121.

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Ancient Egyptian Onomastics841

121.



Ancient Egyptian Onomastics

has been written down by scholars: Yoyotte(1972) discussed the toponyms, Lüddeckens(1972) the anthroponyms. General introduc-tions are, for the toponyms, the study byZibelius (1982) and the series of papers bySauneron (1983), for the anthroponyms, thearticles by Quaegebeur (1974) and Vernus(1982). Bibliographical information concern-ing Egyptian onomastics can be found inthe periodical Onoma (1950 —), subsectionEgyptian (by K. Vandorpe since 1990), and inthe onomastic sections of the bibliography inthe periodical Aegyptus (1920 —) and in theAnnual Egyptological Bibliography (1948 —)and the Preliminary Egyptological Bibliog-raphy (1983 —).

3.Toponyms

(place names, names of temples, pyramids,domains, royal foundations, channels etc.)3.1.



Structure and SenseAs to their

 form

, toponyms (TN) can be di-vided into two groups: sentence- and word-names. TN composed of a sentence are ratherrare. They usually refer to pyramids (‚Mycer-inus is divine’), domains (‚Sokar wishes thatOunas lives’) or temple buildings. Most TNare, however, word-names, composed of oneword (

 Iwn,

pillar) or of a substantive definedby a genitive (

 Iw-Snfr,

Island of Snofru) orby an adjective (

 Inb.w-ḥḏ 

), The white walls,i. e. Memphis).As to their

sense,

a distinction can be madebetween(a) city-names, compounded with terms suchas

niw.t 

(city),

dmi

(town),

grg

(foundation),

c

.wy

(house, hence hamlet).(b) TN adapted from a geographical reality,related to the soil (

m3y,

newly gained land;

št3,

wood;

3ḥ,

field;

š 

c

 ,

sand), the water (

itrw-

c

3,

great river;

r3,

mouth of a water branch)or constructions such as temples (

 pr 

), stables(

ihy

).Within this group a major problem arises:how can one distinguish a real proper name(e. g., name of a city) from a common name,i. e. the name of the geographical reality itself (e. g., name of a field or a temple, which canbecome the name of its city later on)? Tem-ples, pyramids and cities have their own de-terminative (, , respectively). Unfor-tunately, the determinative is sometimes lack-ing and the context cannot always give adecisive answer.

1.Introduction2.Research on Egyptian Onomastics3.Toponyms4.Anthroponyms5.Divine Names6.Other Names7.Transliterating Names8.The Names as Source Material for OtherDisciplines9.Selected Bibliography

1.Introduction

The study of names marked the beginning of sci-entific Egyptology. The Macedonian royal namesPtolemaios and Cleopatra on the Rosetta Stoneand further the names of the pharaohs Tuthmosisand Ramesses were the key to the decipherment of hieroglyphs by Champollion (1822). Ever since,scholars examined the multitudinous Egyptiansources: texts on papyri and inscriptions on tem-ples, in graves and on stones. They cover almost3800 years of history: Early Dynastic Period(3100—2686 BC), Old Kingdom (2686—2181 BC),1st Intermediate Period, Middle Kingdom and 2ndIntermediate Period (2181—1558 BC), New King-dom (1558—1085 BC), 3rd Intermediate and LatePeriod (1085—304 BC), the Greek or PtolemaicEra (304—30 BC), the Roman and ByzantineTimes (30 BC—641). In 641 the Arabs conqueredEgypt.Various language stages and scripts are to bedistinguished. From the dawn of Egyptian historyhieroglyphswere inscribed or painted on walls.Hieraticis a simplified derivation of hieroglyphs,used for book writing and administration. It canbe written more quickly, but it still has clearlyrecognizable signs. The administrative writing,however, became gradually more cursive and de-veloped into demotic: this very cursive writingcame into vogue from about 650 BC onwards. Inthe Ptolemaic, Roman and Byzantine period, theGreek language, used by the Greeks and in theGreek administration, coexisted with hieroglyphs(for inscriptions, till 3th century AD), hieratic (forsacred writings, till 4th century AD) and demotic(mainly for temple administration, till 5th centuryAD). About 250 AD a new Egyptian writing cameinto existence: Coptic, which is still used nowa-days in liturgical works. This stage of the Egyptianlanguage is written with Greek characters, to whichare added a few signs rendering typical Egyptianconsonants.

