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Transliteration of ancient Egyptian
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In the field of Egyptology, transliteration is the process of converting (or mapping) texts written in the Egyptian language to alphabetic symbols representing uniliteral hieroglyphs or their hieratic and demotic counterparts. This process facilitates the publication of texts where the inclusion of photographs or drawings of an actual Egyptian document is impractical.
It should be emphasised that transliteration is not the same as transcription. Transcription seeks to reproduce the pronunciation of a text.
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Encyclopedia
In the field of Egyptology, transliteration is the process of converting (or mapping) texts written in the Egyptian language to alphabetic symbols representing uniliteral hieroglyphs or their hieratic and demotic counterparts. This process facilitates the publication of texts where the inclusion of photographs or drawings of an actual Egyptian document is impractical.
It should be emphasised that transliteration is not the same as transcription. Transcription seeks to reproduce the pronunciation of a text. For example, the name of the founder of the Twenty-second dynasty is transliterated as ššnq but transcribed Shoshenq in English, Chéchanq in French, Sjesjonk in Dutch, and Scheschonq in German.
Because the exact details regarding the phonetics of ancient Egyptian are not completely known, most transcriptions depend on Coptic for reconstruction or are theoretical in nature. Egyptologists, therefore, rely on transliteration in scientific publications.
Standards
As important as transliteration is to the field of Egyptology, there is no one single standard scheme in use for hieroglyphic and hieratic texts. Some might even argue that there are as many systems of transliteration as there are Egyptologists. However, there are a few closely related systems that can be regarded as conventional. Many non-German-speaking Egyptologists use the system described in Gardiner 1954, whereas many German-speaking scholars tend to opt for that used in the Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache (Erman and Grapow 1926–1953), the standard dictionary of the ancient Egyptian language. However, there is a growing trend, even among English-speaking scholars, to adopt a modified version of the method used in the Wörterbuch (e.g., Allen 2000).
Although these conventional approaches to transliteration have been followed since most of the second half of the nineteenth century to the present day, there have been some attempts to adopt a modified system that seeks to utilise the International Phonetic Alphabet to a certain degree. The most successful of these is that developed by Wolfgang Schenkel (1990), and it is being used fairly widely in Germany and other German-speaking countries. More recent is a proposal by Thomas Schneider (2003) that is even closer to the IPA, but its usage is not presently common. The major criticism levelled against both of these systems is that they give an impression of being much more scientifically accurate with regard to the pronunciation of Egyptian. Unfortunately this perceived accuracy is debatable. Moreover, the systems reflect only the theoretical pronunciation of Middle Egyptian and not the older and later phases of the language, which are themselves to be transliterated with the same system.
Electronic transliteration
In 1984 a standard, ASCII-based transliteration system was proposed by an international group of Egyptologists at the first Table ronde informatique et égyptologie and published in 1988 (see Buurman, Grimal, et al., 1988). This has come to be known as the Manuel de Codage (or MdC) system, based on the title of the publication, Inventaire des signes hiéroglyphiques en vue de leur saisie informatique: Manuel de codage des textes hiéroglyphiques en vue de leur saisie sur ordinateur. It is widely used in e-mail discussion lists and internet forums catering to professional Egyptologists and the interested public.
Although the Manuel de codage system allows for simple "alphabetic" transliterations, it also specifies a complex method for electronically encoding complete ancient Egyptian texts, indicating features such as the placement, orientation, and even size of individual hieroglyphs. This system is used (though frequently with modifications) by various software packages developed for typesetting hieroglyphic texts (such as WinGlyph, MacScribe, InScribe, Glyphotext, WikiHiero, and others).
Unicode
With the introduction of the Latin Extended Additional range to Unicode version 1.1 (1992), it is possible to almost fully transliterate Egyptian texts using a Unicode typeface. The table of various transliteration schemes found below, for example, uses Unicode.
Alef, ayin and yod
Three additional characters are required for transliterating Egyptian:
- Egyptian alef (, two half-rings opening to the left, often represented by the numeral 3);
- Egyptian ayin (the same symbol used for transliterating Semitic ayin, represented here as <> Unicode U+02C1, the IPA symbol for pharyngealization).
- Egyptian yod (an i with a half-ring opening to the left replacing the dot, can be expressed with a combining diacritic, i?).
