, and of leaves anil
generally written j in early texts. \ mp't
twigs of trees.
probably means "young vegetables" as an

offering. This value may be derived from

[B. H., 83.] Flower
(//) word-sign =• <-% a • <= rnp't, "year," Copt. y iii., fig. (?).

The geographical name, _",

j^, more rarely //.
puune, [^, in dates Q, j
j ^
j/ //., i.,

116a; Pyr. N., 754). Not un- 85, has the variant B. PI. vii.
(L., P., ii!, 1.
1p.
si© , z. i' 1 If., i.,
 FLOWEBS AND SEEDS. 27

(with the god Chnem). In XXIst Dyn. l'<^ y (a) of the reed {Pap. Eb., xlix., 2;
(Masp., Momies Boyales, pp. 713-4) occurs Loret, Bee. de Tr., xiii., 199). Transferred as a
o (with the god Amen). This sign is word-sign it is often writ ten y (a) in Pyr.,
^ I

therefore the frequent word-sign p for «=» ^ rd and the plural 0(1(1 yv) ("'") is transferred to

"flourish." It is also word-sign for 1^,-j -=- m c

r spelling the auxiliary verb !)
\ yv (an), " to

(mar), "successful" ; later, ^_a=.«±=. m rd c

(with- be" (Setiie, A. Z., 1897, p. Alph. for y
6).

out «=», Sh., Eg. [use, ii., PI. 83, 1. 11). Probably (a). Kah. Pap., xix., 11. 59, &c, suggest that

also it is p, the word-sign for j <-* <=> /<y/[r], the root of the name of is really y\ and for

"sweet." this value may sometimes be phon. ; but the

indications are doubtful. Cf. below, s.v. A
Fig. 108. Three curiously-shaped bands, Initial l) seems generally to have been reduced
J
apparently garlands, strings or chains of white to the sound of (alif), and tin nigh "\\ is never
flowers, tied together at the top. Such garlands substituted for it in good writing, in early texts
are frequently represented as offerings, &c, on is constantly omitted altogether, even in cases
the monuments of the N.K., and remains of where y reappears in the Coptic. In such in-

such have been found on the N.K. mummies of stances perhaps it had been preserved in some
Deir el Bahri, &c. popular dialects, while in the official language
Word-sign and phon. for "!..,.— ms, meaning it was reduced to alif.
" produce" children, " form" images, &c. Pro- After O.K. 00 appears to have been used
bably these elaborate garlands made of white for H ij at the end of words, but in O.K. it

flowers, woven of separate petals, were

or occasionally appears (e.g. in y\^) to mark
named ms, "the artificial" as opposed to the the dual, where probably is dual (H\*
simple flowers. At Medinet Habu, in the time ywi = V/), and so stood for the dual ending wi.
of Rameses II. and Rameses III. (Dum., Opfi r-
festliste, passim), they are named O Figs. 32, 87. Corn on the threshing-
for which Pap. Mar., i., 73, 1. 5 has a variant floor. With fig. 32 compare Methen, L., !>.,

jj^TT -
J '<£[, k— J rtisb. This is evidently ii., 5, top. The simple form Q is commoner.
connected with the word sb, " bring," " offer." It appears to represent a circular heap of corn,
Is it possible that msb is a late word, due to or a circular floor covered with grain and sur-
a false etymology deforming an original name rounded by a wall of bricks or of sheaves.
ms, "artificial garland"? It may be doubted whether the animals were
For construction of garlands see Schwein- driven round the outside of the stack ; the

fuktii, Ueber Pflanzenreste, Deutsch. Bot. Ges. scenes (e.g. Paheri, PL iii.) and the sign Q
BericMe, 1884, p. 353. rather indicate that the animals trampled a
central space surrounded by heaps of corn in

(1 Fig. 106. Reed-head with, flower (Calamus). the ear (v. Addenda).
The present example is a poor one ; detail is Word-sign for -*- o • q xjrt, which often means
shoAvn in Hal inn, PI. xi., &c. ; B. H., i., "what is spared" from destruction, "what
PI. xxviii. ; see also Ch., Mori., cexxi., 79, for remains " of an infusion after boiling down the
representation of reeds flowering. < !f. liquid. This sense can easily be connected with
for Po.a sht (selchet), " meadow," and p^ sm, the grain that remains on the floor when straw
"herbage," where probably stands for grass and chaff have been eliminated. But though
heads. this is probably the radical sense of the word,
The reed-stem, or its head, is named the in scenes of farm-life it occurs rather with the
28 DISCUSSION OK Till: SIGNS.

meaning of the corn that is to he threshed. In !

a zigzag, In the present instance it seems
tombs of the Vth and Vltli Dynasties we see to lie a, papyrus stem.
sheaves of corn with short stalks, brought from Word-sign for \ ^^ wdn (uden), "heavy."
the field on asses and thrown into heaps, with Probably ?=> (as opposed to ^= ^=\ )
, «j,~^,
the inscription or
©
which must DO ^> = J /i J illiii, jihr (pelchw), wdb
^JP Q @
,
Q
I

(ml, -It), qb,

,

with the general sense of "curve,"

,

mean something like "preparing the threshing,"

&c), signifies crushed or bent down by its own
"heaping the corn," or "preparing the threshing-
weight. Also in the sense of " offering," wdn
floor." in FA II., i., PI. xxxi., where a troop of "
seems to have the radical meaning of " pile up
asses are treading out the corn on a raised heap,
the inscription (on fragment 12, which
offerings, "present in abundance" (cf.
A p. 32,
fits to 2) ,

" for the same idea). (pestle and mortar),

is
lX D S'll
"Ashing the «p-* by J
1 distinctly a sign of crushing and weight,
Used by rad. ext. and phon. trans, as sp. frequently replaces \ in all its meanings.

ffi [B. II., i., PI. xxviii.]

flowers.
Pool with
The poo] may he either oval or
lotus

rect-
f
three papyrus stems.
Fig. 143; II. II., iii., fig. 16. Clump of

angular; there may be buds alternating with Word-sign for J \ 1/ (h«)— see II. If., iii.,

the flowers, and the flowers may almost rest on p. 9, for a possible explanation — and phon. for
the water, or may have long stems (Medum, the same.
PI. xix.); but in good instances the flowers It is sometimes substituted for w" as word-
always have serrated edges, indicating the petals sign for JJ Dih, "north" (/»'. II., iii., I.e.), for
of lotus. This raises the question whether the ()=s.f ydh (ddh), "papyrus marsh," and for f\\®
Nelumbium, or Indian lotus, which rises out of i/li (dakh). " be verdant." (The name of the
11 1
1 1 1 1 1 i-.

the water, is not sometimes represented ; but papyrus is ft

\\J
mult.)
AWW A.
its absence from Egyptian water-scenes appears
to prohibit this explanation. In Pyr. ]'., 1. 440, I Fig. 125. Papyrus stem, highly conven-
the flowers on the 2^ are termed nhb'wt, with tionalized as usual, the umbel represented as
det. a lotus-flower, W. The word-sign J5 compact (see II. II. , iii., pp. 9 ct seqq.; Bokchardt,
found in Pyr. for (|
\s "verdant," probably Pflanzensaule, pp. 25 et *< j </</.); scales at the base.

represents papyrus, not lotus, and is therefore Word-sign for ^ \ "^ ir'z (uan), " green,"
distinct from this. "flourishing." ] Wert, "the green," is the
Name, => \ s
J
(sha), cf. Pyr. I'., 1. 440, with name of the goddess of the North (Uazet,
J/., 1. ii"i(i
7
" lotus pools." As these were most Buto), of whom the I was probably the symbol.
important items in gardens, the name became As an amulet or symbol it is named w 3z, and it

almost synonymous with "garden," " vineyard," is commonly placed in the hand of goddesses

&c. Phon. for s

J
. especially in Ptolemaic times — probably as
emblem of freshness. The N.K. combination
fe= Fig. 54; II. //., iii., fig. 58. A (lower- T ft often stands for 7-1'Z " the two lands (South
stem, bent hack on itself twice. The objecf and North)," or as adj. for rs'i, mh'ti, "south,"
depicted varies, but the general form of the "north."
sign is always the same — a stem or band
bearing some kind of head, and invariably benl ^ Fig. 66; II. II., iii., fig. 17. Highly
in much the same way. In Pyr. sometimes il conventionalized rush (?).

ha- the form of a lotus hud, with stem benl in In Pyr. .1/., 1. 239 = A., 1. 616, it is stated
 RUSHES, &c. 29

that a large sack or basket, with handle for 1. 12). Ii' this reads sio't swti, it would per-
" transport," yV made
a \ => (i/nr), is of haps mean '-feather," i.e. "plume-head, of the
<=> ^* ^Gt* twn {tun), "the springy" (of. Lat. 1 (?)"; otherwise it would mean "king's plumes,"
/WWW B

salix "osier"!), and the "containing" nei-basket as a plant-name. The plant J occurs in

^^ (q.v.) of 4>4-~ *"<£[ ""•/, "the limp," i.e. Todt., xcix., Einl., see the M.K. texts, Maspero,
almost certainly the non-resilient rush, from Trois Annees, p. 1G3, &c. If any of these words
-s -\ /WWW
II /& "be weary, motionless." From this read swt, they may be the origin of the phon.
name comes the word-sign value mi ; to avoid value sw of 1, in good writing always distin-
its reduction to n, and to distinguish it from guished as I *K,
the next value, nhb, it is in this case always
The King of Upper Egypt is designated
written -1-4- • ^ is usec^ *° s P e ^ the pseudo('r)-
I generally abbreviated to 1 stn or
inn, "image," &c.
, ,
causative p /-» <~> i T -www a
The ancient name of El Kab is ^sj Nhh stni. I is also transferred to the homophonous
(Nekheb), usually spelt with this sign, 1
© f- <* r~* w stni, " butcher." R QS stn, as the
J #
1 /www s

Perhaps the rush {Juncus maritimus ?) was found name of the crown of Upper Egypt, has as yei
in the desert valleys behind El Kab, and so been found only in late texts, but might be the
symbolized the city. After O.K. the group was origin of the nisbe or adjectival form stni,
reinforced by the vase O, thus J.
J
9, ± OJ © , unless the above I is to be read stn, and is

possibly referring to some other product of the thus its early equivalent. If this be the case,
place (natron?). This group is always written we have to seek elsewhere for the origin of
with the
J , and is only found in the name of 1 v\ = sw. A conspicuous example of this
the city and the derived name of its presiding value is in the word sic, "he," absolute pronoun
goddess, the vulture Nekhebt (v. Pyr. M., 1. 7C>2,
of third pers. masc. sing. possibly the king
;

for the spelling), except that in very late times was taken as the "He" par excellence. Cf.
the tall rose-lotus Nelumbium (?) was called $~ perhaps symbol of " father," representing
,

1.
J
by confusion, on account of its name the suffix " he," " his."
/-> | j nhb.
As the vulture-goddess Nekhebt was repre-
^ \B. IL, iii., fig. 20.] Sedge. (Scirpus).
sentative of the South, the resemblance of 1
Loret remarks: "L'identifioation du *L*approehe
to . and -4-j is very remarkable ; compare the peu a peu de la verite. C'est bien, en effet, une
quotation from Plutarch by Loret (in the next graminee a epillets roux. Au lieu de scirjms,

column), which may perhaps refer in particular j'y verrais un juncus, parceque Plutarque nous
to the present sign. enseigne que, pour designer le sud et le Eoi, les

Egyptiens dessinent un jonc {dpvov). Pourtant

Fig. 109. The plant-symbol of rule in il a pu confondre un jonc et un scirpus." The

Upper Egypt. reference to Plutarch is to De Tside et Osiride,

named 1°, Kah. PL hi., cap. 36. Since the publication of B. II., iii.,
The symbol is Pap.,

I. 2 perhaps ^ ^ swt cf. also a ;

similar word Borchardt has supplied some interesting re-
: P

marks on the plant of Upper Egypt

in I.e., PL xxxiv., 1. 10, and
] %^ " serfs (?),"

excellent work Die Aegyptischen Pflanzensaiile,

in his

Methen, L., D., ii., 3, 6, probably to be read

" p. 20.
p$~*$ swtiw (su-tiu), and
? in
J P Word-sign for a ^ -j y///
r
(qema), "south
\fcin Pap. ° ^R%Afl^
El,=lt /ww^
(T
r q\\iii
i
} 1
r _a ii mi i i i
country," "south," with phon. transf., frequently

in the corrupt writing of Anastasi IV. (viii., written -^ ; and for <=> -P- *, adj. "southern,"
30 DISCUSSrON OF THK SKINS.

frequently written JL, also =L, i.e. with I , which the "kha of earth," i.e. the place on earth in
may be the same plant before flowering. which Ra (and the dead king likewise) purifies
himself, apparently before he rises into heaven,
in the morning (?). In the same way a temple

H. Sky, Earth, and Water. is called the (m s, o j| 1i ij (khdy) of a god,

i.e. his resting-place on earth, to which he
O Fig. 10. The sun's disk, coloured red descends and whence he also ascends. Q thus
and edged with yellow. seems to represent pictorially the effulgence of
Word-sign (1) for <=>-a B (
(L'a), the name of the sun at the point where he rests on earth.
the Sun-god — in Pyr. usually written O alone (Though the "kha of earth" as a place for the
O l O
and no doubt of the sun itself. sun-god's purification by ablution may suggest
i
s nli (rd neb) is a common phrase for " every it, nothing else bears out the idea that Q may
day," lit. "each sun." (2) For ra<= \ hrw (lira), be intended for a rainbow.) The other senses
" day," as opposed to night and also as a of this word are easily obtained from the notion
measure of time. (3) In dates, days of the of divine effulgence.
month are denoted by O, in the Xlltli Dynasty Also phon. for o — j> //.
r
(kha), but probably
often written Q n, with the geographical det. not before the XlXth Dynasty.
r , as indicating limited time. In Coptic the
corresponding word is cor, a word often found ~k Fig. 31, Star of five points, the present
in late Egyptian texts as 1^0, I M (§. O s s'"'
•
'

example having a disk at the centre ; the rays

(sesu), for the day of the month. This word here look broad and solid, and are marked with
existed at a fairly early period (111 ® ,
plu.
transverse lines at intervals, like the tire-stick,
in Paheri, PI. ix., 1. 4, meaning " dates for
fig. 42.
festivals"), and Erman has suggested recently
that it is the true reading for O as " day of the
(1) The name is \\
J* sb, "star," lit.

"instructor," "guiding star" (cf. Siut, Tomb i.,

month." 1. 264, "I was (a man), the guiding star (* I)

Det. of words concerning the sun and times of his equals, the director of those older than
and seasons, the sun being the principal regulator he "). Hence, being from the root p j \ .s/*
J

of days, seasons, and years. (sba), it was transferred to various words as sb

3
.

(2) Another word-sign value is ^^\ </»'

J
('/"")>
m Figs. 37, 137. A semicircular figure
"early morning" and "praise," apparently lie-
formed of half a disk and lour concentric bands cause to the Egyptians, who retired into their
of different colours — blue, green, and red. A houses soon after sunset and rose before dawn,
fifth and cresting band, sometimes marked with
stars and starlight were much connected with
radiating lines, does not extend to the diameter.
early morning, which was therefore written
Cf. the jewelled hieroglyph Q in Dahchour,
^ <|\ O- To thr
1
the word for ">
is closely
l'ls. xv., 1 xix.. i.
;
similar, and the representation of the star with
The meanings of the word-sign S, o _* 1/
points is clearly connected with this cir-
five
(hhd) — not — -ji (cf. Xe(f>pr)v for Cq q < "]|
cumstance. {''>) The hours of the night being
and Coptic ;-jai) — are " royal crown," " to be regulated by the stars, "hour," \ <~*
V <=> iimwt
crowned," "to appear in glory" (like the sun- (muff), is written *.
god), used of king or god coming forth from )*r is also det. of stars and of hours.
palace or temple. Also we have ^™ " {Pyr. '/'.,

1.36; P., 1. 387), 8-»|«i4 h

'

„ i '(kha n ta), r^/i [//. //., i., PI. xxviii. ; cf. II. II., iii.,
 DESERT. 31

fig. 80.] Hilly desert, coloured to represent chour, p. 10 1). Traces of this value are seen
sand and rocks or stones. also in late writing.

Word-sign for fV l^ r) q, L., P., ii., 3, "desert," r^i %> ^x^, ^\ dw, " evil," is read by some

" foreign land," and perhaps " foreign tribe " :

o\ hie (Ichu), apparently on the ground of its

usually spelt = , but rarely —••— v\

Q
sm't
varying in very late times with /j^V! a
word of similar significance. M, however, in
(L., D., ii., 1 12tZ; J'. Z., 1874, 35). According
late texts is often confused with A o, so that
to Ebman (A. Z., 1892, 10) sm-t is the true
confusion with A—" is not surprising. The two
reading. 1\ in the neighbourhood of s or s
words occur separately in the Prisse Papyrus,
seems curiously negligeable ; cf. smkt't spelt
and cannot be identical. (^£) y>^^ "worthless,"
with Y sk. For the title mr sm'iot compare " evil," in fact, of allied meaning to
L., D., ii., 1006 ; 7?. H., ii., PI. xxiv., with
'
is,
,
° l —
i

"desert," "mountain," which had always an

7i. 7/., i., tomb in., passim ' .

v^ III/ evil significance to the agricultural mind of the

Another word for desert is T ifc^ ' ^^"i Egyptians. In the Kahun calendar (Kah. Pap.,
(Ifhnslrhct), Mar., Must., 188, which may be PL xxv.), and elsewhere, red ink was employed
quite distinct from © <h, "vx r^A h 3s't (Ichas't) in writing the word c^i "\\ %^> "evil (day)."

—•— ). Red, the colour of sand, as opposed to black, the

in Pyr. (with It is possible that one or
colour of alluvium, was considered ominous,
other of these words is an occasional reading
evidently on account of its connexion with the
for fwn and we have
, as yet no certain reading
sterile desert, c^i, rv^n the haunt of demons.
for the sign as word-sign for " foreign tribe
,

(P.S.B.A., 1897, 297).

Dot. of desert, foreign lands, kc. (as opposed cum 50.Fig. x\ narrow oval ridge or

to the alluvial land of Egypt). expanse of sandy desert, coloured as c^_i. "We
may probably consider this sign as representing
(1) a sandy island in the river; (2) an island
r^i Fig. 38. A desert mountain, showing
of sand appearing through the alluvium, such
a valley between two crests (pinkish yellow
as the Arabs still call gezireh ; (3) any sandy
variegated with red for the stones ;
at the
ridge or expanse.
base a line of green to indicate fertile land).
As word-sijm we have it in island,"
Cf. Medum, Pis. xiv., xxviii., and p. 30. As n
(fertile ground) means a "slope," "height," so which varies in late times with ^^ , \\^ ft
c=3, a desert mountain, was chosen to represent (dwt), and so perhaps reads f (da) ;
this is a

hill or rock, while q^i, a kind of plural form, common word in Egyptian geography for islands

stands for "desert"; but in the earliest instances both in sea and river, and so probably denotes
{Medum, I.e.) C^i is more like two hills and less also sand-islands in the alluvium.

like two n
^ ^\,
zw (::n), is "mountain," "hill,"
Det. or

(dahh't),
id.

