The
AncientAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and...
EgyptianEgyptian is the indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BCE, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century CE in the form of Coptic...
phrase
ankh, wedja, seneb "life, prosperity, health" is a formula often suffixed to the names of ancient Egyptian
kingsPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt. This was true only during the New Kingdom, specifically during the middle of...
–(the
Pharaohs). It is frequently abbreviated in Egyptian–
A.U.S. or a.u.s. with just three
hieroglyphsEgyptian hieroglyphs was a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that contained a combination of logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood...
(or with their equivalent forms in
DemoticDemotic refers to either the ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of hieratic used in the Delta, or the stage of the Egyptian language following Late Egyptian and preceding Coptic. The term was first used by the Greek historian Herodotus to distinguish it from hieratic and...
and
HieraticHieratic is a cursive writing system used in pharaonic Egypt that developed alongside the hieroglyphic system, to which it is intimately related. It was primarily written in ink with a reed brush on papyrus, allowing scribes to write quickly without resorting to the time consuming hieroglyphs...
), making it possibly one of the oldest acronyms used in written language, although strictly speaking the first word
ankh is not truly abbreviated.
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
translations of Egyptian often use the abbreviation "L.P.H." for "Life, Prosperity, Health.
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The
AncientAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and...
EgyptianEgyptian is the indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BCE, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century CE in the form of Coptic...
phrase
ankh, wedja, seneb "life, prosperity, health" is a formula often suffixed to the names of ancient Egyptian
kingsPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt. This was true only during the New Kingdom, specifically during the middle of...
–(the
Pharaohs). It is frequently abbreviated in Egyptian–
A.U.S. or a.u.s. with just three
hieroglyphsEgyptian hieroglyphs was a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that contained a combination of logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood...
(or with their equivalent forms in
DemoticDemotic refers to either the ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of hieratic used in the Delta, or the stage of the Egyptian language following Late Egyptian and preceding Coptic. The term was first used by the Greek historian Herodotus to distinguish it from hieratic and...
and
HieraticHieratic is a cursive writing system used in pharaonic Egypt that developed alongside the hieroglyphic system, to which it is intimately related. It was primarily written in ink with a reed brush on papyrus, allowing scribes to write quickly without resorting to the time consuming hieroglyphs...
), making it possibly one of the oldest acronyms used in written language, although strictly speaking the first word
ankh is not truly abbreviated.
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
translations of Egyptian often use the abbreviation "L.P.H." for "Life, Prosperity, Health. "
ankh wedja seneb represents the following Egyptian words-(and their concepts):
-
- ankh
The ankh was the Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "eternal life", a triliteral sign for the consonants ˁ-n-ḫ...
: "Life"
- wedja: "to be whole/–intact"/'Endurance' (= "Prosperity")
- seneb: "Health"
Ankh
Life:
- "Ankh", "to live," "life," was associated with the god
God is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
s of Egypt, and Egyptian kings–(pharaohs) aspired to achieve their responsibilities of governing and protecting life in Egypt.
Wedja
Prosperity:
- Wedja (written "utcha" in 19th century transcriptions
Transcription is the conversion into written, typewritten or printed form, of a spoken-language source, as in the proceedings of a court hearing. It can also mean the conversion of a written source into another medium, as by scanning books and making digital versions...
) literally means "to be whole; to be intact," but also has the connotation of "prosperity" and "well-being."
- Dominion is a second term that is implied with prosperity. The raising of the Djed
The Djed symbol is a pillar-like ancient Egyptian symbol representing stability. It has been interpreted as the backbone of the Egyptian god Osiris, especially in the form Banebdjedet . Djedu is the Egyptian name for Busiris, a centre of the cult of Osiris...
pillar was symbolic of the pharaohPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt. This was true only during the New Kingdom, specifically during the middle of...
creating, and maintaining his kingdom. It is the reason some pharaohs campaigned beyond the Egyptian border, leaving a legacy for the next pharaohs to deal with.
Seneb
Health:
- Seneb has many translations: "to be well," "to be healthy," and "to have 'soundness' ": "to be sound." Another word, also seneb has the determinative
A determinative, also known as a taxogram or semagram, is an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts which helps to disambiguate interpretation. They have no direct counterpart in spoken language, though they may derive historically from glyphs for real words, and...
of a wall and means "to build," but with the connotation of "to build (soundly)."
a.u.s. in the Rosetta StoneThe Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian artifact which was instrumental in advancing modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. The stone is a Ptolemaic era stele with carved text made up of three translations of a single passage: two in Egyptian language scripts and one in classical...
For the actions by the pharaoh Ptolemy V of the Rosetta Stone (
196 BC-Roman Republic:* The Insubres, Gauls of the Po Valley, believed by the Romans to have been incited to revolt by Carthage, are finally defeated.* A new category of Roman priests, the tresviri epulones, are elected to supervise the feasts of the gods; the first three men selected are Gaius Licinius...
), the gods reward him by (line R5)
- "....As a reward (for his deeds of kingship) these are given Him (by) the Gods-(pictured with the Uraeus
The Uraeus is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian spitting cobra , used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity, and divine authority in ancient Egypt.The Uraeus is a symbol for the goddess Wadjet, one of the earliest of Egyptian deities, who often was...
on the god–hieroglyphs-(Ntr* National Transcontinental Railway, a historic Canadian railway* N. T. Rama Rao, Indian moviestar and politician* Jr. NTR, Indian film actor, grandson of N. T...
, Ntr, Ntr)):
- Victory,
- Strength (= Greek god Nike
In Greek mythology, Nike , was a goddess who personified triumph throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. She is known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent was Victoria...
),
- Life, Power (strength=prosperity), Health, (A.U.S.) and 'Everything Good to the Fullest' ..."