2.Research on Egyptian Onomastics

The history of the study of Egyptian names

 

842VIII. Historische Entwicklung der Namen

Hathor = Παθυρις or Ἀϕροδίτης πόλις, Thecity of Aphrodite) or a totally new name isgiven to the city (

 Pr-Mnṯw-nb-M3tn,

Temple-domain of Montu, Lord of Medamud, GreekΤὰ κεραμεῖα). Another phenomenon worthmentioning, is that of cities having severalnames, i. e. an administrative (Edfu:

 Ḏb3,

Coptic , Arabic Tell Edfu, Greek Ἀπόλλωνος πόλις) and a religious name(Edfu:

 Bḥdt,

Greek Βαχθις).The Coptic TN are usually based on theolder Egyptian names, not on the Greektranslations or Greek new names (

 Pr-Mḏ3,

Greek Ὀξύρυγχος, Coptic ). Manyof the Egyptian TN even survive in Arabictimes (

 Pr-B3st.t,

Temple-domain of the god-dess Bastet = Arabic Basta, see TAVO B41).For Ancient Egyptian and Coptic elements inthe toponymy of modern Egypt, see Czap-kiewicz (1971) and Kosack (1971); both stud-ies are to be consulted with caution.3.3.



Onomastica and Topographical ListsThe so-called instructions for the training of Egyptian scribes are lists of words or nameson several subjects, such as fauna, flora, oc-cupations, TN. The TN are usually classifiedfrom south to north, the Delta-TN from westto east. Well-known examples of such ono-mastica are the Ramesseum-onomasticonfrom the Middle Kingdom as well as theAmenope-onomasticon and Papyrus Hoodfrom the New Kingdom, all published byGardiner (1947). A late-hieratic onomasticonfrom Tebtunis from about 100 AD is exam-ined by Osing (1989), a demotic onomasticonamong the Cairo-papyri by Zauzich (1987).Alongside the onomastica, the Egyptiansdrew up topographical lists for administrativepurposes (Schlott-Schwab 1981), the oldestone being the list on the kiosk of Sesostris Iin Karnak (Middle Kingdom). Among thelater lists, the hieratic geographical PapyrusTanis no. 1 and the lists of the nome-proces-sions on temples, such as the one in Edfu, areworth mentioning (Beinlich 1980).3.4.



RepertoriaBrugsch already collected the

hieroglyphic and hieratic

TN in his Géographie of 1857, onwhich a supplement was published in 1880.Somewhat more recent, but also outdatednow, is the Dictionnaire des noms géogra-phiques, compiled by Gauthier (1925—31). Inthe series of the Tübinger Atlas des VorderenOrients, Beihefte, the Egyptian TN are nowrecollected in chronological order: The TN of (c) The two preceding items can be definedby, for instance, adjectives (

 Ḥw.t-wr.t,

Thegreat palace), names of gods (

 Niw.t-Imn,

Thecity of Amun), or royal names (

 Pr-R

c

-ms-sw-mry-Imn,

Piramesse, House of Ramesses, be-loved by Amun).There are no general studies on the struc-ture and sense of the TN. There exist, how-ever, partial studies: Zibelius (1979) discussedthe TN of the Old Kingdom, Jacquet-Gordon(1962) gathered all the domains of the OldKingdom and Helck (1984) the pyramidnames. There are articles about particularcomposing elements:

ihy

(Yoyotte 1958, 418—419),

m3y

(Yoyotte 1961—62a),

št3

(Vernus1977),

itrw-

c

3

(Quaegebeur 1982),

c

ẖy

(Van-dorpe 1991). There are of course also manyarticles on specific TN (e. g., Yoyotte 1957—60, on Bousiris).3.2.



HistoryA complete study of the changes within to-ponymy is not available. Sentence-names (cf.3.1.) rarely outlive the Middle Kingdom. Oldword-names are often simplified or disappearin the course of ages. Some of them survive,even though the etymology is not clear anymore (

 Imwr < Iw-m-itrw,

island in the river).In their stead new types of TN come intoexistence. For instance, TN composed of

 Pr 

(temple-domain) + main local god, or of

 Pr-nb(.t)

(temple-domain of the master/mistress)+ old name of the city, are current from theNew Kingdom onwards (

 M3dw,

Medamud,later

 Pr-Mnṯw-nb-M3tn,

Temple-domain of Montu, Lord of Medamud; see Zibelius1977).

 M3y

(newly gained land), attested fromthe New Kingdom onwards, is often used inTN in the New Kingdom and later (Yoyotte1961—62a). The Semitic loanword

mktr 

(for-tification) emerges in the New Kingdom as acomposing element for TN at the eastern bor-der of the Delta. In the 3rd IntermediatePeriod TN appear which are compoundedwith

sbt,

strongholds founded by local kingsin those turbulent times (Yoyotte 1963). TheLibyan period (3rd Intermediate Period) pro-duces a lot of TN consisting of

grg

(founda-tion) + name of a god (Yoyotte 1962b).In the Greco-Roman and Byzantine times,every major city has a Greek name next tothe Egyptian name. The Greeks transliteratethe Egyptian TN (

 P3-mwẖy,

The storehouse= Πμοῦχις), or translate them (

 Niw.t-Imn,

The city of Amon = Διὸς πόλις, The city of Zeus). Sometimes both possibilities areattested (

 Pr-Ḥw.-t-Ḥr,

Temple-domain of 

 

121.