"horizon";
of ^ ® *

the
= c2), 4&o-~
dual or adjectival
y'tyt

" rock," evil," "

lit. "the
Sometimes, however,
worthless" (see below,
seems to read
form ^ is commonly written £=?^ by abbrevia-
ad fin.). it
tion, = " the two horizons," each horizon being
mm, " rock," " the firm (?) "
^ r^ lit. e.g. the ;
sandy desert according to Egyptian ideas. In
"
common title of Anubis, upon his (?) @ O.K. the sign is a common det. of names of
hill," or " upon the hill of the *e= (q.v.)" is
districts and places, probably on account of
rendered by f
^^ A *^ (j , - I
k- \\ ftpirmyf, their being in sandy districts or connected with

in the remarkable inscription of Auabra (Duh a Deltaic gezireh. Early towns in the Delta
32 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

were founded on such "islands." Later, it be- also as phon. for a \ (as S and RJ similarly
came det. of certain specific localities only, as served for \, and a^ and ra for the same
in the present case, where it is used with reasons), and required no other biliteral with
Ta-zeser, the sandy domain of Anubis al
. though combinations with \, are very
the dead. numerous. On the other hand, the alphabetic
In N.K , is phon. at the beginning characters k^_, ~w^ <c=> and c=^a ?
show no trace
3
of words, apparently for \\ y (da). of such a use, their derivation implying no \ ;

the combination of these with ^ was so rare

Cf. Fig. 14. Apparently compound id. that no phon. was needed for it.

of the sand-island c i and the water-line «««.

It seems not to occur before N.K. n (Cf. fig. 71.) Two heaps of provisions.

Word-sign for (I Ymii (Ampii), the name

This group is treated here because in the Tomb
/VWV\<\
1
of Paheri, according to a copy by Miss Pirie,
of the god Amen in late times. Perhaps in-
the two a in ftA same form and
are of the
dicates nni, "firm," by combining »/(?)"/, Coptic
lioti (fern.), "island," and n. In very late
colour as fig. 71 taken from the same line
of inscription (Paheri, PL cornice-line). In
times it is used for © Nhn. iii.,

L., IK, ii., 103a, we see a heap of coi*n of

= [/.'. IF., ill., fig. 9").] Flat alluvial land,

precisely the form of a.

In Pyr. ?\ " ea t " varies with ^"

coloured black (L, P., ii., 20), later blue. Often HA ,
JA ' >WW^ C—Ji
=^=, with three grains c (q.v. p. 34), indicating A A
5U (?) ii'iini (iinewi) and is
A,
;
A
the sand underlying the alluvium. These grains
are wrongly "3 used as phonetically equivalent to <U» wnm
called pits (or caves)" in the
Sign Pap., p. xiv., 1. 4. (unem), another form of the loan-word (1 (?),
I /WWW
Word-sign for ~\ f (ta), "earth," "black ]W, ijiuii (amen), "right hand," " West" (Ebman,
soil" (e.g. under the nails), "alluvial land."
A.Z., 1893, pp.82, 127; 1894,67). For the
In late times phon. for t' (/").
later history of this word see JV, p. 37. Be-
By id. trans., det. of ""-j • <=> z% " eternity," as

being of unbounded horizon (//. //., iii., p.

sides the word-sign value, ^ is also in Pyr. det.
30).
of \ m j , wsb (usheb), ™ J sb, " provisions,"
c
and of J —*> J /< //. (bah), " abundance." It is

A Fig. 71. Mound of earth (not desert), therefore id. of eatables, abundance of provisions;
natural or artificial; coloured black, like but to make its meaning clearer it is usually, in
in O.K. (L., P., ii., 21), later green or grey. Pyr., accompanied by auxiliary dets., flA or
Desert slopes are represented with similar out- vjO, in a manner very unusual with other
line but different colour, as fig. 60. signs. The doubling of the heap is not merely
In B. If., iii., p. .">, this sign is derived from intensive. In Ptahhetep, PI. xli., table of offer-
Q 4th row, 3rd from right, we have
the word " high ground " ings, col.

M., 1.
z)"\

202, there
,

is a word -4 ]jk 1^ A
; but
q"
in Pyr.

('/"")>
—
t 1 \N A A gswi slnv(7), "two halves, or sides,
of provisions," which may be explained by
determined by a sign like a, and in L., P., iii.,
B. II., i., PI. xvii., table of offerings, 2nd row,
24, d (W), it is given as ^^ (][)
J
_/\, q y (qay), 9th col. from left, />'/ n't wdn wp m gS'ioi," food
meaning " lofty place," " pile," " eminence." of heaped-offering divided into two sides (or
The weak radical \ is neglected in the alpha- halves)." A mass of offerings — common bread-
betic value q of /, but A seems to have served stuff? — was thus perhaps made into two heaps
 WATEK. 33

on either hand of the recipient, and provisions As det., ~wvw occurs apparently in the sense
were probably served in the same way at any of " level " in the word ^1 " eternitv," written

plentiful feast in the earlier times, when abun- also "£[ Sometimes this latter may be read
dance of fond was doubtless much considered. a ."-'7, but in many cases (Pyr., e.g. W., 521, &c,
—
I I I
*%-
In L., V., ii., 70, gs is determined by three heaps, &c, and in Ptahhetep, IT. xxxix., «*"«
^| )

AAA (for the plural), the colour of which is it can only be explained as det. of level surface,
black, like that of the bread and of & =q such as water always presents, like =>, <*\ V
(I.e., ii., G9). (tn), "level land" (see B. II., iiL, p. 30). The
instances of this use are too numerous to be

175 and accounted for as due to the confusion of -w^

TOff Cf. Fig.

Land-area marked with rectangular

B. II. , hi., Frontispiece.
lines for and
/vww\
= in hieratic.

irrigation canals (?) at regular intervals, the *^w,

i.e. three is the plural word
ends open or closed by lines, E^ . In El B.,
s ^ mir (in"), "water," later used as singular
i., PI. xxvii. 11, a plain rectangle i i perhaps In a
,
(Kim., Pluralbildung, p. 14, Gram., § 15).
an unfinished Ft=B3 seems to take the place of the
,
few (pseudo-compound) words the sign
latter. In Siut, Tomb i., 1. 228, the downward
is phon. for m/io. ««™ which certainly better —
lines are oblicpie.
than ™™ represents a rippled surface — is also
Word-sign for P
o \- ~ sp^t, "nome," "terri- the regular det. of water and of liquids.
tory of a city," and for ^~\%.^'<=> zH't (zat't)

(meaning?). (See Kah. Pap., p. 31.) Det. of (PTTTTT1 Fig. 90. A rectangular tank or arti-
nomes and of a ^ _j> " south country." ficial pool (cf. Medum, passim) ;
in N.K. often
represented as empty, f=3 though in O.K. this ,

™™ Figs. 12, 176. Waved line of the may have a distinct meaning. The ordinary
surface of water, coloured black or grey. Cf. printed form nn is taken from linear hiero-
Medum, passim. glyphic writing, in which the distinction of the
The waved line is constantly seen in repre- lank sign from other rectangular signs has been
sentations of jiools &c, and seems of water, reduced to two purely conventional strokes.
properly to belong to the rippled surface, but A tank, pool, or lake is named ™^, ^ s(she),

it became the sign of water in general. Thus, whence this sign obtains its alphabetic value s.

while the curved stream of water pouring It is also det. of hut, "pool," " pleasure garden
downward from the hand or from a vessel is (surrounding a pond)."
often smooth in early times, or only slightly
—
waved to show spiral flow — yet even in the O Fig. 58: B. II, hi., fig. 88. This may
tomb of Methen (L., /'., ii., 4) there is an be taken for a section of a water-channel with

example, of its being waved like ™~« as a running water, or a pond, or a transparent
vessel containing liquid, or a crucible containing
conventional representation of water.
The single ^ww has not yet been found as a molten metal, or the matrix in the ground into

distinct word sign. It is used almost exclusively which the molten metal was run to form ingots.
In o-ood texts it is often xy, i.e. with surface not
as alph. for n, and n is an important element in

Thus Nw (Nu)
rippled ; c is a form of the base period.
the words for water. ^\ is
(1) ^ varies with -^, of pi (peh), which
"the primordial water, y »»' iS a means a marsh or pool left by the inundation.
"stream of water." In Pyr. A., 1. 132, *«« But this use is not known before N.K.
seems actually to be det. of the latter. (2) In a great number of words it is phon.
I)
34 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

for j H\ by* (bda). A clue to the reason may used instead of I I i to denote the plural, and
perhaps he found in the word 0^°, J 1 \ especially in Pyr. —-o denotes the singular, in
J
Inj
1
(bda), "liquid abyss(?) of heaven," "acthereal place of I (</.''.).

space," probably with the idea as it were of a

great lake or stream of aether in which the sun
and heavenly bodies travel. Or we may prefer I. Buildings and their Parts.
the following explanation : —There is a substance
© Fig. 142; B. H., iii., fig. 76. Conven-
called
J|^, J 1 \ ;
possibly, from the det., it
tional figure apparently representing in a
denotes transparent crystal, or perhaps metal.
summary manner the plan of a village with
The sun's throne in heaven is said to be
cross streets within a circular enclosure.
Jfj^o hi/ (bda), "of crystal (?)," or ada-
Word-sign for town or city, ®. . Det. of
mant, or J (1 v\ Jn " smoothly gliding " (like
names of villages, cities, and sometimes more
a sledge). Heaven itself, or space, is
J
^ widely of inhabited regions.
" the liquid stream " (Ptahhetej), PI. xxxix.), or The reading is /-~>.^ n't (Erm., Pluralbildung,

J
^ " the crystal(?) aether." There is also the
p. 9), or perhaps better nn't. The name of the

goddess repre-
ver
" vanish
\J^ (?),"
'
JJ|^:fe'
or " glide smoothly," like a sledge,
J '* by* (bda),
senting the
(////7(?), v. o), especially as

lower hemisphere of heaven, is

or perhaps "melt" like metal. Gliding and written© ?, 'in N.lv. : in Pyr. it is ^ t —
transparency, one or both of which ideas are
included in the root by\ are both qualities of
(Jr., 1. 219), ].].^ (IF., 11. 289, 557),
^^
(M., 1. 455, cf. W., 1. 239).
liquid.

(3) By id. trans. C stands for the female Cf. Fig. 34. Rectangular enclosure wall
principle in T^L, ^ T (= vulva); the reading | E

with battlements, usually represented as Aery

uncertain, perhaps h*'t or hurt, or tt^Lyt (at),
narrow.
which occasionally occurs Kali. Pop., p. 6,
(cf.
"Word-sign for H
^ j ynb (dnb), "fortified
and for examples see Loret, Rec. cle Trav.,
enclosure wall," "wall"; cf. Br., Wtb., Suppl.,
xviii., 198). It occurs in the det. of the word
92, for variant with ynb, also Pyr. N., 955,
^^ in Pyr., and in ^ Jj,
1.

J ^\- ^ hrn't, "woman."

for rad. ext.
Probably it is from the last word that C obtains Det. of " wall," and (in O.K.) of building.
its very common value as phon. for | ^ hm.

Jjjjj
Fig. 30 ; B. IT., iii., fig. 62. Palatial
° Fig. 29. Grain of sand, pebble, or little courtyard. There are two main types of this

pellet (here coloured white, and repeated until hieroglyph, the first, modelled on the lines

the number indicates five). In the compound of ITl, the second on those of ('/'/•''•)> each
sign =S5= for =, "earth," the grains, which highly elaborated, as befits the sign of a royal
are three in number to denote the plural, seem residence.
to indicate the sand that was known to underlie (1) (Type, fig. 30, &c). This is represented
the alluvium. by the plan of a nearly square enclosure, the
At times o seems to be word-sign for ^^ ,
wall of which is carried only half way along the
^>\ tj (tha), "pellet," from I/, "take," as we front and then turns in at a right angle, enclosing
speak of a "pinch" of anything, o o o is det. an inner court, the outer court, of the same size,

of sand, pebbles, &c, and of pellets. It is often being entirely open in front. The entrance of
 BUILDINGS. 35

the inner court is at the inner end of the dividing nected with the root ra \ "enter m °, with det.
wall, and in the front corner farthest from that of land-area, more fullv written [TJ »

entrance stands the tower-like palace, | ('/.''•)•

h 'ft (hayt), is perhaps the name of the outer
The enclosure wall and the tower are crested
or entrance court indicated by the sign, and so
with choker ornament, A (Petkie, Dec. Art,
the origin of its phonetic values.
p. 101), or with overhanging battlements. The
tower is not essential to the figure, and is often [Cf. B. IL, iii., fig. 5.] Plan of rect-
absent, tyjf ; 03 m > which it occupies the angular enclosure, without battlements, but
whole front of the inner court, is an exceptional with small building in the corner. It seems to
form. \7 or ^ , for the name icslyt, is commonly be a less grandiose form of (v.
jFnjj type 2).
f|J,
placed in the entrance. The inner building, which is square in the early
(2) Type J
1 is seldom found in the tables of O.K., is best explained as a tower to defend the
offerings (as an exception see L., D., ii., 67, entrance ; cf. Maspero's valuable note (P.S.B.A.,
Gth col. from right), but is vary common in xii., 247). In good periods the narrow type J
O.K. titles (L., D., &c, &c), though later
ii., 63, is invariable, except in the numerous cases when
it does not seem to occur. This shows a com- names and words are written inside the sign
plete rectangle, battlemented and containing a it may tben be enlarged horizontally into a
-
clicker-topped palace in one corner, as well as i

square or even an oblong, and the inner build-

to the left. In Pi/r. N~., 1. 764, this sign has a ing placed in a top corner, or sometimes omitted
battlemented building in the corner, containing altogether, according as space is required for
, which is probably symbolic of the deity, the sign or signs to be inserted.
though seldom used in O.K. with that signifi-
Word-sign for 5 • <* hi, " fenced city," " (forti-
cation. On the analogy of the J, we may fied) Residence " of king, governor, or god.
consider that in this type the palace-tower is
h't-ntr is a "temple," in the widest sense, with
built over or near to the entrance (compare the all its varied inhabitants. In some of the cases
position of the tower at Medinet Habu); in jrpj in which the name of the Residence is written
also there would probably be a private entrance within J, this sign is probably only det. of
to the tower through the adjoining wall. the kind of place. J " governor of a ,"
Word-sign ^po.^ wsh't (usekh't), "the
for seems to be the title of the principal sheikhs
broad," " roomy," a name used perhaps not only
or lesser governors having citadel, or official
for the courtyard but also for a wide hall. fortified and garrisoned, Residences.
In Pijr. %^% with its variants (type 1, but
without the palace sign, never the complete n Fig. 193; B. H., iii., fig. 56. Plan of
rectangle, type 2), is det. of p j ® sbh (seiekh), the brick walls of a rectangular chamber, with
which apparently means " surround with pro- entrance in the middle of the long side ;

tection." Borchardt quotes with approval the opinion of

Steindorff, that CI represents simply the Avail

1T1 Fig. 146. Plan of a nearly square of a (roofless) courtyard. Either explanation
enclosure resembling the |jy| (q.v., type 1), but seems to fit the case. The elongated type crm
plain, without battlements, cheJcer ornament, or is a late invention to supply an alternative form
building shown within. in grouping hieroglyphs.

The word which was the origin of the biliteral Word-sign for o <=> pr, "house," with weak
phonetic value ra^ h (lm) and the alph. value h
J
final r. When used by rad. ext., or phon.
(see n and ffi for similar usages), is probably con- trans, for pr, complementary <=> is added ;
and
n 2
36 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

n
 PARTS OF BUILDINGS. 37

apparently reckoned from his proclamation as as in O.K., was now no longer appropriate.

crown prince or king (Setiie, A. Z., 1898, 64). The first change was to and then
Hr"^]).
At the celebration of the jubilee the king-
began be written in hieratic,
«=|=" f\ gj\ to
sat first King of Upper Egypt on one
as
and easily became -I- f\ $\ in transcribing
of the thrones, and then as King of Lower
Egypt on the other see the figures in L., D., into hieroglyphs. The group - - Vjv thus
;

ii. ,115a; L., D., iii., lid Navjxle, Bubastis, ;

became the word-group for all the derivatives

p. 3 et seqq. of -jj-
|^|j), ^> k wn (inn), viz. "the eating

ulcer," " the devouring flame," &c. (v. Addenda).

Fig. 191. Perhaps a squared block of A
It is remarkable that in N.K. |fjj,
originally
building stone. (The exact provenance of this
only another spelling of wnm (see above), is

sign is uncertain, and it is difficult to identify.)

-
retained in religious inscriptions by the side of
Word-sign for /////• (duer), "stone,' and
-j- f\ fo, as if a different word (Paheri,
det. of names, &c, of stone.
Pis. iii., iv., cornice line) ;
probably it is to be

pronounced wnm, while the more popular word

<4f Figs. 78, 169. Two pieces of wood
is inn.
crossed at right angles and joined. In the O.K.
In very late texts, in the group ^, \ <- =\
with equal arms, ={J=
(Methen, Ptahhetep).
inul a- (iiiuhi), "cattle," &c, -- replaces =$=-,
Word-sign for the adj. - W, 1 „-. [Iml
_bv
(ami), fern, ym't, pin. ym'w, "that which is in, owing to its form in cursive writing.

derived from the preposition |^ in, " in." The The original value, \ >,\\ ijnii (ami), is often

meaning suggests that the sign represents a distinguished by prefixed (1, thus :
(j
4L- fj\^.

piece of joiner's work, the two bars being care-

fully fitted together with a rebate, so being Figs. 88 105; B. II., iii., fig. 41. Wooden
jj
" that which fitted or fixed in."
is
clamp. In O.K. it is a straight piece of wood.
But as was pointed out by Erman (A. Z., The uses of the I are difficult to define. For
1893, p. 127, cf. 1894, p. G7), by a curious the early period we may perhaps give the
accident it was applied also to quite a different following statement of its uses :

root, as follows :

(1) As a numeral = \ -» ir
c
(no), "one";
<s=^~
In M.K. the verb wnm, "eat" (see ^), appears often written I
n

in two fixed spellings, qA and HhOft- ^n (2) As det. of unity. From this it has the

cursive writing =$=> is identical with -[-, and in following derived uses
a. In Pyr., to indicate a concrete meaning,
and after the Hyksos period (Math. Pap.,
it is placed after the whole word, generally
PI. xxiii., but not Bui. Pap., ii., 45, of the
after a word-sign or det., e.g. lift (khtft),
XHIth Dyn.) an t\ is regularly added to the
second group in hieratic ; thenceforward in the "enemy ;
M

^
-^f

st,
..

"duck";
- _ __ A/VWV\

Q
y,

*%% I ng,

N.K. the word " eat " appears in hieroglyphics "bull" (both last, Pyr. P., 1. 441. o is some-
as - - f\ QA . The corresponding Coptic word times substituted for I in Pyr.) And in like

is ovum (worn), and it seems altogether that manner, l is often placed after a single sign

the n of wnm, "eat," was lost early, so that when it expresses the whole of a name, either

the word became inn, just as /ASM, which

^ i i i
is with or without the fern, ending.

