Egyptian hieroglyphs
are a
writing system used by the
Ancient Egyptians, that contained a combination of
logographic,
alphabetic, and ideographic elements.
The word
hieroglyph comes from the Greek ; the adjective
hieroglyphic, as well as related words such as
;Logograms
A hieroglyph used as a
logogram defines the object of which it is an image. Logograms are therefore the most frequently used common nouns; they are always accompanied by a mute vertical stroke indicating their status as a logogram ; in theory, all hieroglyphs would have the ability to be used as logograms.
Encyclopedia
are a
writing system used by the
Ancient Egyptians, that contained a combination of
logographic,
alphabetic, and ideographic elements.
The word
hieroglyph comes from the Greek ; the adjective
hieroglyphic, as well as related words such as
;Logograms
A hieroglyph used as a
logogram defines the object of which it is an image. Logograms are therefore the most frequently used common nouns; they are always accompanied by a mute vertical stroke indicating their status as a logogram ; in theory, all hieroglyphs would have the ability to be used as logograms. Logograms can be accompanied by phonetic complements. Here are some examples:
ra:Z1 r?, "sun"
pr:Z1 pr, "house"
sw-t:Z1 swt, "reed" - the
t is the phonetic complement.
Dw:Z1 ?w, "mountain", etc
In some cases, the semantic connection is indirect :
nTr-Z1 n?r, "god" ; the character in fact represents a temple flag
G53-Z1 b?, " bâ" ; the character is the traditional representation of a "bâ", a bird with a human head
G27-Z1 dšr, "flamingo"; the corresponding phonogram means "red", and the bird is associated by metonymy with this colour.
;Determinatives
Determinatives or semagrams are placed at the end of the word. These mute characters serve to clarify the semantic domain of the word, its lexical field, in order to sharpen its meaning:
homographic characters being very common , the recourse to determinatives is crucial. If a similar procedure existed in English, homographic words would be followed by an index which would not be read but which would fine-tune the meaning: "retort
chemistry" and "retort [rhetoric]" would thus be distinguished.
A number of determinatives exist: divinities, humans, parts of the human body, animals, plants, etc. Certain determinatives possess a literal meaning and a figurative meaning. For example, a roll of papyrus,
Y1 is used to define "books," but also abstract ideas. The determinative of the plural is a shortcut to signal three occurrences of the word, that is to say, its plural . This special character is explained below.
Here are several examples of the use of determinatives borrowed from the book,
Je lis les hiéroglyphes by Jean Capart, which illustrate their importance:
nfr-w-A17-Z3 nfrwnfr-f:r:t-B1 nfr.t : "the nubile young woman", with
B1 as the determinative of the woman;
nfr-nfr-nfr-pr nfrw : "foundations ", with the house as a determinative,
pr;
nfr-f:r-S28 nfr : "clothing," where
S28 is the determinative for lengths of cloth;
nfr-W22:Z2 nfr : "wine" or "beer,"
W22 with a jug as the determinative.
All these words have a meliorative connotation: "good, beautiful, perfect." A recent dictionary, the
Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian by Raymond A. Faulkner, gives some twenty words which are read
nfr or which are formed from this word—proof of the extraordinary richness of the Egyptian language.
;Additional signs
;;Replacement stroke
Offensive characters, funerals, taboos, rare or complex, can be replaced by a slanted stroke:
F31-s-B3ms, "deliver" , may be written
F31-s-Z5the determinative of the woman giving birth being sometimes deemed offensive;
m-t-A14mt, "Death, to die", will also be written
m-t-Z5to avoid the determinative of "the enemy on the ground" , a funerary sign.
;;Cartouche
Rarely, the names of gods are placed within a
cartouche; the two last names of the sitting king are always placed within a cartouche:
< N5:Z1-i-Y5:n-A40 >jmn-r?, "Amon-Rê " ;
< q:E23-i-V4-p:d:r-A-t:H8 >qrwjw?pdr?.t, "Cleopatra."
;Filling stroke
A filling stroke is used in order to end a quad which would be incomplete without it.
;;Signs joined together
Some signs are the contraction of several others. These signs have, however, a function and existence of their own: for example, a forearm where the hand holds a scepter is used as a determinative for words meaning "to direct, to drive" and their derivatives.
;;Doubling
The doubling of a sign indicates its dual; the tripling of a sign indicates its plural.
;;Grammatical signs
- The vertical stroke, indicating the sign is an ideogram;
- The two strokes of the "dual" and the three strokes of the "plural";
- The direct notation of flexional endings, for example:
W ;;Spelling
The idea of orthography—"correct" spelling—in Egyptian hieroglyphics doesn't pose itself in the same terms as it does in modern languages. In fact, one or several variants exist for almost every word. It can be wondered whether the Ancient Egyptians had any concept of correct spelling. One finds:
- Redundancies;
- Omission of graphemes, which are ignored whether they are intentional or not;
- Substitutions of one grapheme for another, such that it is impossible to distinguish a "mistake" from an "alternate spelling";
- Errors of omission in the drawing of signs, much more problematic when the writing is cursive: hieratic writing, but especially demotic, where the schematization of the signs is extreme.
Simple examples
The glyphs in this
cartouche are transliterated as:
though
ii is considered a single letter and transliterated
i or
y.
Another way in which hieroglyphs work is illustrated by the two Egyptian words pronounced
pr . One word is 'house', and its hieroglyphic representation is straightforward:
pr:Z1Here the 'house' hieroglyph works as an
logogram: it represents the word with a single sign. The vertical stroke below the hieroglyph is a common way of indicating that a glyph is working as a logogram.
Another word
pr is the verb 'to go out, leave'. When this word is written, the 'house' hieroglyph is used as a phonetic symbol:
pr:r-D54Here the 'house' glyph stands for the consonants
pr. The 'mouth' glyph below it is a
phonetic complement: it is read as
r, reinforcing the phonetic reading of
pr. The third hieroglyph is a
determinative: it is an ideogram for verbs of motion that gives the reader an idea of the meaning of the word.
See also
- Hieroglyph articles
- ...
- Egyptian language
- Other scripts
- Other
Notes and references
Bibliography
External links
- Resources for those interested in learning hieroglyphs, compiled by Aayko Eyma.
- Annotated directory of popular and scholarly resources.
- by Jim Loy
- Commercial
- Online courses in hieroglyphs and free discussion forums