Ancient Egyptian Onomastics843

types of nouns usually have a genitive (

ḥm

and

b3k,

servant of;

s3, šr,

son of;

s3.t, šr.t,

daughter of)(c) substantivized numerals (

Sn.nw,

The sec-ond) and adjectives, which are often physicaland related characteristics (The blind; Theblack one: The strong one) or which are fol-lowed by a noun (

 Ny

+ god/king, Belongingto)(d) AN composed with the possessive prefix

 Pa/Ta,

He/She of, i. e. The servant of (

 Pa- Ḏḥwty,

The servant of Thoth)(e) nominal forms of the verb, such as parti-ciples and relative forms (

 Mry.t 

+ god/king,Beloved by;

ḥss.w-it.f,

He who praises hisfather;

 P3-di-,

He who is given by).There are several studies on particularcomposing elements of the AN. Quaegebeur(1975), for instance, searched for the god Shaïin the anthroponymy. Quack (1991) discussedthe AN compounded with the verb

c

nḫ

(tolive). The structure of the Coptic AN is de-scribed by Shisha-Havely (1989).In the New Kingdom, the definite articlecomes into existence (sing. m.

 p3

 /f.

t3,

pl.

n3

),and occurs from now on also in the AN (

 P3-wnš,

The wolf) and TN.Distinction between names of men andwomen can be made by adding a masculine(

.f 

) or feminine (

.s

) suffix (

 N3-nḫ.f,

He isstrong;

 N3.nḫ.s,

She is strong) or by addingthe female ending

.t 

in case of a woman’sname (

c

3m,

The Asiatic, female

c

3m.t 

). Thedistinction is also clear in case of names com-posed of

 Pa,

He of,

Ta,

She of, or in case of names preceded by the definite article

 p3

or

t3

. Certain types of AN are, however, iden-tical for men and women. They are usuallysentences, abbreviated names or diminutives(

 Imn-m-ḥb,

Amun is in feast).An AN can be modified by adding anepithet, in order to avoid homonymy, usuallybetween father and son or mother and daugh-ter. In those cases epithets as

šri/nḫn

(junior),

wr/ 

c

3

(senior),

dšr 

(the red) follow the realname.As to their

sense,

three types of AN can bedistinguished:(a) theophoric and related AN (Lüddeckens1985)Theophoric AN, in which one element is thename of a deity, can reflect general utterancesconcerning this god (The god can be glorious,strong, merciful, can give health, life ...).Other utterances concern the relation of thegod to the bearer or giver of the name (Thegod is his protection; The servant of the god).A few theophoric names inform us aboutthe Old Kingdom (TAVO B19 by Zibelius),1st Intermediate Period (TAVO B27 by Go-maà), Middle Kingdom (TAVO B66 by Go-maà) and the Libyan kingdoms in the Deltaduring the 22—26 dynasties (TAVO B6 byGomaà) have already been published. Withinthe volumes an alphabetical or a topograph-ical order (by nome) is maintained. The nameand the location of each TN are discussed.For the nomes, a separate study can be con-sulted (TAVO B5 by Helck).A dictionary of the

demotic

TN is beingprepared in Würzburg (Cheshire 1987). SomeTN are integrated in the demotic Glossar of Erichsen (1954). The Egyptian TN in

Greek 

texts have been listed in the six volumes of the Dizionario by Calderini, Daris (1935—88).For the

Coptic

TN, the only available dic-tionary is still the old Géographie de l’Égypteà l’époque copte, by Amélineau (1893 =1973). Besides, one can consult the list, madeby Roquet (1973), of TN mentioned in theCoptic dictionary of Crum. Finally, the

 Ara-bic

TN of Egypt with reference to their Greekand Coptic counterparts are published byTimm (TAVO B41); in fact, the latter bookreplaces the above-mentioned Géographie byAmélineau.

4.Anthroponyms

4.1.



Structure and Sense (Ranke 1937—52,20—227; Vernus 1982)As to their

 form,

anthroponyms (AN) can bedivided into sentence- and word-names (cf.the TN 3.1.). Contrary to the TN, a largegroup of AN are sentence-names:(a) nominal sentences, with an adverbial pred-icate (

 Is.t-m-pr-ms.t,

Isis is in the house of birth), or with an adjective as predicate (

 Nfr- Ptḥ,

Ptah is perfect)(b) verbal sentences, consisting of a verb anda subject (

 Iw-ḥtp,

May grace come). The ver-bal sentences can be extended by an addi-tional constituent (

sḫ3-ḥ3.t.i.-Imn,

My heartcommemorates Amun)(c) exclamations, not being a full sentence(

ẖrd-n.i,

A child for me!).Word-names can be compounded with:(a) nouns (The sister; The priest) or divinenames (Horus)(b) nouns or divine names, defined by anadjective (

Sbk-mnḫ,

Sobek the excellent) orsubstantive (

 Ḥr-nsw,

Horus the king). A few