I^i^'ws'" liiiiiiin't in /'///'., became ra^^-^ b. When a sign is used as transferred word-

hmm't in N.K. To spell the word Hp QA sign with the full phonetic value of the name,
33 DISCUSSION OP THE SIGNS.

the i is often transferred with it, e.g. °^ ,

<-=» Fig. 116, Wooden column lying on the

"*"V ^1, ^, are all found for z't, "body." ground for use as the central pole of a [f 1) ; sec
Petrie, Medum, PI. x. and p. 30; Dec. Art,
[q] or ig] I for p ^ s
J
(sa) for " back," and
(J
or
(J
I

p. 76 also Borchardt, Pflanzensaule, p. 56

(a) for "
;

»/
! " After O.K. the use of I in such
(who seems to have overlooked the very early
cases becomes the rule (Eu.\r., Gram., § 51).
example at Medum). It is seldom placed up-
In M. and N.K., in such cases as "T\Z, ^\
J right in good texts, though this is allowed even
i (ta), "land," and (
v& s, "person," the det. is
in O.K. (Ptahhetep, xxxviii., left).
added after l , for the sake of distinction, as =?^=
CJ
—h— Word-sign and phon. for — » ^ (da), mean-
and are in hieratic scarcely distinguish-
ing "lid," "great," "continue in a certain state."
able.

The geographical det. V (in M.K. often s,

It is not clear that it is a name of a column,
though there are signs of this (Kah. Pap., xiii., 2,
from the hieratic ?) is usually accompanied in M.
CJ
and N.K. by the I which belongs to it when used and in late texts). , "great," may be simply
an epithet of the roof-support.
as a word-sign.
After O.K. the suffix of 1st pers. sing,
often replaced by I
is
— - Fig. 139 ; B. II., iii., fig. 49. Door-bolt
well known from the pictures, and from a wooden
shrine in the Cairo Museum, to have been used
The numerals up to 9 are expressed by I
for fastening folding doors on the outside. On
repeated each of them has its own name each leaf two bi*onze rings held a —»— (one bolt
;

(Erman, Gram., 141). The following are being considerably above the other), which was
§

interesting :— shot into a third ring attached to the other leaf

n www of the door. In the Medum sculptures, " the
1 1 represents the numeral 2, named 1

form of the door-bolt s is remarkably contracted

sn, and is from the earliest times det. of duality,
in the middle, and has a double line along the
especially marking the dual of the masc. nouns
neck (Medina, PI. xiii.). Such lines usually
ending in \ % wi. In this case it is often
show string, as on the tied up necks of bags
written in 1'ijr. w, e.g. ~^ = ~^ N^>
(j(J
V/ (Pis. xiii., xv.), and here it seems likely that
(aw), " two hands.'' It is probable too that n the middle of the bolt had a string; round it

can be found with the dual of fern, words which could be sealed on to the door to prevent
ending in \ <* \\ wti (uti), which, however, in it being moved " (Petrie, Medum, p. 31). The
ancient times were generally written \\ o. breaking of the seal of a shrine entailed a
Gradually 1 1 became employed for the adjec- special ceremony (Ah., i., p. 57). Bobchardt,
tival and other forms of roots in which the A. Z., 1897, p. 105, explains the string as for
termination was the same as that of the dual, drawing a bolt from the outside when the door
wi, wti ;
such were now written v\ 1
1
, \\ ° ;
was fastened on the inside (v. —<$-).
and then for any terminal i, this being the dis- The name of the bolt was "the passer"
tinctive sound common to the two duals, masc. (Pyr. N., 1. (iSS ;
cf. .I'-., i., pp. 56, 58). This is

and fern. presumably to be read s, though in Pyr. it

i
represents the numeral 3,
I 1 1

f=Si III'
. »lo varies with . (T., 1. 162), which is probably
hmt (hhemt), with phon. transf. Also det. of a religious symbol derived from the bolt. The
plural, and later of collectives. name - -.v.s (?)(.!/,, i, p. 58),
n 1

Coptic lov (tiw) the ancient name not is perhaps tind of lual, on account of the
|n , ;

quite certain. See "k, and bolts being two in number; but cither name
 VASES. 39

may be the origin of the alphabetic value s Word-sign for a J I qbh, " cold water" ;
used

of —— (v. Addenda). also as det. of a j and f^a J, "be cool," "make

cool," but not in Pyr., where A (a tree) takes

its place in this capacity.

J, Vases and Pottery: Fire.

(Wp\ Fig. 6. Group of stoppered fees-vases,
Q [B. H., iii., fig. 35a.] Stone jug with long
three or four in number, the ends of a cloth
handle from rim to body, and small loop handle The number three
ban "-in"- over the shoulders.
opposite to it, upon the body. In the present
of plurality in this
is the general indication
instance the jug is of alabaster.
$m\
sio-n, but the definite number of four, , is
General word-sign for *- >~* ^ hnm (chnem) ;
common from the earliest times, e.g. four occur
this may be connected with the word hnm't,
in Medium, PL ix. (Rahotep), three in Pis. xviii.,
"well," which might be used as a term for a In L., D., 23, S, by
xxiii. (Nefermaat). iii.,

lai'2;e jar. But one of the seven sacred oils,

the four vessels are without the
exception
named -— • >— <->
^ n'hnm, "of (the god?) Chnem," cloth.
is usually figured as contained in a jar of this
The sign is the ordinary word-symbol for
shape. B. H., iii., fig. 100, represents a jar
£j>, ©,-,~ hut (Went), especially with the meanings
of this unguent. "foremost," "forward." The first
"front,"
operation in the ceremonial feasts oif the " table
5 Fig. 101. Slender water-bottle, often re- and probably in all such religious
of offerings,"
presented with a stopper. In O.K. the upper
ceremonies, was the washing of the table with
part black instead of blue, a circumstance
the four fees-vases of water (see e.g. Maspero,
is

which Dr. Walker has suggested is to be ex- In the N.K. this

Table d'Offrandes, p. 5).
plained by the black tops of much of the
witu
Naqada,
operation, usually called Z^ f*| st (
set >
"prehistoric"
p. 37) ;
pottery
red with black or blue rim
(see Petrie,
may there- s»),
J'
is often styled *f" ~
V w r~ i
^
/vww\
f§]
"f avwv\
I
~
Will
f.

fore be regarded as colouring distinctive of st hr hnti (set her hhenti), "pouring in (or

vessels of pottery. with?) hhenti" (see Schiap., L. del F., PL xiii.,

Name, \\~Z , l + ">hs% "the chilly" (?), 1. 24, Text, ii., p. 171 ; with variants, l.c, p. 314,
200-1,
especially
and PL ii.)
on O.K.
later,
coffins

cf. Br.,
{Miss. Fr.,
Wtb.
i.,

Maspero,
and Mar., Ab., L, PL xxxix,,.), where
(^ vx
|,

;
° var. rfjh, &c, is evidently the name of the rite
Eorhotep (Miss. Fr., i., p. 136), restores
J performed with these four vessels, and must
in the label applying to two spouted vases,
mean literally " the first or opening ceremony."
tj (shown I.e., PL xii.). This is confirmed by
Hence the value of the sign.
the fact that in inferior writing the hieroglyph
occasionally has the spout. These fees vessels,

O Fig. 141. Globular water-pot; in the

much used in ceremonial libations, wore fre-

bronze and precious metals, present instance coloured blue. In O.K. it is

quently made in

though the picture indicates a pottery original. coloured red, with the upper part black (cf. j).

Word-sign for { — fes in all its meanings. It appears in j^, and probably also in f^. In
the offering of water and wine to the gods it

Spouted was used in pairs, O O.

flj Fig. 127; B. TL, iii., fig. 48.
The sign indicates the contents of the vessel
fees-vase, with water pouring from it, and with
O O OOO
rather than the vessel itself. Thus >•
or without a stand, A) o
40 DISCUSSION OF Tin: SIGNS.

c
&c, indicate the cosmic waters, i.e. the god w b. In Pyr. the spelling of these two words
Xn- (Nn). Perhaps it is from this word that is variable, and sometimes there seems to be
the single O has its common phonetic value confusion between them. \^ is there used as
'--»
\ a ir (mi), for which OOO is preferred or syl. for
c
b in either group. But after O.K.
often used in certain words, mnw, " monument," 3
stands for the word
c
h only, and f" I is

Thnw, " Libyan," while there are indications in ir' h, "pure," "priest," with little variation.
l\ ('/.'•.), and elsewhere, of the value n alone for O.

In the name of the goddess ,

", ^ (all in
Figs. 40, 133.
^ Globular vase-shaped
Pyr.), usually called Nut, the value of is not object The vase is
suspended from a loop.
well defined, and may be nrrt, as the name of surrounded at its widest part by a broad band
the goddess of the upper sky seems hardly dis- of net-work (erased? in fig. 133). The band of
tinguishable, except by tricks of writing, from net- work is one of the tinners which distinguish
that of the goddess of the sky in the lower the vase determinative and symbolical of milk.
hemisphere (v. ©). Maspero holds that the In O.K. forms the vase is less globular, 8, more
variant ^ F=q, common in Pyr., indicates like the milk vases offered in the temple-scenes,
Nwit, by a pseudo-dual. In M.K., £~£, and e.g. L., IK, ill., 206*. The teat or feeder (?) of
AWVNA
perhap o /www, stand for m hit (m chen),
the milk vase ^, is, however, always absent
AA/WV\ /WViAA
from the sign y . In Paheri, PI. iv., we see y
'•inside" (B. II., L, Pis. xxv., xxvi., 11. 193, 204,
suspended round the neck of the infant prince
215), and for yinl In, (I.e., 1. 209). In N.K.,
Uazmes, who sits on the knees of his " nurse
after the XVIIIth Dyn., ^ is usually written
and tutor, the nobleman Paheri.
before this group, and in late documents we
=
often have f\ n ;
7T
/WW\A
/WWV\ A*VW^
A/WSAA
for m h
to
The value
%^H my
of U
(md), and
is £;s mr, changing so early
> s m, on account of its
(Piehl, A. Z., 1887, 32, &c). Thus it is pro- weak terminal r, that its normal value may be
bable that in y^ o, Pyr hn. is really said to be ^J my (md) ; the r in fact is quite
o I

a word-sign. lost after the O.K., even when y occurs as the

Probably O also represents a cooking-pot, initial phon. of a word. In Pyr., y , "like," is
3 3
^
->

"""I 1 \' \ z z ~w (zaza'u), whence it commonly

<=> mr, but
constantly written t\ V later it is
occurs even in O.K. in the group \\° , with :E L
with |\^
various meanings. In
M
O "grind," it seems | (]
iiiij (md).
^
1 L
f , fc, [<=>] m[r], varies

to indicate a connexion with cookery. In and in ^^^3, |^ [=>]$-•.. ~ m[r]h c -t

4-0 \ perhaps it indicates the adaptation of (me[r~\hd't), " tomb," and in 9 >

rush baskets and mats to kitchen purposes kH*«, '"['>•', "liver."

(v. J.). It is a peculiarity of the sign that The milk vase, used as det. of the name of
it is used superfluously, in transference from milk, depicted in the milk-offerings in the
any of the above groups where it would be a temples, and borne as his symbol on the head
false det., and in the group T™ Q nio, where of a god tending the baby queen at Deir el
it only repeats the r- — ,. Bahri (D. el II. ii., PI. liii.), was named ~
,
q
mr, as may be seen from (1 s=> o yrt't mr
yHO
Fig. 132. A vase (here of the form (drthet mer) (Pyr. X., 1. 258), "a mr vessel of
nems) with water pouring from it. milk." It may also be seen from the fact that
This signifies both the action of purifying, in Pyr. the milk vessel ^, with variant forms,
— » J
c
l>, and the thing that is purified, \ _•> j is used as phon. in writing the word mr, "love,"
 VASES. 41

thus :
0, o, h &c - used for oxen. But it may be
word that the

The appendage at the mouth of the vessel is

ydr, as used in connexion with animals, has no
pictorial relation to the hieroglyph ; cf. ydr't,
apparently a flexible teat or feeder for artifi-

cially suckled infants and animals. Possibly, l'i/r. X., 1. 772, the peculiar det. of which may
for superstitious reasons, fresh milk was by be the ancient form of this sign.

preference drawn through such a "teat." The

projections at the side of the teat which we see S Fig. 154. Ring-stand for a jar, coloured
red or white (L., J?., ii., 20), and fiat or curved
in some instances, were probably intended for

the child to hold, and the network band — as on below. In the tomb of Tehutihetep, ffl ns't,

V — also was intended in all probability to "seat," is distinguished from a ;/,

which has a
flat base (El B„ i., PI. xxxi.). In N.K. the
prevent its slipping from the grasp ;
this may,
however, turu out to be the fastening of the signs for ;/ and ns't and dsrt (see below) all

teat to the vessel.

have the rounded base, and appear to be in-

Whether the was an amulet or plaything of distinguishable (for the first two see L., D., iii.,
y
leather or other soft material, or actually a 59, a). In the early period likewise they are
indistinguishable, and all flat below. Always
feeding-bottle to hang round the neck, certainly
to some extent it represents a milk vase, and they have a rim at the top, often also a rim

its name is identical with that of the milk vase.

below sometimes the triangular opening seems
;

to be absent. In Medum, PI. xiii., below the

As a nursery word it would be likely to lose the
table of offerings, the hole is at the top in ;/.
final r earlier than the same word used for the
(For g, see Ptahhetep, xli. ;
Methen, L., D.,
ordinary milk vessel.
ii., 5 ; for ns't, Ptahhetep, xxxii.) Very rarely

O Fig. 181. A boAvl of red pottery (?),

there seems to be (by confusion with /J\?) a
round L 80, d, for
tied over and sealed at the top. raised edge all (see , D., ii.,

"Word-sign for \ = <=» ydr (ddr), a word applied g, and L., I)., ii., 64, a for ns't). ffi must be a
to cattle and birds of all domestic sorts ; see ring- stand. In the sculptures and paintings,

examples, Loret, Iter, de Trav., xviii., p. 205 tall bases of tables, and stands for jars (like ffl

at seqq. It is opposed to =*=*$.

^^ = = , sd elongated), generally have the triangular hole,

(shed), "fatted up," in the case of birds (L., V., but this is very seldom seen in the shorter
iii., 30 h, 1. 32). In Kali. Pap., PI. xvi., 11. 13, forms ; examples may be found in L., D., ii.,

" "draught oxen," 68, 101//, 104r. In L., D., ii., 3(i, these stands
14, ydr includes | y^ as

well as food-stock. Ydr therefore seems to be are pierced both at top and at bottom.

the ordinary stock or herds of cattle, geese, &c, Word-sign for

that have not been specially fatted it may thus 1. ,-, p ^ ns't. . This apparently is not known
;

name of a jar- stand, but is used

be an expression for " domesticated " cattle and as the
in the figurative sense of " seat," " throne,"
birds in general, as opposed to the wild cattle,
"position" of a person, as transferable to
antelopes, and birds. One writer considers that
the select breeding stock is specially denoted by his son.

the word, but the passages quoted in his paper 2. ocdo.^ dsrt (deshert). It is strange

do not well bear this out, nor does the name that the name of the dsrt vase, which is shaped

ydr seem to point to it. more or less as Q, is determined by ffi; that

Possibly the sign may be connected with the ffl, ffi

Q is often the spelling of the name; and
that represents the vase itself in tables of
preservation of meat in jars, certainly a practice ffi

offerings and in scenes of offering; e.g., L., D.,

in Ancient Egypt ; or possibly with the food
42 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

iii., 196. We can, however, find a partial last use it obtains the alphabetic value g, as
explanation in the fact that the two vases often well as its biliteral value
J
(go).
;/

used together, /-^ -»-.=> nms't and =c==.. Q In Ptahhetep, PL xxxvi. 3, *u=_ %, a there
dirt, have each the same form (Leps., A. T., 43) seems to be an instance of 3 used as det. of
in the lists, and also where the vase is repre- "— 'k
3
"carry," "support,"
f (,/«), usually
sented actually in use, being emptied over
statue or person (Ros., M. del C, Ix. ; cf.

D. el /!., i., PI. xi., in which the vase is unfor-

\J [P. H., iii., fig. 34, cf. fig. 62.] Cup, of
tunately destroyed). In order to mark a
wood (?).
distinctionbetween these two important kinds
Name, !«. Q hn't. Word-sign for 1*-*.^
of ceremonial vases, the Egyptians represented
kift (1) as the name of this cup, used for liquids
the nms't vase by a picture of itself, and the
in offerings (P. II., iii., p. 15), and (2) as word
dirt vase by ffl. Probably such a stand was
for " mistress," probably having the same radical
practically always of pottery,
and thus implied
meaning (cf. ^7, p. 47). A similar vessel is
red pottery, which was presumably the distin-
named " handful," hence in the base period
guishing characteristic of dirt, "the red" vase,
the alph. value -j of \7.
in its ancieut form. But in Leyd. Mon., iii.,
" width,"
Word-sign for ^> p o wth (useJch),
24, the Q is actually of silver, and bronze is
probably by reference to the " diameter " of the
generally represented by red colour.
circular vessel seen in elevation ; with rad. ext.
3. Alph. for g, and phon. for g' (go). The
Word-sign in N.K. for -* J % (ah), perhaps
origin of this value is to be found, on the
analogy of dsrt, in the name ^b\ yj (Pi/r. P.,
through the word -j \ J, later -* J ,
" an
ffl
offering," offerings being commonly represented
1. 707), a vessel the shape of which is presumably
in vessels YJ.
shown by the det. The word is frequently found
later for a cup or bowl on which fruits were
placed, and as denoting a drinking-bowl it is
D Fig. 145. Pottei-'s kiln; for scenes in
which the kiln is depicted see El B., i.,
the origin of the Coptic xto, xoi, a " drinking-
PL xxvii. 2, and p. 34; B. II., I, PL xi., &c.
bowl" or "cup." See also A.
To sum up: ffi the ring-stand (1) was pro-
Word-sign for S (i, a \ t
3
(to), "fervent
heat," whence it is phon. for t\ usually written
bably named ni't, "stand," which word is often
«=> ^£\ . This group must not be confounded
found in the meaning of " throne," " seat." It
Wlth r
was essentially a pottery form, and though 0'0, .
.' -fr
occasionally made in more valuable material,
it was generally of red or other coarse pottery, [P. II., iii., fig. 85.] Flame from a brazier,
being pretty well hidden from view by the with falling smoke and soot(?), often of the
vessel standing upon it. In this way (2) it form (1. Both forms of the vessel containing
symbolized the red pottery (?) dirt vase, the fire arc found amongst the dets. of the word
c

, ^ ,
ffl, in order to distinguish it from -j« h (alch), "brazier," in Pyr. (.1/., 1. 239;
the which was of the same form,
nms't vase, .V., 1. 616, &c).
but presumably of different material and (3) it ; Word-sign — rarely used by itself for a —- «—
symbolized the pottery (?) if vase, S^,\7, psf or pfs, " cook " ; p «=> «- srf, " heat " v. $\ ;

shaped V7, in order to distinguish it. from other more often for p
""-j • <* " brazier," " censer,"
si irts, such as \ vl _, &c, made probably "flame," Mentuhotep, p. 24.
f\ AAAAAA
of basket-work, wood, metal. &c. From this Det, of heat, tire, &c.
 FIRE-FIBRES. 43

^, Fig. 70. Censer with a flame, or small K. Fibres, Textiles; Basket, Mat-, and
cloud of smoke rising from it. The flame is Leather-Work.
usually represented with a pointed tip. It
| Fig. 124. Hank of fibres (of flax?) in
occurs often as with two balls of incense.
fy,
the form of a loop thrice twisted, and with the
Perhaps the sign is not found at all before the
ends loose. In the fine sculpture of Usertesen I.

N.K. however, figured in Mentvhotep,

It is,
original, this sign
X (Koptos, PL ix.), on the is

PI. iv., with the name ^ - Sz% " censer." ,

|> •

clearly represented as composed of a number of

In N.K. the figure occurs, often with a taller The hank twisted as
parallel steins or fibres. is

flame, as id. or symbol, probably for the ex- doubtless after the
if beino- wrung to dry it,

pression

censer"
"]
jj ^ f
(e.g. Palieri, PI. v.,
*
[J,
" incense u P on a burning
right edge, 2nd row).
work of beating and cleansing in water was
completed. In fig. 124 it is coloured green, as
Det. of v-utr, "incense" (Methen, L., D., ii., 3). beinf of vegetable material; in Medum it is

In the earliest inscriptions the word for incense yellow. Parallel changes of colour are found
is usually spelt jl s=, as if p^-r-==D<=> St ntr throughout the rope and rush series of hiero-
^
(Seth neter), "divine perfume," but subsequent glyphs.
variants of O.K. and later, show that this is
The form of the sign, and the existence of a
the causative
really a peculiar writing of verb |,
f h, "beat," suggests that ^ represents
"
P S'ntr, lit. " making or
;

made flax fibres "beaten" out, a process which is

divine." probably shown in B. II., I, PL xi., 5th row
In good writing ^ occurs otherwise only in B. II., ii., PL iv., 2nd row; PI. xiii., 2nd row,
each of which the last representation being the best (the
the groups ,y^, $^} ? |^,
to be read J & 1/ (ba). inscription reads qnqn nwt, "beating thread.-'.,
means "soul," and is

or fibres"). It may perhaps be questioned

In Fiji: the name of the "soul," usually written

f^, is sometimes written ^*\7> ^7 "^ (

wr whether the name of flax, '

^ "v^, k? ™h
HAi-i (with o, dot. of the cubit which has the
variant forms see P., 11. 270, 41 G). In these
same sound) is not a derivative from h, "strike."
groups Kj evidently corresponds to ^, and
v. also °<=>\.
probably a censer or brazier; it also
so is derived
From the above word-sign value is its

occurs in bH, P., 1. 015. (Note that in Pyr.

alphabetic value h.
there is frequently found a verb "^ b,
I,

meaning " to possess soul-power," " to he as

(9 Cf. Fig. 86. Coil of rope.
a soul.") numeral 100. The general
( ) Symbol for the
In the usual groups for b% " soul," viz.
1

0. and M.K., ^^ N.K. (early), $^} and

name for rope is
^ ^| <§.
-* $ I nw h applied
>

field measurement (Bon.,

&J (XlXth
"digger,"
Dynasty, &c),
is only used for the soul by phon.
it is clear that ^ ,
often to rope used in
Sarc., PI. vi.). The standard in linear field

measurement was a rope of 100 cubits, and

lit.

trans., and that °^ was added as a determinative in rope

evidently this was the standard length
or a distinctive word-sign ideographic of the
manufacture. This length was called e ~ ht ^,
soul (as the
definition
power of flame)
was obtained by
a still clearer
substituting for
;

(lchet), "stick," or more fully,

^ ,
—^ OJ^ft
nwh, "a stick of rope.^_ The arura, 100
1^ the picture-form of a human soul as a ht it

human-headed hawk, ^; or ^, the embodi- cubits square, is named 1

1
_^_ c _ 1
" a stretch

the ram of (of the rope)"— a depth of 100 cubits from the
ment of the "suul of Osiris" in
frontage being always assumed (cf. P. S. B. A.,
Mendes.
u DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

xiv., 417 et seqq.). Hence, on account of its phonetic value of —»— supplying the s in *C
J
standard length, <s , a rope, is the sign for 100, and .s- (v. Addenda).
3
which in Egyptian is named <= • ^ s't (she't) Word-sign for f» st, later f^\ st , "haul,"
(Sethe, A. Z., 1893, 112), and hence the value with phon. trans.
s (sh) for <s, which Piehl has identified in Det. of \ -p-
3
s (as), " hasten,"' often transitive
Ptolemaic texts (Actes VIII. Congr. Stockholm, as if "to pull" or "drag on." This word does

P- 10 )- not occur in O.K., unless it be in the form of

(2) Word-sign for <=> ^ • o sn't (shen't), r.
@
x. . the intransitive verb ~rr , var. —*— ,
" pass on."

(3) The value ^ w (//) for which this sign

stands in N.K. as a substitute for ^ , is difficult "q\ Figs. 41 , 43. Rope arranged in a loop ;

to account for. By some it is supposed to be at one end a noose, the other end is turned
derived from a hieratic form of somewhat ^> down at a sharp angle, the tip pointed and in it

resembling that for (S ; it may be partly due (fig. 41) a narrow slit or noose in the substance

to words like
£]
<
^ ^>
£\
3
<§_ , \ \£\ n-'i,-'
of the rope. On M.K.
figured with, or near to, weapons (Mentuhotep,
coffins this object is

(uau r), and £)

^ , \ \<~ w r (uar), "cord."
Pis. iii., v., and p. 18; A. T., 38, &c.) ; the
At that time the advantage of possessing alter- form varies : sometimes there is a noose at one
native letters for forming hieroglyphic groups or other end only (fig. 43) ; sometimes we have
was strongly felt, though most of the new values 5, with a clear loop at each end (Mentuhotep,
did not enter into hieratic writing until a very
late period. In this way the horizontal t
— PI. iii.),

On
but
the coffins the
this is not a hieroglyph.
name is «=» ^ rz ;
<=>
\ ^
(properly, \s ym (dm)) was used for l^, s=>
\
rwz (ruz). This name is met with in Pyr. N.,
and ft were equated with ~, )J with /->, and (3 1. 975, apparently denoting the loops or knots
with ^> (3 for iv seems even to occur in used in the construction of a ladder. In Kali.
^
.

r
Pyr. H ., 1. ywr (dur).
215, (9 <=> for Pap., i., 1. 5, it seems to stand for a bow-string,
Det. of names of rope and of words indicating- or better, a lasso ;
in Box., Sarc, PI. iv. d., 1. 21,
its use. the word in the plural signifies the "bonds" of
captives by which their arms were tied behind
Fig. 180 ;
/.'. If., iii., fig. 51. Cord wound their backs, Ah. Clearly the proper sense of
\
on stick. A fine example is in PtaKhetep, the sign is a noosed or knotted rope. It has
PL xxxiii., top, 3rd col. from left; see also been supposed to represent a sling, but of this
L., D., ii., 97&. there is no clear evidence ; sometimes it may
Word-sign for \^ >c:: (uz), "stick or bank represent a halter. (Slingers are mentioned in

of cord"; see B. 11., iii., p. ID. Pianlchy, 1. 32, and in /.'. IT. , ii., PI. xv., one
Phon. for ^ ^. slinger seems to be figured ; but they are rarely
found on Egyptian monuments.)
—<J- Fig. 86. Coil of rope across a stick. Hence phon. for •=> ^. 3?

Bouchardx (A. Z , 1897, p. 105) considers that Word -sign for <Rx <=> $\ V (ar), and
this sign represents a bolt, —«•— , with the cord "^(j^^'gX y (<™r )> "oppress." Other
for drawing it from the outside when it was words of this form spelt with "q\, e.g.

fixed inside. An example copied by Miss Paget mr 3

(mar), "poor," "feeble"; p^.<= sV (sar),

in the tomb of Rekhmara shows the —«— clearly, " poor" ;

= \H <=-
3 3
d yr, dy r, " restrain," gene-
but this form is perhaps not ancient, and may rally have the notion of constraint in one
be only a N.K'. invention connected with the form or other, and are probably all derivatives

This compilation © Phoenix E-Books UK

 CORDS— THRKAD. 45

of y*r,
J
//r. In Siut, Tomb I., 1. 350, &c., "q\ see pp. 4, 5. The corresponding verb ^ s> tt,

stands for =^ i) => I

^«=«— cl'ijr srf (dadr serf), is regularly written ^jt
3
,
cf. -A.

"restrain hot temper"; cf. Sir., Eg. Ins ,

i., 83,

1. 11. Fig 111. Rope-knot with four loops

at each side and one at each end.

•jT) Fig. 128. A cord, coloured green (so Word -sign for —& s
3
(sa), "guard,"
also L., I)., ii., W)), arranged at one end in two "protect," convertible with ^ in the sense of

loops, apparently for a slip-knot of a special "amulet"; in Pyr. a common word-sign for

kind (with a bow at the side), of which the the verb " to protect," &c, but in later times
detail is never fully shown. In the present confined to the substantival sense "amulet,"
example there is also a slight projection at the " protection." It is probably a magic knot,
other end of the cord, no doubt to mark the but may represent a particularly secure way of

fraying. tying up a packet with a number of cross-

Phon. for ^ & w* (nil). There are two strings.

words that may be connected with it, viz.

130. Thread-line, curved down to

(1) fj^f]^ (Pyr- T., 1. 178, &c),
show
Fig.
In Medum, passim, and
^ 1v ^ \ «'
J
"'
J
(uaua), meaning perhaps "cord its flexibility.

foundation," and "to bind together." B. II., iii., fig. 25, R is coloured red, and once
of
Medum The picture of the
f]^, W~> w'r (uar), "measuring in (PI. xi.) yellow.
(2)
might conceivably object seen in ^jf, id. of cloth and det. of
cord," "cord." The latter is

words of similar meaning. Cf. also In

be the origin of the phon. value through loss jf.

3
{Miss. Arch., PL xiii.), balls of
of the final r, but more probably w is here the Horhotep i.,

yarn or bundles of cloth are tied with (1

simplified form of ic'io' (cf. pp. 4, 5).
Cords hanging over stretched lines are repre-
[D. II., iii., fig. 78.] Loop of cord. is a sented as I.
9 J
debased form, derived from the M.K. cursive Alph. for 8 = Heb. fr. The distinction be-

hieratic form for ^ used in late N.K. hieratic tween P and — was not observed in writing

after O.K. It seems likely that \\ obtained its

for 9.
™/~« sn (shm), "surround," value s from the suffixes of the fern, pronoun
Word-sign for
After O.K. owing to thread and cloth working of
"encircle," so perhaps a "loop." s, si,

kinds being a woman's occupation. In

sth't is usually written y. all

"sportive" hieroglyphs ^jf takes the place

Phon. for sn.

off).
&=* Fig. 134; B. II., iii., fig. 22. Short
2§£ Fig. 53. Apparently a number of
cord ending in small loops, apparently a handle
for drawing or dragging. The sign is often threads, regularly spaced, each looped at one
end, and at the other attached to a
horizontal
represented as a twisted cord ; here it is green,

but in Malum (Pis. xi., xii.) yellow. bar of wood a thrtead passes through the loops
;

In Pyr.
(th_eth-t),
T., 1. 308,
for a binding or catching cord, there
is a word
^ \ iff parallel to the bar, and from near one end

latter there projects a short

of the

curved handle (?).

The number of threads varies from four to five :

used as a weapon against a serpent, but perhaps

they are perhaps never at right angles to the
also the name of the cord in the sign s=?, the
phonetic value of which would be reduced from bar, which seems as if it might be either drawn
process, along, or pushed back by the
handle. The O.K.
it to t (fh) by the usual simplifying
46 DISCUSSION OP THE SIGNS.

form appears to have been different, but there tables of offerings (Medam, xiii., xvi., xx.).
is no trustworthy example to quote. The sign By rad. ext. it expresses ntr, "god," "divine,"
suggests a connexion with weaving, especially in which sense it is exceedingly common from
with the weaver's " heald " (for drawing down the earliest times ;
gradually it became det. of
or lifting a certain number of the warp threads divine names and id. of divinity, but was very
in the loom, and thus affording passage for the rarely so used in O.K. It should be noted that
shuttle); but the "heald" would show a separate in O.K. the proper id. of "god," the word-sign
thread through each loop, the threads would be for ntr, the det. of divinity and of the names of
vertical and the handle different. It seems as individual gods, was j&, the sacred hawk on its

though there were some connexion between the perch, *-^- ('/.'".), and thus distinguished from
number of threads and the number of fiiiLivrs its wild congeners.
— 4, or of fingers and thumb — 5. In the
numerous examples of the XVIIIth Dyn. the tf^ Figs. 61, 160, Perhaps a pleated cloth
most usual number seems 4, though 5 is not or article of dress running on a tape or string,
uncommon. In L., !>., ii., 123/', there is an the two looped (?) ends of which are spread out.
abnormal form composed of the four fingers, The pleats shown vary in number ; cf. Methen,
|, crossed by the arm, .. a, and evidently L., ])., ii., Hi, for a good outline showing nine
indicating the four digits of the palm-measure, pleats. £\, Ma\° llm'h (dmalch), is essentially
£<]>. the same object as that represented by f^, but
Word-sign for " palm " of the hand, 255 <^^, it has only one looped (?) end. The meaning of
<= — a ssp (shesep), or ^d §p (shep), lit. "the ym Jh is retirement in old age with honourable
receiver," "holder"; also for the verb ^^ 2& case after a life of faithful service. This seems
ssp, "receive," "hold." After O.K. the sign to be symbolized in a remarkable manner by
was transferred to words originally spelt P
=a the pleated cloth re\,
l
drawn together and
Ssp (seshep). folded £\ to be put away. Perhaps this cloth,
or article of apparel, was ceremonial, and after
Figs. 26, 114. A roll of yellow cloth use was folded over, and so kept in " easy
(for bandaging ?), the lower part bound or laced and honourable retirement " in perpetuity. In
over, the upper end appearing as a flap at the Med inn, PI. xiii., -^ has as many as ten
top, probably for unwinding. Cf. B. II., hi., pleats, indicating that in all they were very
p. 25. On M.K. coffins (e.g. Mentuhotep) this numerous.
symbol figures among the supplies some 3
; in The usual meaning of ^\, \\ w ( rt '0> as
such cases (e.g. Sebehia) the upright part a word-sign is "stretch out," "open out,"
appears to be arranged lengthwise in a hank, " length," apparently as opposed to ^\, the
not rolled. In N.K. hatchets were made which pleats also indicating that it was capable of
in outline resemble this figure, perhaps inten- great extension.
tionally. It is possible, indeed, that the present Phon. for ^w (an). The controversy as to
object represents a fetish, e.g. a bone carefully the phonetic value of this sign has been summed
wound round with cloth, and not the cloth up by W. Max Mulleh, P.S.B. .1., xvi ii., 187
alone ; but this idea is not as yet supported by et seqq. The supposed value <— ^> fuo (fit) does
any ascertained facts. not seem to have existed in early times.
On the coffins the name is T, jh-, r~^zs><=- ntr

(nether), meaning probably "divine" cloth; O [ //. //., i., I '1. xxvii.] Ball of rush-work (?).
the same name occurs commonly in the earliest In O.K. yellow, with horizontal reeding (Mid inn,
 BASKET-WORK, Ac. 47

passim, &c.) ; later green, and generally with "base," on which a thing may stand — an article
oblique reeding (El P., i., passim, &c). of temple furniture — whether of wood or stone,
Alph. for h (hh). ® being phon. for q^> according to the det. Perhaps the word meant
hw (Mk) in O.K. (cf. Sethe, A. Z., 1897, 6), originally amat or stand of basket-work, and
this points to h (hh) being the name or proper was the name of the object D, but it is now only
value of ©. It may be connected with s^ow known from late texts. The ancient city © I',

hihi (khihhi), "toss up," or with oq hh or h'h lay in the marshes of the Delta, where mat-
(hhahh), "run swiftly." working may have been much practised.

^37 Cf. Fig. 22. Bowl or basket of rush- Fig. 94, A reed mat, on which is

work, without handle ;

in early examples yellow, placed a loaf of bread as an offering. The
indicating the dry rushes of which it was com- colour of the mat (in contrast to that of ^=7, &c.)

posed, and generally showing the horizontal is green or blue-green from the earliest times,
reeding (L., D., ii., 20) ; later green. presumably because it was made of freshly-

Name, j ^ m
" holder," gathered stems (Mid PI. xiii.
J ^=^, <~* • nb t, it in, ; L., D., ii.,

preserved only in one passage of Pyr. A/"., 19).

1. 238 = W., 1. 61G, already referred to s.v.

^
The name of an offering is |^a htp (hetep),

(</('.) ;
with rad. ext. and phon. trans, as in lit. "propitiation," "peace"; and this sign is

lib, "master," "holder," "possessor," and nb, the word-symbol for hip in all its meanings.
" swim.
Q Cf. Fig. 13. Loop formed of a band of
^r^s Fig. 92. iVeft-basket (q.v.), with loop springy reeds (?), bent round, and the ends
handle outside, below the rim. The distinctive lashed together in such a way as to make
loop is often omitted in Pyr., probably by a straight base. Colouring as in ,=5=, L., D.,

inadvertence. Colouring, &c, as ~^^, Medum, ii., 20.

Pis. xviii., xxiv. Word-sign for ^ <--> <-» ^ snnw, sum (shennu,
Alph. for Jc. In a very late text there is a shenu), "circle," "ring," also a "great multi-
plant-name ^ vl hh (heh), believed by Loret tude." The " cartouche," [], named also snnw
(Bee. de Trav., v., 87) to mean a "rush," which (Sciiafer, A. Z., 1896, 167), is of precisely the
thus might be connected with the value h of the same construction as Q, but elongated for the
basket ^z^. More probably this h is from a reception of the signs composing the king's
root ^^ /,-
J
, "work" (v. (j). In O.K. ¥ is name (cf. Sethe, A. Z., 1897, p. 4). In this it

commonly written ^zz^. ; a basket is necessary may indicate a protective ring keeping off the
to every workman's outfit, and in Egypt would profane; cf. its use in N.K. as det. of ^/->_j
be especially appropriate as a symbol of labour. sV (shend), " hinder," " obstruct."

Fig, 95. This picture evidently repre- F.g. 23. Two bundles of reeds or
sents mat-work made of reeds tied together. rushes (?) tied together at the top and spread-
It may, however, not be a simple mat, which ing out downwards ; near the lower ends they
was usually represented oblong, as in =^= in ;
are loosely connected by a cord. In the early
Med uiii, Professor Petrie calls it a bundle (?). period (in Pyr.) this sign seems to be very
Colouring as in ^7. variable. It may possibly represent a straw
Alph. for p. There is a rare word, ,
cap used in stoppering and sealing wine-jars.

p (Schafer, A. Z., 1897, 98), meaning a "stand," Word -sign for ^ J \ zb' (ztha), which has
IS DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

various meanings, " block up," " covering,' Medum, PI. xvii., lower right, it occurs in a
" exchange," &c. proper name.

Bag pouch 1 Fig. 27. Poll of sacred linen, with bag

°b Fig. 82 ; B. II., iii., fig. 27. or
id. of toilet powders.
(of leather ?) tied and sealed ; used for precious
It occurs in
Graphic compound: the name of a sacred
metals, powders for the toilet, &c.
of toilet powders. cleansing powder or earth. Early variants of
composition as id. or det.
the sign (cf. e.g. Fi/r. M., 1. 28, with parallel
The present example is of the regular form in
passages) give ntr, alone, which is therefore
O.K. (e.g. Medum, PI. xiii., lower left) and in ]

the name of the substance contained in the bag.

N.K. In M.K. it is often §>, perhaps the same
This was probably natron, or perhaps nitre.
thing opened, showing strap and loop for fasten-
Prof. Maspero mentions having found The Greek name v'npov is derived from the
ing.
leathern bags like tobacco pouches, fastened with
Ancient Egyptian. In many forms of ntr the

these were from

final r was lost, but apparently it was retained
a lace, containing eye-paint ;

The in this word.

(prehistoric?) tombs at Gebelen. scribe-

artists always distinguish it from the loop of

rope, ($ is (shes), though that occasionally has

a looped end, b* (Medum, PI. xiii., lower L. Implements, Tools.

right).
Figs. 33, 113. Sickle set with flints,
The name of the bag or pouch is —o<=*— rf
c

the wood coloured green. Cf. Kalian, ix., 22 ;

(arf), of which word this sign is det., with rad.

Illahun, vii., 27. For the unexplained green
ext. but in a number of place-names it has the
;
colour, which is constant in all representations,
value g, viz. "ft
"^\ Gbtiw (Gehilu), Coptos sec Spurrell in T. <i A., pp. 37, 38; cf. also
J]
(Koptos, PI. vi. etseqq.);
^^ (Faheri, PI. viii., Medum, frontispiece; B. II., L, PI. xxvii.

cornice line, from which the present example is Det. of \\^JP '4 (aselch), "reap." The
^"^
taken), variant ^F c
g (Fag), Eileithyiapolis; name of the sickle is o Jj
1 ¥' (kh<-b), or
< "
<^ Gsm, Goshen. Some of these names possibly ^\\y, -fcJ ¥h (<*»&)» thc

are probably not pure Egyptian, but suggestive curved." "Word-sign and phon. for ^\, m'
of foreign origin, and the value of tS is often (ma)— varying to \ %,
3
m (inn). =
J? |

rather a q than a g. One may perhaps connect >

"the white via (?),"
k&-lf l m'-h:: (mahez),
this value with the idea of tight packing,
is thc oryx, possibly in reference to its curved
compression, a \ </
J
(;/<')•
y "lion," and sm J
J?, V^l\
horns (?). \\

*b "b, the same sign doubled, may represent (ima), "slaughter" — perhaps the causative of a
the two bags of the two kinds of eye-paint, word m — may
J
point to the origin: but this is

may mere conjecture. Can it be connected with

mesdetn and uaz, or be simply intensive of
the idea of compression. It occurs in the place- ^^*. "grasp"?
name *&

represents the above

^ (Br., I>.

g,
'<'.,

but
864),
is
where perhaps
doubled to distin-
it

*=cr_ Fig. 117. Wooden hand-hoe, made of

guish it from the group ^ is (originally is, a long bent blade held in place by a cord

is't), "alabaster." attached to the handle.

$a The hoc was called hnn N-> u
Word-sign \ y wg' (uga), "help- or } <~> r~, (/'//''• 1- {) -

for - '•„, '->

lessness," "weakness" (P.S.B.A., xiii., 71). In &c), especially in its simplest form, made with
 IMPLEMENTS. 49

a forked branch, ^- (Medum, PL xv.). being constructed by binding the tool may
apparently owed its common word-sign value hence have received its name ;
cf. ^x..
mr to being made of two pieces " bound Word-sign for ^ «= mr, used also in the
together, from "
c ., ^ <=» mr, "bind." pseudo-causative I T smr, " royal friend." The
Rarely used as phon.
'•sportive" hieroglyph •£-;;( of 1 1. II., iii., fig. 80,
Det. of hoeing, hacking, &c.
standing for i\ r^vi mr sm'wt (mer sem'nt),

"governor of the desert," shows that mr is a

| Fig. 186. Piece of grained wood with a
word connected with drilling or piercing, but
loop or handle on one side in the middle of its
the present sign can hardly be a tool for
length. In Methen (L., IK, ii., 7/') the loop is
working with a bow-drill.
below the middle. It may very well re-

present a plasterer's " float " or smoothing

board. The type \\ commonly used in print o Figs. 20, 96 ; B. II., iii., fig. 89. Drill-
for qd is quite wrong, though in very late texts cap (?), coloured greenish blue (in II. II., iii.,

the sign | is conventionalized to nearly this fig. 89, too green). In Medum it is black. In
form. Mentuhotep, PI. iv. ("fuss-seite"), and p. 2S
Word-sign for 4= qd (qnd), "build," "shape," = A. 7'., PI. 29, where the outlines of the group
&c. ; with phon. trans. of tools are clearer, the object ^ is figured
along with tools — bow-drill, chisel, &c. — and
Fig. 80. Chisel, consisting of a tongue- coloured blue-green. Petrie's identification of
§
shaped metal blade set in a wooden
stout the object as a black stone drill-cap seems more
handle. This is a chisel to be driven by a likely to prove correct than that of Steindorff

mallet. In Medum, frontispiece, fig. 17, and as a polisher. The caps found with small
PI. xi., the handle is cylindrical (with strengthen- drills are usually made of the hard dark dum-

iiut, and are much more conical than ^, as

ing bands). It appears to be distinct from the
awl worked by the bow-drill, the handle of the indeed they are represented in scenes of car-

awl being more slender. pentering, cf. B. II. , iii., fig. 80. But at Kahun,
The name of the object is
AA/VSAA
c,
V
^^s mnh Petrie found black stone pivots or drill-caps,

(meulch) (Lei/d. Mans., iii., 24 Tomb. Set// I., shaped roughly ^. In the scenes the polishing-
;

Part iii., PI. xiii.), and the sign is used as general stones are generally represented as white, and

word-symbol for mnh. oblong or oval.

Whatever may be the object represented by
this sign, its name seems to have been I] ^ yt
Fig. 107. Pointed instrument with
(at), with fugitive I), rather than / alone.
wooden handle of peculiar shape showing that
Compare its homophony as a word-sign with
it is to be Avorked by hand; cf. Malum,
Pis. xviii., xxiv., and p. 32. On a Vlth Dynasty 0, \oyt (at), "loaf"; with (]
J\ ^ yt (at),

O.K. stela in the old Bulak Museum the sign "father," &c. Probably <* "drill-cap," ~ Q,
has the chisel end in a handle of rushes (?) |{), "loaf," or cake of potter's clay on the
bound together. The form ft also seems fairly wheel (Pyr. P., 424 = N„ 1211), all bear the
well authenticated (L., D., ii., 121). Apparently same name \ ^, owing to their more or less
it is a chisel or borer to be worked by hand, not domed form.
struck with the hammer. For such use the As phon., q loses the presumptive initial ;],

handle might well be of softer material, and and becomes alph. for t.

E
50 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

p- —< [Cf. B. H., iii., fig. 73.] Adze with metal also for =s=!^o "the sharp thing," "sword,"
blade bound to wooden handle. "blade" — e.g. of an adze (Leyd. Mons., iii.,

As an ordinary tool it is called ~ir-^.a n't 24), in Pyr. P., 1. 81, &c, -kV- dmH;
(an't), lit. "claw" (Tomb. Sety L, Tart iii.,
cf. Metternich Stela, 1. 82, where S
PI. xiii., right edge; and Leyd. Mons.,
2, iii.,
(i.e. hri dm't) = ffi
\\
^=» in Pap.
1
Eb.; with
PI. xxiv., in lists of tools) hence, sometimes in
^
l

rad. ext. In Pap. Eb., &c, there is a verb

Pyr. word-sign for this term in the sense of
"claw." The sacred adzes used in the ceremony
" cut away," "remove," which may be P ^ \ sw*

of "opening the mouth" are called p— , simply (.sua), " cut away," " cut down." In Pap. Eb.,
(Leyd. Mons., I.e.), or more particularly 1
i
^-^ xci., 15, occurs a word y ^S H "to lance (?),"
(var.
^_^ o _p>^--) h a m\ the nw
Anubis" (M., Ab., i., PL xxvi. i; Schiap., L.
"
W d. P.,
of which may be connected with l^=^^o°sfH^,
"knives" (P. II., iii., p. 34); but the usual
i., pp. 104, 105). Hence phon. for /-» ^ nw (nu), form, like that of the verb " to slaughter " oxen,
usually written v\. In Pyr. sometimes det. is Sft, with radical t (v. Addenda).
of n^o nzr, "cut with an adze." Det. of cutting, and cutting instruments.

J> — - [B. II., iii., fig. 73.] Adze and piece of

f [B. H., iii., figs. 63, 65.] Knife or chopper
wood (grooved). in conical handle. In O.K. a straight-backed
Word-sign for fan stp (reason unknown), blade alone.
and often for rv
r — , nw. In the geographical Word-sign for ^k nm. Nm't is the name
name jr-o-o c
np't (Anp't), i.e. Mendes, which of the executioner's block in Hades at which
is spelt with the adze, it is uncertain whether heads and limbs were lopped off; j)erhaps the
r*— ^ or £• — , is the more correct as word-sign. same word, but written by a peculiar and
Cf. Medum, PI. xxi., where the sign is perhaps variable id., is used for the butcher's block in
injured, but seems to represent the handle only Pyr., where there is also a word ^^ f ¥\ nm
of the adze. The origin of this value is perhaps found iu connexion with the execution of the
to be sought in local mythology. enemy of Osiris, P., 11. 598, 600.
I'hon. for nm.

black.
^ [B.
For
II., iii.,

this particular
fig. 70.]
form
Knife, coloured
cf. II. II., iii.,
| Figs. 42, 129; B. IT., iii., figs. 64, 68.
p. 38, PI. ix, fig. 4, PL x., fig. 2. The example Fire-stick apparatus, in fig. 42 consisting of
figured taken from B. PL xviii., where
is II., i.,
drill with two ridges — to prevent bow-string
it is the name of a locality sacred to the goddess
Pakhet, namely the ravine of Speos Artemidos,
from slipping —standing on the matrix. In
and there
called
temple.
^ In B.
in the
II.,
N.K. inscriptions of that
i., PL xxiv., there is a
B. H.,
is
iii., fig. 68, the drill
also a groove for the bow-string to work in,
is faceted,

when that was used. B. II., iii., fig. 64, shows

variant -«— ^>, written with a peculiar
"J^ In >w the sticks were used and re-used as matrices.

animal. The reading is by no means certain. In Medum, PL xxviii., 1, the top of the drill has
The knife is word-sign for <=p dS, "a knife," been charred by previous use of that end, and a
" blade," " sharp point " ; with some rad. ext. drill-hole has also been burnt in it. The; drills
(in Pap. EL). Cf. Pyr. M., 1. 352 ; in Methen from Kahun (Kahun, p. 2!), Illahun, p. 11 ;

(L., I)., ii., 13), the sign for di is apparently cf. Ten Years' Diggings, fig. 91) are composite,
j,
a harpoon-head Avith single barb. Word-sign having separate stock, faceted like B. II., iii.,
 WEAPONS. 51

fig. 68, and capped with another piece of wood. Word-sign for p ^> /-» svm (sun), " physician,"
In the hieroglyph |, the drill is generally p ^>
r-> . q "price," &c. The name swn, for an
simple, but in fig. 129 it has more the ap- arrow, is only found in very late mythological
pearance of the drill-head from a composite texts, and its authenticity as the origin of the
drill. value sirn may be doubted.
The value of | \ z* {%<£). The blackened
is "^

drill-holes seem unmistakable evidence as to the <=$L Fig. 85. Mace, with nearly globular,
origin of this sign, and Borchardt (A. Z., 1897, or ovate white head, the handle crossed by a
p. 105) accepts the solution. But the Egyptian loop of cloth or cord. Compare Medum, p. 31,

name of the fire-drill is as yet unidentified, and and B. E., L, PI. xxvii.

it seems at present impossible to show the The mace with head of this form was called

connexion of the value "^ ^ with fire-making. I"-) hz (hez), "the white," or fern. |°, I ^ •

hz't (Mentuhotej), p. 18, no. 8).

Fig, 174. The support of a balance, Word -sign for { ^~\ hz; with phon. trans.

consisting of a post, from the upper part of The loop across it probably marks and defines
which projects a curved peg the lower end of ; the meaning " white," linen and clothing being
the post is fixed in a firm base. usually of that colour ; it may be added to
°"
This object is named ^\ "Tl wts (uihes), distinguish from | "green," and h "string."
J
" support," the word also meaning to " weigh " The addition of the loop is found occasionally
(in a balance). After O.K. it has two other from the earliest times.

values, (1) ^^1 ts (thes), "raise" (in O.K. The mace is written with the phonetic com-
with a different det.), transferred also to other plement thus, ? ^"1 , \\, to distinguish it from
meanings ; and (2) "TJ
®~ rs, " wake up," i <=. %> a- J, " string," and s^L hsf.
" be wakeful," probably from connexion of ideas

with " rising " " being;

-
,
raised,' and confusion
[B. H., iii., fig. 77.] Curved or angulated
with X club or throw- stick ;
its forms include the fowler's
throw-stick (e.g. L., D., ii., 130 = B. H., i.,

PI. xxxii., where the hieroglyph j

immediately
M. War, Hunting, &c. above the hand holding the stick reads qm^).
The throwing club was the weapon of the
^=^ Fig. 190. Conventionalized bow, or
desert tribes east and west of Egypt (cf. B. H.,
yoke for carrying. In the " prehistoric " sculp-
i., Pis. xvi., bottom right, xxxi., xlv.), but not of
ture (De Morgan, Recherches, ii., p. 265, better
the negroes, to judge by its use in O.K. writing.
in Rev. Arch., 1890, PI. iv.) the bows are nearly
With the complement 1\ ,
thus, ]
v\ , it indi-
of this type ; later they are very different.
cates the —»&^*^ "m'w (Aamu), or eastern
Word-sign for a^«*» pz't, "bow," lit. "the
Bedawin, &c; while with O ?2» q -

, , it denotes
stretched," " stretcher," which might very well
|

the Libyans on the west, the rsj^.^. thn'w

be also the name of the yoke. Used with phon.
(Tehen'u) ;
and in Una, 1. 16, === s=> f\ r-^A ]
transf.
stands for <*\ ?=>%> \
8« ^ V tmlyir (Ta Themlyu),
i.e. Libya. In the M.K. even the name of the
[B. H., iii., fig. 32.] Arrow.
negroes was written vft, for <-» I p * nhsi
^
I

Name, p <=> §ir (sheser), " arrow " ; with

phon. trans. Used also, even in O.K., for H° (Nehesi), though earlier the ]
was not attached

sir (sesher), p»-<=» shr (seeker), "to milk," &c to this name in any form. Grouped 1 0^3,
e 2
52 DISCUSSION OP THE SIGNS.

gradually
if sj], ° it became det. for all names the cry or song with which time was marked in
1
. i i i
., -,

of foreign countries, cities, and tribes, and was paddling.

used even for the frontier city of tf^j JB--& ^ ^i- A harpoon, the head (of
T'rw, " Zaru " in O.K. its use as det. was very ;
Fig. 112.

limited. bronze (?), coloured green, perhaps originally

The variants of the group |, in the lists of
grey) is barbed and fitted by a tang into the
|

offerings, are confused, but early texts (e.g. wooden shaft ; a loop of cord is tightly lashed

Ptahhetep, PI. xli.) point to

'
being in this on or near the head, for the fixing of the line ;

case = n y qm^ (qema), a very common value in O.K. the barb is always single.
c
of ). In late times it was used as word-sign Word-sign for v\^>_, w (ud), "one,"
and phon. many words = ^fe> t\
for ^ in ,
perhaps in reference to its being single-headed,
which is properly a ^ m As word-sign also 'J
- as opposed to the bident of fishing scenes

it has the value =s>^ tit (then). As word-sign (L., D., ii., 130 — Xllth Dyn.), or because of
for qm* it may express creating in binds, the single bail), r. 11 . But war-darts are per-

in relation to races of men, since takes a haps called <^- -^^ w c

(ud), Dum., If. I., i.,

leading place in the spelling of their names.

PI. xx. ; the first sign, however, is imperfect.
As til it may similarly convey the idea
The usual name of a harpoon, bident or other, is
hd^^
of distinction
was the name
info

of an
hinds.
important tribe on the
Also Tenu
a^R^ (Pyr. r., 1. 424), k-J\
^. ==>/-* Methen nib" (iidlia), which is the name also of the
N.E. of Egypt, in Palestine;
numeral 30, and so is accompanied by n. The
is perhaps an interpreter (?) or foreign resi-
an emigrant or immigrant. After etymology of the name is unknown.
dent (?),
J
O.K., in both the values qm and tn, |
is in

hieratic generally accompanied by a bird, Fig. 56; //. //., iii., fig. 71. Harpoon-
head of white bone or ivory cf. the " pre-
<^, to show that it is the throw-stick and ;

1
not the finger, ; and after the XlXth Dynasty historic" harpoon -heads of bone in Petrie,
||

this bird appears regularly in the hieroglyphs Naqada, PL Ixi. In M.K. it is, sometimes joined

in the attitude of one struck by the throw- with (3 , the string which bound it to the shaft

(L., D., ii., 121). In N.K. its origin seems to

stick, I *c\ , &c., as shown in the fowling scenes.
have been forgotten, and an impossible form
is a barbarous form.
is substituted (fig. 56 or |) preserving a
reminiscence of this string.
^M [B. II., hi., fig. 23.] Fisherman's boat
containing a net, or a fish (Siut, Tomb i.,
In Pyr. P., 1. 425, the two points of a bident
weapon are called £ |ul qS'wi (qes'ui), "the two
1. 248).
Word-sign
c
(uha), "catch fish bones." Thus, as was conjectured in B. If., iii.,
for \l-* irh

and birds," " fisherman " ; the word is often p. 24, the name of the harpoon-head is qs, " the
spelt phonetically in 0. and M.K. (Pyr. ; Siut, bone." But the sign | is not only used as the
I.e. El B., ii., PI. xvi.). Phon. trans, to many word-symbol for " bone," and as phon. for a |»

other words. qs ; by a most exceptional procedure this picture

of a manufactured article of bone is id. of

[II. II., iii., fig. 47.] Paddle. (A) many kinds of bone-like materials and
J
Name, 5 o • ^ hp't ;
with rad. ext. as det. objects, and (B) apparently of matters connected
Word-sign for hrw (kheru), "voice" (occasion- with the disposal of the bones of the skeleton in

ally also kry, "enemy "), possibly in reference to the grave.

 FISHING AND FOWLING. 53

(A) ] is det. of "ivory,"

*f J |> \J 'b (ah); I it may have given its name to a more developed
of the names of all reeds —no doubt on account technique. Or again, the sacred stone-mason

of their polished surface ;

of - ~a 1 b
c
(ha),
was called ~L ^* " necropolis-man," and in the
J
"rib of the palm-leaf," "palm-stick";
same way the sculptor of ^a-statues, ushabtis,
and of
and other burial equipment may have been
J^lk^^H' kfcfc'-, mV< (mcm't),
called " skeleton- " or " bone man," or " burial-
" "
stalk of corn," shaft of spear," &c.
man," since his work was chiefly for the tomb.
Note that Heb. I"tii3 kdneh (which appears in
From very late variants quoted in the dic-
N.K. Egyptian asj«" qnn, Lat. canna), means
tionaries, it would seem that this ancient word
" reed," " hollow corn-stalk," " spear-shaft," and
(]], Ptahhetep, PL xxxii.) must be read
"humerus bone," thus almost covering the
|*> -p* '-> .• Q* msn'ti, not gn'ti, which would
above significations of 1.
otherwise appear a probable reading as de-
Q
<^L ] "^I>
a ^° twr ('"'"')>
" the clean," as
noting " preserver of the gn't, i.e. the memory
the name of a reed (?), is perhaps the origin of of the dead."

the det. J in ^ <=> J «»« twr, " purify." 3 occurs in the compound signs (1) 1 1 ,
-»-
5

4, " toe" (Lange, A. Z., 1896, p. 77), in which

But see the compound \, below, no. 2.
1 , the bone, is sometimes in very early cases
(B) J is, from earliest times, det. of the word
replaced by ]j,
the finger; but the origin of the
==s\ "funerary equipment," "coffin,"
qrs,
1 1 \ s ig n
1 is not yet perfectly clear.
\ (2) I, J <=
probably because of the connexion both in sound bd, " natron," in which the species of 15 in-
and idea with Z) H | "bone." Erman (Gram.) dicating toilet powders seems to be defined as
and Max Midler (Orientalistische Litteratur- that used for funerary purposes, I
J, or in
zeitung, 1898, 17) both consider the two words particular, perhaps for the washing of the
to be radically connected. Also, from Pyr. bones, ^ . It can hardly be doubted that the
onwards, det. ofn^.o gn't, " posthumous fame," bone-sign 1 acquired a det. meaning in con-
" memory of the dead." nexion with funeral rites ; f J
3 3 c -^z^ " thy
] . is the sculptor of statues with mallet and bones are purified " is a common expression in
chise , who also finishes them with paint-pot the funeral ritual, and mummification was not
and brush ; see B. H., ii., PI. iv., right, and a very early invention in Egypt, being little

PI. xiii., left ; in the similar scene, Ros., M. C, practised even at the end of the O.K. (On this
xlvi., 9, which is probably copied from the tomb subject see Petuie, Dexhasheh, p. 15 et seqq.).

of Aba, XXVIth Dyn., the word is written 3 .

In Ros., M. C, xlv., 5 (also Aba), the j 1 makes i — [/>. i/., iii., fig. 42, wrongly in the
ushabtis ; in Ch., i)/., clxxx. = Ros., M. C, plate.] Straight bar ending in a double hook :

xlvii., 1 (Aba), he sculptures a lion. In the possibly a fish-hook of bronze, coloured red.
tomb of Min, temp. Thothmes III. (Miss., v., Word-sign for <=-! rth, "bind," "tame,"
366), the . ;— o is working on a sacred boat and e /->-=• hn[f] (hhen[erj), "prison," &c, with
with mallet and chisel. phon. trans, in each value. £) hut and £^>
It is difficult to decide how ] came to have appear to be confused with it in the second
the meaning of " sculptor." The carving of value hn, hnr, owing to their identical forms in

bone and ivory into harpoon heads, pins and hieratic (see Kah. Pap., i., 1. 8).
ornaments, was evidently an important art in
prehistoric and early Egypt, and though this Fig. 52. Bird-trap consisting of two
Bi
work would seldom require mallet and chisel, curved frames (the nets filling these frames are
54 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

sometimes also shown). For the hieroglyph, ordinarily the value of p s alone. But Yi'ijr

cf. Medum, x., xviii. ; and B. II., ii., Pis. vi., rather than S'yr would be the closer rendering
xiv., for various forms of bird-traps. of Ws'yr.As the group had the appearance of
The name of the net-trap is t\
J =*> ybt (dbt). "
meaning throne of the Eye," 4 p.^ <=> .~ ys't 1 1]

The sign is also word-symbol for II

^ ,-CJ Sht yr't (ds't art), the throne was generally placed
(sefchet), " catch with a net or trap," also below the eye.
"weave," "plait," "construct of reeds," &c. Word-sign for 8
Q !x \tm,, meaning "destroy,"
" complete," &c. The origin of this value is

unknown.

N. Furniture, Food, Personal Accoutre-

F=\ Fig. 136 ; J). II., iii., fig. 66. Box or
ments, Writing, Music, Games.
casket of variable form, with or without feet
(
—^ Fig. 65. Portable chair, somewhat as and arched cover ; Y=^\ especially representing
figured in Medum, PL xxi. ; El B., i., PI. xiii., a coffin.
&c. Named ra <~v hn, Det. of its own name, which
This sign is found among dets. of j|
^ {y)rt is applied to boxes of any shape or size, casket
(art), "throne," in Pyr.; W., 11. 391, or coffin. In the form fcfzj, det. of coffins and
jj J^,
393. It is also det. of other words of similar burial.

meaning, e.g. ^> :=>-— wts (uthes), o /->=?= hud

(Jchend), z=>\<~^-~ t'irt (ihan't). Fig. 126; B. II., iii., fig. 21. Stand
In N.K. the name of Osiris, usually for food and drink : naturally very variable.
ys-yr (ds-dr), was regularly written *
sf, the (1) In fig. 126 it has the form of a rack for

H
being replaced by +=^, probably because of jars of liquid — water, beer, or wine — containing
the more ceremonial significance of the latter two water coolers (hes't), and one short covered
vessel (nems't) ;
in the lower part of the rack
is a shelf upon which the bases of the two tall
r [B. II., iii., fig. 86.] Conventionalized vessels rest. See Maspero, Trois annees, PL ii.,

throne. The form is very unpractical for a for a similar stand with names to the vases.
seat, but perhaps it is intended for the throne (2) Another form is ipJMj, for combined food
of a statue. The colour varies : in L., I)., ii., 21, and drink.
it is yellow, for wood
Medum, PI. xiii., it
;
in (3) Or again, it may be IB, the bread-stand,
is white, for limestone; here we have blue, for so constantly figured in the scene of the " table
dark stone. of offerings." This represents a table covered,
The reading of the name rj as p •<= S't alone not with a garnishing of leaves, as has been
is probably wrong. It should in all likelihood suggested (A. Z., 1893, p. 1) and agreed to by
be I)P-q yfrt {ds't), with weak initial I) (omitted many, but with halves, quarters, or at any rate
in Avriting). As phon., rj seems normally to slices of tall pointed loaves of bread, laid

represent l)P, and after O.K. % p, but the fj parallel; see Medum, PL xiii., where both in

soon reduced to \ — was sometimes neglected form and colour the slices are precisely halves
in early writing. In Pyr. I
^ is a variant for of the £) in the accompanying inscription ; so

jj,
and the latter is sometimes alph. for «. also on the panels of Hesy. Later figures are
As to the group rj for the name of Osiris, less definite, and in the M.K. the slices are often

El-man {(tram.) is inclined to render the name represented so conventionally as to have become
Wryr (TJrdr), and he gives to
j|
almost meaningless to the eye.
 FOOD— WRITING. 55

(1) is word-sign for ^> <=» 5 wdh (udh), "drink- be the usual value. fU, fipi %» "scribe," is

stand." (3) is word-sign for s^^-^ h*wi probably to be read ssw (seshu).
(khau't), "food-stand." (2) will serve as word- s=> tmi = " wooden
(2) |{jl| (thems)
sign for either; in B. II., i., PI. xvii., it is
J^ p
panel," "sculptured or painted (?) designs."
picture det. of wdh, of h^wt, and of <=£=> jy|
Used also by phon. trans.
lifji wsh't, "offering in the court."

°
Q, q. Cf. Fig. 94 ; B. II., iii., fig. 21. Cake later, ~<=>\ °y\-<=>y »w, wtrw,
u
of bread, the lower part represented as shaped " colours for writing and painting." In this
or marked by the vessel in which it was baked
word the sign is more det. than word-sign.
or moulded. In O.K. generally coloured black
(4) a
j^ n
« (
?iaa ), "to be polished"— of
(Medum, in offerings), perhaps because of the
crust being burnt ; later, often yellow.
stone or
-a

wood
I

— " to be smooth," perhaps as a

surface for painting; or, more likely, "to be
Name, ~ t, cf. ~
j p
= j jj,
Pyr. IF., 161,
q ground fine" like a pigment for writing-ink,
so also ^ "vx , N., 426, &c, commonly in
In medical papyri we have
or for painting.
tables of offerings ; or perhaps (]
^ yt (at) ; jfti standing also for the causative s'n" (S
-

nad),

compare its homophony with (1 in n1 "grind fine" (Eah. Pap., p. 8).

The supposed value -* ^ c

n (an) is entirely
(N.K.) and v. <=>. The group tw, ytw
wroner : it is due to a misreading of the title
(tu, dtu) must not be confounded in value with c
" scribe of the account of
ssic(?) n stn,
\^±i=z )
the king."

Figs. 17, 62, 179. Short stick with ^ Figs. 44,

Papyrus rolled up, tied and sealed
153; B. IL, iii., fig.

by excep-
61.

knob at the end, having the appearance of a ;

club, but perhaps only an abbreviated form of tion there is no seal in fig. 44.

the walking-stick, the top of which

like the lower end of |
in its typical form.
is formed
In
(1) The group
appears to be identical with the word written
^^ (L., D., iii., 148a, &c.)

the tomb of Tehutihetep (fig. 179) the sign is r-vr-\ r-

in I yr, and ^- s £ (sha't), with
-0 <=±±r
less symmetrical than usual.
various other forms of det. indicating a bundle
Word-sign for f^v ™^> " walking-stick,"
<==
of any
[1

of papyri. It means a book or writing

"stick," "wand" (Max Mullek, Bee. de Trav., c
of the
sort, and probably refers to the slicing, » ,

ix., 21; A.Z., 1893, 126). Used wick phon.

trans.
papyrus-pith ; cf. g .

(2) c=if=, is also in O.K. to be read _j (a),

as the name of a papyrus or writing, especially

Fig. 171 ; B. IL, iii., fig. 18. Scribe's
(Methen,
outfit, consisting of palette, pen or pen-case,
of an account or register; cf.
^^
According L., D., ii., 3, top), and the ancient title
and water-pot
to
(see B. IL,

Borchakdt the sculpture on the panels of

iii., p. 12).
(Mai:., Mast., 406) = <^>
~ "°
(Methen, L., ,''.,

<=>
Hesy (Mar., Alb., PL xii.) rather indicates a ii., lb) = (panel of Hesy, Mai;.. .1//'..

leather pouch containing dry colour in place of PI. xii.). Except in titles this word does not
the water-pot
Word-sign
; but
for the following
this is not clear. seem to occur
1. 242,
— ° "hand"
after O.K.
is actually
In Pyr.,
written
e.g. T.,

^_^
(sesh), "write," believed to by an extraordinary transference-
(1) ^^ jih ss
56 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

£= [B. H., iii., fig. 37.] Flute (?). At O. Insignia, Sceptres, Symbols,
Medum, and in other very early instances, Standards.
generally represented as a narrow rectangle
The crowns of Upper and
Fig. 22.
but in Piahhetep, PI. xxxiii., it tapers from
Lower Egypt placed side by side, or one within
end to end; later, it has straight sides with a
the other, in a /^-basket, -^zzr. Royal emblems
sharp bevel at one end, as in the example
were perhaps carried in such baskets to prevent
figured.
their contact with profane things.
K
Word-sign for &,& — m « (mad), "straight,"
Word- sign for & v., ^-°;k -Q ^ shm'ti
"just," " true "
; an idea that may be connected
(selchem'ti), the name of the double crown,
either with the cubit rod or with the flute.
lit. "the two powerful (things)."
Maspero, Loret, Erman (Gram.) all agree that " the two
Det. of ^Ifc^i--* w'z'ti (ua-z'ti),
it represents a flute. Loret discussed the
flourishing (things)," and of ^=, <=,
?
^> •=>•=>• ^
question in his Flutes Egyptiennes Antiques,
wrr't (urer'i), also names for the double crown.
pp. 11-13 (Journal Asiatiqne, 1890). <=, (j
,
Wrr't is perhaps a form of wrt, " the great,"
or its variants, seems to be det. of a word
strengthened by reduplication of the final radical.
%,"*m% kV Q m ''t (inert), "oblique flute,"
and of -»- J sb, a " flute," or " to play the flute."
Cf. Fig. 22. White crown Upper of
Borchardt believes that in early times . . was (J
Egypt, consisting of a tall cap, perhaps made of
a double flute, quoting in confirmation of his
silver (or of white cloth).
theory a scene in the Cairo Museum, and that
Name, Q <k ^ Q mys'wt (mds'ut) also
later perhaps it was a single one. In several ;

O.K. sculptures the flute, held obliquely, is IV « hz't, "the white."

nan Ll,- Q m'-t (ma-t), a "stick,"

Cf. Fig. 22. Red crown Lower Egypt,
a cane and = ,
the straight flute, is
Y of
consisting of a cap or circlet, perhaps always
(L., D., ii , 52), which may possibly be read open at the top, as when the upper crown is
x
m -t (madt), though L., IK, ii., 74c, indicates fitted into it. At the middle of the back rises
in- 1 as the reading.
a bar sloping slightly backwards, and from the
inside a coil (§. projects upwards and forwards.
(===: Fig. 144. Draught-board, set with Perhaps the red crown was made of copper.
men. The board in plan, divided into three Name, w N't, also <= <=. . ^ dsr't
rows of ten squares each; the draughtsmen (desher't), "the red." The former name gave
appearing on the edge, in elevation, are of rise to the alph. value n, traceable in M.K.
two sorts ; their number varies in different and common in N.K. Often also the sign is

examples. equivalent to \^^> a s word-symbol for byti,

The draught-board is called JL. sn't, the " king of Lower Egypt," for which value see
game \ J -» W (hebd), but the value of this Sbthe, A. Z., 1890, p. 125 ; 1892, p 113.
very common phon. is ?,, /-. mn. The root mn
means
perhaps for
especially
this reason the sign
"firm," "established,"
is found above
and
^
that of the
[//. //.,

••nil
iii., fig.

in
52.]
V
Coil; the form
and the colouring —
is

false doors in tombs. The draught-board "set" black — is that often used in representing
with men and firmly placed seems thus to have symbols (cf.
^).
J,
symbolized the idea of firmness, and probably Word-sign for =.,-,. Q sn't (shen't) (B. II., i.,

was described as
e= , S\ /--. mn, "set." PI. xxx., corresponding to the true rope in
(§.
 INSIGNIA. 57

Tehutilietep, El /»'., i., PI. xxvii., 1. 1

1), occurring fly-flap, jewelled. Held by king, by Osiris as
in a title, for which see Kali. Pap., p. 2i) ;
king, and by the god Min.
Moret, lice, de Tr., xvii., 44, and which may Name, <-^ o o nhh (nekhehh), with variants
possibly refer to examination by torture, or to (Mentuhotep, p. 19, no. 19). Symbolic of
binding. The cod on the crown is named driving away evil; cf. its use in a n, o ^ hw
— ^J h'b (chab), "coil." Its use in this (khu), " protect."
title indicates that on the royal crown it sym-
bolizes authority to bind, &c. In this connexion Fig. 104, cf. Fig, 165 ; B. II., iii., fig. 44,
J
we may also note the symbolism of the rope in cf. fig. 43. Mallet-symbol, coloured black ; later,
J
the word y H \"* 't (da't), "official rank" (from blue. In fig. 165, however, it seems to be of
kingly to that of lowest officer), of which it is fine grained wood.The form is nearly that of
det. in Meduin, PI. xx. (k^„, initial H being the light mallets of red wood used by sculptors
J
omitted). Compare the word-sign y, for y 't, and flax beaters, and by boat-makers (see Ros.,
with variant forms, e.g. L., D., ii., 976. M. C, passim). But more especially — as pointed
—
out by Piehl is it the form of the mallet
Fig. 39. Crook sceptre, coloured yellow(?), It\ IV, used by kings and deities for driving
and in all detailed pictures with joints like a in pegs at the foundation of a temple, e.g. Ab.,

cane, but probably of wood with metal plating. L, L, col. 13. It is not found as an actual
In the early examples (Med urn, Pis. x., xxviii., 6; sceptre.

and Methen), the curve is slight, not turning Word-sign for | ^ hn, "servant" (fern, hn't,

downwards, r. Cf. the remarkable banded "maid-servant"); connected with the root hn,
" command." It is used, however, in a special
sceptre, very slightly curved, in the hand of
the Aam Sheikh, B. E., i., PL xxviii. Later it and opposite sense, V hn'f, meaning " his

assumed the form of our present example (cf. majesty," and hn't's, "her majesty" (obelisk of

B. H., i., PL xxviii.), probably from confusion Queen Hatshepsut, &c), in reference to king,

with the true shepherd's crook, (Methen, queen, god, and goddess. (Cf. Y7 <=> hn't,

L., D., ii., 5, right side), from which it is "mistress.") • j '

( X ] is " during the

derived. reign of " Such ceremonial expressions

The sceptre f, like the shepherd's crook, was may not be very intelligibly constructed ;

named — \ ^ rwt (dirt) (Pyr. and M.K. coffins,

» •
possibly y is in these cases really the sceptre of
&c). This is also the name for flocks and herds, " authority."
especially of goats, for which the crook and its The reading of the word-sign as J
/-> h n seems
variant forms are word-sign. The sceptre best shown by ft
y
»™> ha in L., D., ii., 8.
is word-sign for j
A, {a hq, \*\ hf (heqa),
"king," "ruler," with rad. ext. Once (A. T., 5 Figs. 84, 110. SeJchem sceptre (banded
37) this name seems to be applied to the sceptre with green and white). In tomb sculptures
itself. The reading of a is shown approxi- j this sceptre is constantly seen in the hands of
mately by its use for ^l^.'^fj] m the late nobles when out of doors but not occupied.
Original examples in bronze and wood have
text, Pianlchy, 1. 9, &c. There seems also to be
a rare value
3 the broad end of flattened oval section.
\\.& y g (yaq), Pyr. IP., 11. 211,
283, &c. The sceptre Q |^ } 04- T., PL 38) is
J, P
frequently mentioned. It is word-sign for P ^ o

£\ Cf. Fig. 148. Emblematic scourge, or shm (seJchem), "powerful," often written j^ ,
jj
58 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

N.K. {) j. . ; the fern, is usually written cylinders for seals in the earliest times is now
shm't. In Mentuhotep, PI. iii., we have a well ascertained (see De Morgan, Eecherches, ii.,

f 235, &c).
sceptre of the sekhem form called ~* j % 6
J

c Word-sign for a title, " chancellor " or " high

(aha), which is also word-sign for h\ This
treasurer," and for a word meaning " treasures,"
probably means " adornment," see Max Mvller,
&c. The reading is still uncertain, see Crum,
Bee. de Tr., The word o <= n hrp
ix. 169.
A. Z., 1894, p. 65-66.
(ftjterp), "to be commander of," "direct," is
It would be of great importance to ascertain
usually written ° n — det., arm holding
from facsimiles the precise relation of this Q =
the sekhem. But in titles of functionaries ft
J^\) to theQ htm (hhetem) or " seal," and to the
seems generally to be read ftrjo, from the Q which was hung round the neck of the goat
earliest times.

k
3
t (hjierp hat), "director of
(Cf.
} %= ^
works").
°
} ^ % hrp in fcry, -
the first
sh (sah). It is probable that
and
» |

last are necklaces denoting rank,

and imitating the true seal htm. In L., D., ii.,
On the analogy of the
sceptre may be developed from a large heavy-
last, the type of this
96, Q, in the
pfeiler B.), differs in shape
group ®
Q ^ "seal" (Ealb-
and colouring from
headed mallet by flattening the head for
lightness.
Q = ^\) (both in Ostseite).
hrp in
J^ J\_ Todt., cap. 99, is

the name of the heavy mallet which drives

the mooring-post, and this mallet is of the same ^T Cf. Figs. 168, 175 ; B. H., iii., frontis-

form as that used by quarrymen, &c. It would piece. Hawk -perch, with two ornamental
at least be quite appropriate as an emblem of straight plumes at the back ; at the end of the
"power over" a thing (P©|^ shm). In Pyr. horizontal bar a peg passed through it, holding
P., 1. 409, &c, there is another instrument the food trough. A perch is far more appro-
P©$s, which may be the origin of the sceptre. priate to a hawk than to most of the sacred
Both sehhem and aba sceptres are named in birds, as e.g. ibis, goose, &c, and JK is a

Pyr., but apparently there is no mention of a common det. of divinity (v. V^. and J).
The
sceptre named Jcherp. perch would be distinctive of the sacred hawks
kept in the temple as opposed to wild hawks
£t> Fig. 138 ; B. H., iii., fig. 36. Cylinder hence it was used by transference at a very

seal (?), with string for suspension ; or badge of early period as the distinctive support of sacred
office in imitation of a cylinder seal, Besides emblems, whether animate (birds, quadrupeds,
Q .

^\) we have Q and a form between , these two, parts of animals — e.g. J=JL), or inanimate. It

all three forms being found in El B., i., PI. xx. is perhaps most commonly seen with the symbols
The string is usually of beads, perhaps invariably of the nomes.
so in O.K. detailed hieroglyphs (Medum, front., Its name as "perch of the gods" is <!%•<=>

fig. 12). Borchardt, A. Z., 1897, p. 106, pub- yH (a, ft).

lishes a fine example of the Q form from a Vth

Dyn. false door from Saqqareh, and shows the |
Fig. 187. Symbolic staff with canine
possibility of the projection at the lower end head; coloured bine, probably for earlier black.
being a handle to a metal (?) frame in which a It is remarkable that |
does not appear among
cylinder seal revolves. Professor Petrie had the numerous symbolic staves figured in M.K.
already conjectured that the sign represented a coffins.
cylinder seal (Medum, pp. 32-33). The use of Word-sign - wsr't (uier't) in Pyr.
for \ P
<=• • :
 SYMBOLS. 59

with rad. ext. The nature of the quality the name of one of the offerings, probably with

word may be learnt from the the same meaning, and is sometimes placed on
denoted by this
fact that it is distinct from § " authority," the ^r like the symbol of the Theban nomes.
The only important variant for this is Q
" power," as exercised upon a person or thing J^, J^
(1
;

seems rather to denote canine powers of free, if-l nr (or wf), "vulture's perch (?)," Pyr. T.,
it

movement, intelligence. Note also the 1. 76 (cf. the worship of Mut at Thebes) but ;
swift

common formula Vk^l?l1H this is probably not the reading of the sign.

3jp Fig. 13. Scorpion, much conven-

tionalized, holding in each of its pincers a
" dkh in heaven before Ra, user on earth before
small abbreviated ^ and joined by a
"life,"
Geb, maa-kheru (triumphantly appealing for
band to the ring, Q, "million," q.v. (From
blessedness) in the underworld before Osiris."
D. el B., i., PL xi. ; cf. also I.e., ii., Pis. xxxiii.,
Thus the canine user seems to represent earthly
xlv.).
resource, power and wealth, just as the winged
The scorpion, \ I _* •~ wV't, here no doubt re-
dlch stands for heavenly power.
presents the goddess p <= j ~ Srq-t, or P <=> & °- 1 ~
•
•

[In Sign Pap., p. xviii., 1. 3, "j is explained " the piercer of the
Srq't hi, " the piercer," or
< >
by the word 1 P ^ wsr't, confirming throat "—i.e. to admit air. This goddess is in

Lauth's conjecture that wsr must be the Coptic fact sometimes represented by ^ in late texts
She was one
ba^juup (fern.), which according to the evidence (cf. Birch, A. Z., 1870, p. 19).

of Hesychius ap. Peyron was a Libyan name for of the vivifyingand protecting goddesses, and
the fox.] the present composite symbol which is placed —
amongst others denoting divine blessings near
1 [Cf. B. H., iii., fig. 67.] A kind of sceptre the figure of the king in certain religious scenes

with canine head, the ears long and laid back. — may indicate renewing the power of respiration
J
The name \ (uas), for millions of times.
of this sceptre is \ P w; s

or fern, w^s't with phon. trans. A similar The sign is not used in ordinary inscriptions.
;

sceptre with twisted handle named """i-o^,

is

zm (zam). Such sceptres are commonly seen Wf Fig. 14. A (7«/-pillar,

jj,
with uplifted

in the hands of the gods. The name of the human arms supporting <^ (q.v., p. 32). This

symbol is used in the same connexion as the

Oxyrhynchite nome,
j J j
^p- = j J T~ F V r i.
-

PL xxxiii.).
last (cf. D. el B., ii.,
variants of M., 182), seems to be W^bwt,
The ^ was emblematic of stability. The arms
W
1.

fi J ^ ©
(L " Bt iiij 14<J ' (/)j which gives may represent the |J lea, and are often added
another value, w'b, for j,
probably due to local to emblems. The <~S> also seems to mean
mythology. " firm."

The symbol therefore apparently signifies

[B. II., iii., fig. 67.] The uas-sceptre with "firm," "stable."
f
feather. The forms in Pyr. are very curious,
8 Fig. 14. Symbolic pillar, properly
showing an ostrich feather on a staff, which is Cf.
In Todt.,
apparently twisted with a very strong spiral with tenon at top (Medum, PL xiii.).

cap. 155, itsymbolical of the backbone of

is
twist, and forked below.
supposed Osiris. Petrie, Medum, p. 31, has suggested
As a name of Thebes,
^ ^,
this is
a row of four pillars, the
that it represents
to read \ $J -~ W's't (JJatt). It appears in
60 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

c
capitals appearing as though one above, i.e. The sign has the value -j> r-. o nh (anhk), with
beyond, another. More probably the symbol many meanings, chief of which is "life," of
is conventionalized from a sacred tree with which -r is the well-known symbol.
branches lopped and forming the pillar of a
Plutarch, De
house ; cf. the story in Is.,
T [B. H., iii, fig. 39.] Ceremonial forked
cap. 15.
object, used in the ritual of the dead.
Name, ^ = zd, " the firm," with rad. ext.
Its name has two forms, <=» <— nf™ l-f pss
Amulet for stability.
(kef jn-sesh) and pss Iff, which may mean re-
spectively "divider of the united," and " uniter
3 Fig' 24. An object not unlike four
of the divided"; but cf. Maspero, Table
bowls of different colours, nested together and
d'Offrandes, p. 12 ; Pieiil, Sphinx, ii., p. 34.
having a small rounded projection at the top.
Borchardt would derive the symbol from a
The colours are probably conventional. It
well-known form of ornament, cf. Mentuhotep,
closely resembles the top of the u
PI. iv., and p. 24 (no. 57) but the reference to
Word-sign for — _» g
c
(sha), "cut," with
Bu., Wtb., p. 1269, seems to afford no support
;

phon. trans., perhaps referring to the lopping

for this theory, as it gives only part of the usual
of the branches for the jf. Later the word
list of offerings. It may possibly be connected
became = -j <=» s
c
d (shad) (cf. nir = m rd,r
s.v.
with the bicornate uterus of animals, which
,
[

V/), and this is found in a late text as the name

perhaps is symbolized in the two feathers 1 Ji
of the upper part of the fj (Br., 117/'., 134//).
of the nome of Eileithyia, and is associated with
But perhaps owing to its connexion with the
rain's horns in the head dresses of gods of
tied representing the backbone of Osiris, § is
generation. Cf. also Ah., i., p. 78, for Osiris
connected also with the vertebrae or joints,
Anzti wearing 1 instead of )li , if this is not a
called i=®=3 of the backbone, and so may be det.
mistake of the sculptor.
of " back." We may therefore prefer to asso-
ciate its value with the division — as it were the
\B. H., Standard of the West.
" slicing " of the backbone into vertebrae — and jf

Ostrich feather
iii., fig. 25.]
on an object resembling the
to consider it as representing four articulated
hieroglyph ^, through which is a string or
vertebrae.
thread, I. In O.K. the type is with the hawk
-r Fig. 135. In the earliest examples the added, <^. As Maspero has pointed out, the

symbol of life is coloured black (Medum, PI. xiv. earliest form of the symbol of the West is seen
and p. 33), often with arms and upright drawn in a schist plaque in the Louvre (Rev. Arch.,
as though each were divided longitudinally. 1890,PL iv.), where a man carries a staff sur-
Professors Sayce and Petrie saw in it the fisher- mounted by a hawk and ostrich feather, arranged
man's girdle (Medum, I.e.). In any case the much as in w, and Avith two straight plumes
sign probably represented a knot or tie of some hanging obliquely behind, somewhat like those

kind, perhaps amuletic. On M.K. coffins the -r- attached to the ^p in //. //., iii., frontispiece.

is painted blue or green (Stkixdorff, Meydu- Word-sign for 1 ",

s
-™> • ~ Ymn't (Ament), "the
hotep, p. 20, PI. i\\), and is placed at the West," with rad. ext. to other forms of the
foot-end with the sandals; this again suggests root, e.g. (1 //inn, "right-hand" =]iy>ymn,
that it is a girdle. It may be that it was "right-hand." This value changed very early
attached as symbolical of life to a victim or to 4> irimi (unem) for "right-hand," which
reprieved prisoner. word was probably only a form of the last
 SYMBOLS— UNCLASSIFIED SIGNS. 61

produced by metathesis ; it even varies with PL ii., fig. 4, &c). In the '.'sportive." hieroglyphs
ij inn, in Vijr. (cf. Erman, A. Z., 1893, 82). For of II. //., ii., PI. xiv. (left) = L., D., ii., 143, a,
"West" the original value was retained, and the standard of the East would snem to lie a
after O.K. irnm was generally written & f\ ^-^ spear without the crossbar or
. pellets.
It may here be remarked that in the sign
^ the ^ is perhaps phonetic, indicating the
fern, ending of the name " West." The idea of
" the West
symbolized by the ostrich feather,
" is P. Unclassified.
ostriches being then abundant throughout the
Libyan desert. The symbolism of the haAvk is
—J"" Fig. 158. A sign apparently represent-
ing a slender wooden upright, bearing a cross-
not very clear, but the cord H, sometimes
piece perhaps occurring only here (El ]>., i.,
appearing like a piece of cloth, may be con- ;

PL xv., lower left).

nected with the arts of spinning and weaving, cf.
The group ~T* ° probably stands for f
^
which were held high estimation by
in
T
I, ,
II , 111 4- II

Slk'^ hm'wt (hem'ut), "craftsmen. is,

the Libyans.
in fact, very nearly identical with the hieratic

fig. 26.] Standard of the East.

iii.,
character for y, \ j\ vh\ "to bore," and
| [//. //., hm't, "artificer," and may be taken from it.
The form at Beni Hasan, I.e., "f, with two
plumes between two pellets, is confirmed by
But it may be actually the picture of some kind
of boring instrument, with cross-bar instead
El B., i., PL xv., bottom row, to right. The
of weighted handle as in y. For y, see
a
usual form is ¥ ;
in the archaic schist plaque of
Borchardt, A. Z., 1897, p. 107 Max Mui.ler,
the Louvre the pole ends in a tongue-like object ;

Bee. de True, ix., 161-2.

between two small Y7 (?) ; the cross-bar below is

broad and rounded, and the two straight plumes

hang at the back ; but the work is too rough to T Fig. 67. A bar of wood crossed above

fix the details. the middle by a shorter bar ; a cord binding, or

Word-sign for \ \ J • - y'lrt (dalrt), "the wound round, the junction. In the early paint-
ings Medinn, Lis. xi., xxvii.), the object
East," H\ J " left-hand," &c. ; with phon. (cf. is

transf. coloured red throughout, and there is no bind-

The two balls may be explained as of incense ing. The present form is perhaps a corruption
from the South-East, Punt, &c. (on the schist of the earlier T. The sign may represent a
plaque replaced by censers). The feathers may winder for thread (?). Unfortunately Professor

be due to a misunderstanding ; the earlier and Petrie has not offered any explanation of it in

more typical object like a spear-head may be a his most suggestive chapter on the hieroglyphs
flame, or more probably a blade-shaped ingot of of Medum.
bronze, such as might have been imported from Common word-sign with the value /-* ^ nz.

the North-East. Such a sign o, indicates the In the word (l"^^, ^^ snz, "fear,"
"J"
useful metals in O.K., see L., D., ii., 49b may be phon., but more probably the word is a
pseudo-causative form of ' " (cf.
(melting metal), and Medv/m, PL xiii., left top, p. 6).

where ingots coloured blue and pink show the

material of the objects beneath. In Medvm, Fig. 81. Two-barbed spear-head (?), coloured
I
PL xv., an — ® hsmn corresponds to an
of red (in XVIIIth Dyn.), and therefore presumably
jo of blue ft in PL xiii., and hsmn is coloured of wood or bronze. In O.K. it has the same
blue in the later paintings (cf. Lep., Die Metalle, form (Methen, &c, &c). The ordinary printed
62 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

form, V , is barbarous ; like certain other types it is found written i~vrn I n, as if spelt si

used in printing, it belongs to a base period, (shes).

and has nothing to do with the real nature of Det. of the ^fe^i, Pyr., M., 1. 608;
the object represented. ^fe^, K, fl213; y^-T^ P;
Word-sign for <-* sn, the root Sn meaning
P
1. 425, "he who watches the hand" as a
the quality of things that go in pairs, that are
retriever, probably the tame cat that accom-
equal: "two," "duplicate," "pair," "brother,"
panied its master on marsh expeditions, to re-
"sister," &c. ; and also "breathe," "smell."
trieve birds for him (cf. Nav., Todt., ch. xxxix.,
11 sn is the name of the posts or flag-staffs set
1. 5). n is often figured in the sacred barks of
up before temples, &c. perhaps in early times
;
the sun and of Sokaris, no doubt representing
they had the form )1, with wedge-like base-
their attendants.
When one considers that the Arab sheikh sticks
Presumably the sign pictures the apparatus
a spear upright in the ground before his tent
carried by an attendant for his master, and
door, it suggests that the I is a blunt wooden
thus becomes a symbol and id. of attendance.
spear or spear-head for ceremonial purposes.
sn't (B. II.,
Fig. 51. A staff, angulated near the top
i., PI. xxxiv., better in L., D., ii., 130) is con-
and tied round at the angle, resembling the
nected with a spear or spear-head. The value
article of dress called d<=-jj j yd
c
/t
c
(ped
sn may be due to the " two " barbs, as opposed
c
aha), which is always represented in pairs, but
to the harpoon w ,
which in O.K. is always
the use of which is undetermined (cf. Mentuhutep,
represented with " one " barb only.
PI. iii.).
<= >
In M. and N.K. word-sign for <= P
^ ^ <s>,
| Fig. 115. Piece of wood, rounded below, rs, " to be awake," " to have the mind alert,"
tapering to a point at the top where it is the substantive <=>
P •
\^ rs'ict meaning a
curved over. " dream." The object reminds one of the staff
Value, q I) ty (fa). In N.K. the sign was and loop held by the figure of the watchman,
adopted as homophone of <=>, where a tall sign guard, herdsman .&$, which is very variable in
was required in grouping hieroglyphs, s=j being form. In Pyr., the word rs is written with
used as the corresponding long sign. The ],
I (W., 1. 166), the groups being sometimes
meaning and name of the sign are alike <==> Probably in these cases a
I' I ' fnl" |,

doubtful.
sign of many values, represents a watchman's
staff, and is sometimes used in pairs because
Fig. 102, A curious sign consisting of a there would often be two watchmen seated
white package attached to a curved stick, a red opposite one another at the entrance to a
object projecting above and below the package building.

— perhaps the ends of a tie, but the upper one Confused with r, q.r.

is pointed like a knife.

Word-sign for °=>
^ (.shpms)
p sms
cf. t\ ; j] °^ Fig. 77. Bokchardt, A. Z., 1897,
Pierret, A. Z., 1879, 136 Erman, A. Z., 1891,
; 106, figures this hieroglyph as it appears on the
38; All., ii., 43 = Rouge, Inscr. hierogl., 2 beautiful wooden tablets of Hesy (Illrd Dyn.)
(Vlth Dyn.), and onJ^[1^, Levi, Voc. (photographed, Mar., Alb. de Boul., PI. xii.)i
(from Bui. 8tel., 29247); meaning "servant," As he points out, it is nearly identical with the
" attendant," " follower." More often, however, formidable whip of twisted thongs in O.K. 1
 UNCLASSIFIED. 63

scenes of driving rams over the ground to sides of the triangle are truncated and support
break it up, " plough it," as it is said in the a red bowl-shaped object which rests on a red
inscription. Compare the whips, L., D., ii., cylinder. (In our reproductions, figs. 140 and
1066, with the examples of <=^ in Ptahhetep, 123, the greenish-blue base is unfortunately
PI. xxxi. The forms of the sign are curious in rendered green in one case and blue in the
their varieties, and it requires further in- other.) In Medum, PL xiii., the sides and base
vestigation. are white. In the N.K. form (see /J\
in fig. 60)
Word-sign for ^ S mh, "fill," "north," &c. it appears to be a stand containing a broad tube,
It may be derived from I h, " strike," with which is contracted in the middle and opens
prefixed m, or from mh, " flax," or mh't, out above and below. The sign often resembles,
" diadem." at least in outline, the lower part of A), repre-

Phon. for mh. sented as in B. H., iii., fig. 48, D. el B., ii.,

PL xxviii. ; in this the vase is placed in a

Q Fig. 55. A packet (?), gland (?). Its wooden stand, a small support sometimes rising
occasional variation with "0°
rather indicates in the middle of the stand for the base of the
that it is a packet. vase to rest on. A similar object, combined
This sign is very common in the medical with a knife, is seen in the id. of the butcher's
papyri, in the first place as the word-sign for block (?), Pyr. y., 1. 622, ^^(?), P, L 87,
\^ wt (ut), in the verbal sense of "poultice" &c, &c, which is perhaps to be read /~*^*^
(elsewhere " embalm "), and secondly as det. of nm't. Miss Paget's copy of this sign, as it

fat, soft secretions, pustules, &c. It may also occurs in the Pyramid of Pepy, shows it to be

stand alone as ab. for "*^ lbs, q zd* (zeda). identical in form with the present example of
" fatted," of animals amTbirds, for % ® ° the sign ^ . The bowl looks as if it might be
intended to receive refuse or liquid, which
whd'w (ukhedu), "pustules," and for fi IQ hs,
would be earned down the central support or
" dung," and perhaps for some other words drain-pipe (?).
also as det. of strong odour. Anciently the Word-sign for © <=» hr (kher) ; with rad. ext.
word I P J hsb " account," " count," was written Its meaning is "lower" as opposed to 5 -= hr,
" upper," a sense which might be symbolized
| I
Jx, the det. x indicating "separate classi-
by the lower part of a vessel in its stand, as
fication," "enumeration in separate categories";
also by a " sink " (?).
after O.K. it is regularly written ^
PI 2\ seems to occur once as phon. in ^ r_
and by phon. trans. O becomes the word-sign a
Pyr. P., 1. M., 1. 641 -Tnit this
339=.J^ft n
,

of several words hsb. Possibly this may be may be a mistake.

accounted for by the above value $ P hs leading
to the substitution of O for x as det. of hsb, ~L Fig. 60. Graphic compound, consisting
and on this followed quickly its use as the of ffl and "1, in the present instance connected
word-sign for hsb. with /, a desert slope, as a kind of det. The a
is often omitted, and in O.K. jk replaces the

2\ Fig. 140, cf. Fig. 60. An open stand (?), ]

invariably.
possibly a kind of funnel, drain or sink. Some- Word-sign for o <=> • <=. - /-> =s> <=> lift nfr [hher't

what variable. The colouring and form of base nether), "that which belongs to a god," i.e. the
and sides are in the present instance identical necropolis, place of the dead — cf. the German
with those of A in fig. 123, except that the " Gottesacker." The sandy slope (cf. a, the
64 DISCUSSION OF THE SIGNS.

fertile slope) refers to the situation of ancient (g3 The sign rather suggests a
Fig. 36.
burial-places above the reach of the inundation race-course (Roman cirrus), the green baud
on the sandy edges of the Nile valley or on the representing the course itself, the position of
sandy gezirehs of the Delta. The name seems the spectators in the middle (spina) and the
to be fern, s •=» • <=. not q-=, its derivative bein£r outer horse-shoe stand being coloured blue.
" man °^
kr 'ti n ^r ^ie necropolis," But we have no proof that anything of that
m\ sSr '

"
meaning especially a mason." kind ever existed in Egypt.
Thrice repeated, the sign is placed behind
the figure of the king when he is running
Figs. 18,123; B. H., iii., fig. 104. Hollow
A towards a god (or dancing ?) with offerings
triangular figure, with small point arising from
the centre of the base. In fig. 18 it is coloured
usually he is offering the A, and the rudder, or
two vases of water to Min or Amen (Kopto?,
green throughout. In the tomb of Merab
PI. ix. ; I), el B., i., Pis. xix., xxii. ; L., IK, iii.,
(L., IK, ii., 19) the sign is altogether black; in
33;/, h, 119c, 143,/). In L., B., iii., 167, the
B. It., iii., fig. 104, the base is blue and the
group is omitted ; in Eos., M. C, 1., 2, a bark
rest black ; here, in fig. 1 23, the base is greenish
is substituted for the rudder as a gift to
blue, the point green, and the sides black. At
Xekhebt. In L., D., iii., 57/>, it occurs where
Beni Hasan grey-blue is a frequent colour for
the king is running to Hathor with a crested
representing ground, and black for showing
ibis and symbolical staves. At Abydos the
building in brick. In early times black is also
scene does not appear to exist. The sign, still
the colour for ground ; in the XVIIIth Dynasty,
in a group of three, occurs also in the title
green. Hence the colours of our figure may
indicate a triangular erection on the
but this does not give us the explanation of the
ground ; Tf £n (P. II., i PL XXXV.), If* •=>

sign, which is not without many points of Siflfrjfi — i

(Ab., ii., 23, 1. 7), which possibly
similarity to fig. 140. A D "give," is
denotes the " erpa who
/J\, attends to the (Q
probably only a graphic compound of word- ceremonials in the courtyard."
sign and det., and throws no light on the The reading is unknown.
nature of A .

The reading of A is not quite clear. From

^X? Figs. 9, 178.
Cf. In some scenes this
earliest times A = h— o, ^ I, or ==» () ,]_// (da)
figure suggests a " rocker " (for a rocking-chair,
(Pyr. M., 1. 516 = P., 1. 235), and we often find
&c), Ros., M. 8., xl. ; Mar., Ah., i., xxii., xxiii.,
<=> A = & a, with the meaning "give," "put."
xxxi.b. At Deir el Bahri, in the foundation
Steindorff (A. Z., 1891, 60) argues that A o
deposits of the temple, a number of small
= =• 1) , though there is much evidence for
wooden frames were found, perhaps models of
reading it as = alone. It seems as if rd, dy,
rockers, each consisting of two curved boards,
'/'/(?), were all forms of one word, "to give,"
^Z7 joined together by cross-bars (one, pre-
and that (<=•) o ((j), with fugitive initial r, and
,

cisely similar, is figured in Ros., M. 6'., lxvi.,

a weak final y, was the root. The question,
11). They may be connected with the festivals
however, is a delicate one.
and with the sign ^£7.
The variant <=> ^\'— (Pyr'., N-, 1.33), Det. of names of festivals. After O.K. used
" humour," " emanation," for
<= >
v\ * — " (Pyr. as word-sign for { j Jib, " festival."

M., 1. 195), is apparently a rare case of trans-

ference of this word-sign. r'- Fig. 63. Perhaps a case, with open top,
 I
XCLASSIFIKD. 65

and cord to sling it. Cf. also the panel being nl'i-f is known.The markings are certainly
painted in ]>. II., ii., PI. xiii. ; but the re- like those on the 'O. They may represent the
semblance is slight. In Ab., i., PI. xl.c, a is structure of the heart seen in section, and have
presented to the goddess Sekhemt by the king been transferred to the belly of the lute in the
in the form of a sphinx, r may be the
!
case sign T, where they are constant. Lutes of
for containing the tools of trade, utensils, &c, similar form, but without the markings (?) are
and intended to be hung over the shoulder. figured in the houses of Tell el Amarna
Cf. the rectangular case often seen by the side (e.g. L., D., iii.. 106a).
or on the back of scribes and attendants in 0. This sign has the phonetic value /->«—«= nfr,

and N.K. (L., D., ii., 23, &c). and generally means " good," " beautiful."

Word- sign for S

/\
^1
www
ft,
LI
{^ hn (hen); very Br., Wtb., 758, presupposes a name for a lute,

rare in O.K. "nfr" = bll (yavXcz, nablium), and Erman

In the present instance from Paheri (iii. left), (Z. D. M. 67., xlvi., 112) accepts his theory as

ft ^ seems to mean " tasks," or " occupa- probable ; but this name has not yet been
found in Egyptian, nfr might mean "adjusted,"
tions." Moreover, jj
^X 0%°, !( <- ^ hnw,
" tuned," in reference to the lute, since T
constantly has a general meaning of " utensils,"
^ ,

"goods." J^N^ vfrt, the "tiller" or "tiller-rope,"

is probably so called as the " adjuster " of the

rudder, and so of the ship.
Figs. 49, 164. An object resembling a The absurd inventions which go under the
lute with one peg, — as
or in Medum and name of the Hieroglyphics of Horapollo, seem
generally in late times — with two pegs. The to contain a reminiscence of the sign T . II. 4
stem seems graduated for the fingers, and the runs thus : 'Avdpo'mov /capSia (^apuyyos rjp7r)jj.eur),

markings on the belly possibly show the form ayaOov dvdpconov aTop-a. cr-qpaivei, " a man's
of the openings in skin stretched over half a heart hung from the windpipe means the mouth
gourd. In Medum, PL xxviii., the colouring of of a good man." It seems that Horapollo's
T is as in our examples, but in Pis. xxiv., symbolism treated virtuous speech as a result
xxvii., the whole object seems to have been of direct connexion between the heart and the
coloured red. Mr. Spurrell and Prof. Petrie organs of speech ; and it may be that the
{Medum, p. 30), noting the resemblance of the Egyptians imagined that the windpipe was
belly of the instrument with its markings to the connected with the heart, and that on this con-
heart, suggest that I may represent the heart nexion, as figured in I, dejiended the goodness,
and tracheae. But no anatomical term nfr or or the health and happiness, of the person.
 67

ADDENDA.

Page ix. (Abbreviations). Tbe opinions stones ; see a figure in Hastings, Diet, of Bible,
cited in tbis volume under tbe names of L, 50. hw sp't occurs also at Zawyet el Maiyitin
Borchardt, Loret, Maspero, and Piehl, with- (L., D., ii., 107, top),
j[
out specific reference, are those expressed in Jj-. The spelling of the verb
P. 37, col. 2.
their respective reviews of Beni Hasan, iii., " to eat on the coffins of
" in linear hieroglyphs
mentioned in the Preface. simply or
Mentuhotep at Berlin is -I- 1
«=§= i

Appended are a few necessaiy corrections. (the two signs being indistinguishable); A. T.,
Some of these have been suggested by a study PL viii., 11. 67, 71, 73. On the coffin of
of the valuable squeezes of the tomb of Ptab-
Sebekaa 4> is distinct from •=$=> and the verb
hetep, lent to the Survey by the authorities of
is written Hh (&, & T; Vl xlii L 47 ->
'>

AAAAAA C-l !
the Berlin Museum, others by the admirable
plates of Mr. Newberry's forthcoming edition of
4-%., Z.c.,1.65; 4-^i|), I.*., PLzlL, AA/W\A / P v\ /WW\A _CT\i C—Ji

11. 39-40. The latter coffin, therefore, preserves

the tomb of Rekhmara, proof copies of several
fully the ancient value, while the former agrees
having been placed at the disposal of the
with the usual M.K. spelling <=j=- QA
author.
It is doubtful whether the word for "ulcer" (?)
P. 4, col. 2. An interesting example of the
is connected with that for " eating," and the
abandonment of flexional consonants is furnished
word for "flame" reads ymijt, not wmyf. The
by the word 1\ © CK_. m'hsf, "spindle,"
l
5

value ymi was thus evidently transferred to

Todt., cap. cliii. (N.K.), giving to t the word-sign
other roots than that from which it originated.
value o — *— hsf (khesef).
very remarkable that never
&—°. It is therefore <£> is
P. 16, col. 1. The verb m often occurs
used for the simply prepositional or adverbial
in O.K., in scenes in which a person shows or
\\ t\ , and in forms of this root is confined to
offers an object to another to accept. Whether
the adjectival ymi and its derivatives ymitirni,
the sign originally signified tbe offering or the
" between two," &c.
acceptance (the implied command to accept), it
P. 39, col. 1. —— . Some may prefer to
is difficult to decide. The instance in Paheri
connect the name of this with the root s\
needs confirmation from earlier sources.
" guard," rather than with " pass."
P. 19, col. 1. <*=*,. In Rekhmara, PL ii., 1. 1,
*=*^
c
W occurs apparently with the meaning
plough
P. 44, col. 2.
drawn by oxen having
is
-Q-.
across
In El B., ii.,

——
PL v., the

" a hide," and this probably gives the origin of

their horns as a yoke. Thus -Q- is the harness
the value of this sign.
for ox-draught, a bar (-*— in Rekhmara) with
P. 20, col. 2. ^.
The Berlin squeezes of
cord to fix to pole.
Ptahhetep satisfactorily show that the det. of
mmct in Ptahhetep, PI. xli., is not ^fe», but is
P. 50, col. 2. ^. The reading of the

more like the pigeons in I.e., PL xxxi., &c, mythological place-name ^r^ ^p w, Petrie,
with long bill and tail not forked. We must Six Temples, L, probably nvr diwi. The
4, is

not therefore connect 1^=* Avith a pigeon. sign stands as ab. for wgs, " split," in connexion
P. 27, col. 2. Q. In Syria the threshing- with fish, &c. (add. note to Eah. Pap., xxxix.,
floors are circular, and edged by large rough 1. 36).

F 2
 6x

EEEATA
(To HIEBOGLYPHS and BENI HASAN, III.).

EIEBOGLYPES. which splash and preen themselves in the water.

140 the bases should be

But fig. 2 remains a puzzle.
PI. viii., figs. 123, ;

P. 8, fi£. 11. A distin o-uisbed zoologist has

each of the same colour — greenish blue. pointed out that it is inaccurate to sjieak of
the crop of a duck, the duck tribe beinc;
BEX HASAN,
I III.
characterized by the absence of the crop.
PL iv., fig. 42. should be placed hori- P. 8, fig. 12. This is to be read htm, not
zontally, — I. —\ ; r. above, p. 22.
PI. vi., fig. 89. a should be bluish green. P. 10, note. Professor Maspero notes that
P. 4. Maspero refers to Rouge, Rev. Arch., M. Joret's paper read before the Academie <h's

1872, tome xxiii., pp. 70-71, for a reading of Inscriptions is published in Melanges de Philo-
the Oryx nome-sign as mh't. Loret considers logie romane dedies a Carl Wahlund,^. 273-80.
the animal to be the Oryx beisa, on account of P. 22, fig. 36. According to Brugsch the
its white colour (cf. the name nv'hz, " the verb ^0 ^>- occurs only once, and that in a
J
white (?) wi "), leucoryx being fawn and rust- very late text. It may mean "to cut," but
coloured. not "to carve," or "to sculpture."
P. 5, fig. 1. For "sixth column from left" P. 23, note. The reference to Prisse, Art
read "sixth column from right," as Loret Sgyptien, is ii., PI. 62, according to the
points out. arrangement indicated in the Table of Contents.
P. 6, fig. 2. The sign read vb by Max P. 29, fig. 90. Borchardt considers g-n-F to
Miiller is apparently nothirig but ^s*. The be the armlet often figured on M.K. coffins,

rhti birds, " fullers," are in the best example with the ties in this case changed to beads.
(L., ]>., ii., 126 = D. R., I., xxix.) clearly ducks P. 32, fig. 103. For " to complete " read
(or geese ?), birds, presumably of white varieties, "to be completed."
 69

ORDER OF THE SIGNS.

A. Humanity.

, F, *, £, ) ^> J 5
',
1 PP- H-13.

B. Anthropomorphic Deities; Human Ranks and Classes.

3, $, % t A 4, f!> pp- ^-u.

C. Human Action.

1 M, O. f, ^ Y, V^(W), UJ, A-*,

A i pp. 14-16.

D. Mammals and Parts of Mammals.

_©, JtL,, %, ^?, %», *o 5 ? 7 > (P > ^ J, T, PP- 10-19.

E. Birds and their Parts.

"k, "k, ^, ^, IE J J¥^ ' - £C ^ ' -II '

v ^* ' J-l ' J1 » *,
^^T ' V JJ ' «S, T.
> _cr ' , "?>, ^, ^ P, PP- 19-23.

F, Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, &c.

, a*""} &; PP- 23-26.

G. Trees, Herbs, Grasses, &c.

, I, I, % F, ill, 1, ©, S, s , f. ?, 1. I h, PP- 30-30.

H. Sky, Earth, and Water.

G, a, *, t^D, m, =-, a[$], ebbe, — [£~«], Enna, c, o, pp. 30-34.

I. Buildings and their Parts.

•, 0. H(ffl). m . Q. n . > 1111' II II II' ^37» ,

"If, L>, % ,

pp. 34-39.
70 ORDER OF THE SKIXt?.

J. Vases and Pottery, Fire.

6. I t ffl, °, r, l <*, ffl

,
U ,
n , ft, ±, pp. 39-43.

K. Fibre, Textile, Basket-, Mat-, and Leather-Work.

I <Z, 1 -e-, S\ ft 5, =* -h [\ ^, 1, A, o, D =S= Q A, i. (») KL

\ pp. 43-48.
L. Implements and Tools.

=s i v, f(?), p, ^^ S, 1, i, .], pp. 48-51.

M. War, Hunting, &c.

", I *-, Et> pp. 51-54.

N. Furniture, Food, Personal Accoutrements, Writing, Music, Games.

^ fl R M( 11™
III :t
(e), i [|], ', = , pp. 54-56.

O. Insignia, Sceptres, Symbols, Standards.

, 4, V, <C T, a, !, !, ^, -r, 1, 1, f, t, f , I, •; f, T. i ti

pp. 56-61.

P. Unclassified.

T, t I I i I ~\ Q, ffi, 1, A, «3, ^ &, J, PP. 61-66.

 71

INDEX TO FACSIMILES.
(Including those quoted from BEXI HASAN, III., and BENI HASAN, I.)

Plate I.

Fig. 1
72 INDEX TO FACSIMILES.

Fig. 72
 7::
INDEX TO FACSIMILES

Fig. 168 sacred ibis on perch 21, 21, 58

169 upright cross
170 tree trunk trimmed
171 writing outfit
172 hand, cl

173 serpent, z ...

1 74 stand of balance ...

175 hare on perch, nome-sign

176 water-line...

177 arms with shield and club

178 hcb with canopy ...

179 knobbed staff

180 cord-stick, ud
74 INDEX TO FACSIMILES.

PAGE
Fig. 55 foreleg of animal ...
56 plan of chamber or courtyard
57 human mouth
58 flower-stem (?) crushed down, uden
59 arm
60 mouth in profile ...
6 1 papyrus roll

Plate V.

Fig. 62 double courtyard with palace

63 nem knife ...

64 fire-drill

65 nem knife ...

66 chest
67 uas sceptre with feather ...

68 fire-drill

69 cerastes

70 knife
71 bone harpoon
72 ostrich feather
PLATES.
Hieroglyphs.

'l.F
Scale— Nn. I. full size. Deir EL Bahri.
Nos. 2-6
Hieroglyphs. XVIIIth Dynasty. Pl. II.

tAAAAA.
>V '/ /
12
'/
\ '/\

KM

Scale |. Deir el Bahri. R.F.E.P.

Hieroglyphs. XVIIIth Dynasty. Pl. III.

Scale 5
Hieroglyphs. XVIIIth Dynasty. PL. IV.

43
41

42

IPiT/fr
44

46

47
49

Scale
m 50
Deir el Bahri. f/.F.E.i
Hieroglyphs. XVIIIth Dynasty. Pl. V

52

51 ,>•

M "2r
55
L_~ '

54

/
9 M I

56
T
57
*j
62 63

If. 11
60

It

» 64

58

\>

61

59

Sea/e § El Kab, Tomb of Paheri. A.P.

 Hieroglyphs. XVIIIth Dynasty. Pl. VI.

70
68
69

) V (
71

1
*\
72

74

73

75

78

76

.J?
79

-*

81
82
80
83

Scale i El Kab, Tomb of Paheri. a.p.

 Hieroglyphs. XIIth Dynasty. Pl. VII.

T
86 87

53
84-
88 89
85

:'

90
I .'./

91
92

93

99

IL_
B
Hi
94

100
95 96

98

V\
101 102
103 104 1C6

Scale 84-89, M. W.B.

4
El Bersheh, Tomb of Tehutihetep.
90-106, H.C.
Hieroglyphs. XIIth Dynasty. Pl. VII

£T\f>-

111

%
I'J

108 109 110

^m^- 113

114 115
112
107

116
St \

121

120 122
118 119
117

/r^r" 129

123 124 125 126 127 128

136
134

1
130
L?\ *
131 133
135

4 VJ
138

137
c~ >Cjr>-=ui
139
"I I
UJlOt
,
;

t
I • 142 143 144 145

140 141

^ 150

146 147 148 149 151

.^ole j El Bersheh, Tomb of Tehutihotep. B.C.

 Hieroglyphs. XIIth Dynasty. Pl. IX.

tt 155 \f
153
157

156
152
154 158

162
161 163 164 165

170

166 LK
168
169

A*****\
176
CD
178

171

177
175
172

174
u
179 180

If
:

181
182 184 m
185

183
192

I
n
190

188
1
186 187 189 191 193

Scale f El Bersheh, Tomb of Tehutihotep. B.C.

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