These characters took a very long time to be supported in Unicode. Although these were proposed in August 2000 action was only taken by November 2005 to encode two of the six letters:
| Letter | Capital | Small |
|---|
| Egyptological Alef |
U+A722 |
U+A723 |
|---|
| Egyptological Ayin |
U+A724 |
U+A725 |
|---|
Two further proposals were made about the Egyptological Yod, the eventual result of which was to accept the use of the Cyrillic breathing as a combining character for this purpose. OpenType tables in fonts will be necessary to support this correctly.
| Letter | Capital | Small |
|---|
| Egyptological Yod |
U+0049 U+0486 |
U+0069 U+0486 |
|---|
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A Unicode-based transliteration system is adopted by the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale. It uses, incorrectly, <> for alef (Unicode U+021D, properly Old and Middle English yogh), or <> (Unicode U+1EC9, properly marking the dipping-rising tone in the Vietnamese alphabet) for yodh, and <> (Unicode U+02BF) for ayin.
Demotic
As the latest stage of pre-Coptic Egyptian, Demotic texts have long been transliterated using the same system(s) used for hieroglyphic and hieratic texts. However in 1980, Demotists adopted a single, uniform, international standard based on the traditional system used for hieroglyphic, but with the addition of some extra symbols for vowels (which are frequently indicated in Demotic ) and other letters that were written in the Demotic script. The Demotic Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (or ) utilises this method. As this system is likely only of interest to specialists, for details see the references below.
- de Cenival, Françoise. 1980. "Unification des méthodes de translittération." Enchoria: Zeitschrift für Demotistik und Koptologie 10:2–4.
- Johnson, Janet H. 1980. "CDDP Transliteration System." Enchoria 10:5–6.
- Johnson, Janet H. 1991. . 2nd ed. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 45. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Tait, William John. 1982. "The Transliteration of Demotic." Enchoria 11:67–76.
- Thissen, Heinz-Josef. 1980. "Zur Transkription demotischer Texte." Enchoria 10:7–9.
Table of conventional transliteration schemes
| | Erman & Grapow 1926–1953 | Gardiner 1957 | Buurman, Grimal, et al. 1988 | Schenkel 1991 | Hannig 1995 | Allen 2000 | Schneider 2003 | | A | (3) | 3 | A | 3 | 3 | 3 | | | i | i?/j | i? | i | i? | j | j | i? | | i-i | i?j | y | y | y | y | y | y | | a | | | a | | | | | | w | w | w | w | w | w | w | w | | b | b | b | b | b | b | b | b | | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | | f | f | f | f | f | f | f | f | | m | m | m | m | m | m | m | m | | n | n | n | n | n | n | n | n | | r | r | r | r | r | r | r | l | | h | h | h | h | h | h | h | h | | H | | | H | | | | | | x | | | x | | | | | | X | | | X | | | | | | z | s | s | s | s | z, s | z | s | | s | s | s | s | s | s | s | s | | S | š | š | S | š | š | š | š | | q | | | q | | q | q | | | k | k | k | k | k | k | k | k | | g | g | g | g | g | g | g | g | | t | t | t | t | t | t | t | t | | T | | | T | c | | | c | | d | d | d | d | | d | d | | | D | | | D | | | | |
Samples of various transliteration schemes
The following text (rendered using ) is transliterated below in some of the more common schemes.
M23-X1:R4-X8-Q2:D4-W17-R14-G4-R8-O29:V30-U23-N26-D58-O49:Z1-F13:N31-V30:N16:N21*Z1-D45:N25
(This text is conventionally translated into English as "an offering that the king gives; and Osiris, Foremost of Westerners [i.e., the Dead], the Great God, Lord of Abydos; and Wepwawet, Lord of the Sacred Land [i.e., the Necropolis]." It can also be translated "a royal offering of Osiris, Foremost of the Westerners, the Great God, Lord of Abydos; and of Wepwawet, Lord of the Sacred Land" [Allen 2000:§24.10].)
Erman & Grapow 1926–1953
- ?tp-d?-nswt ws?r ?nt?j ?mntjw n?r ? nb b?w wp-wwt nb t ?sr
Gardiner 1953
- ?tp-d?-nswt ws?r ?nty ?mnt?w n?r ? nb b?w wp-wwt nb t ?sr
Buurman, Grimal, et al. 1988
- Htp-di-nswt wsir xnty imntiw nTr aA nb AbDw wp-wAwt nb tA Dsr
- A fully encoded, machine-readable version of the same text is:
- M23-X1:R4-X8-Q2:D4-W17-R14-G4-R8-O29:V30-U23-N26-D58-O49:Z1-F13:N31-V30:N16:N21*Z1-D45:N25
Schenkel 1991
- ?tp-d?-nswt ws?r ?nty ?mntjw ncr ? nb bc?w wp-wwt nb t c?sr
Allen 2000
- ?tp-dj-nswt wsjr ?nty jmntjw n?r ? nb b?w wp-wwt nb t ?sr
Schneider 2003
- ?tp-??-nswt ws?r ?nty ?mntjw ncr ?? nb ?bc?w wp-w?wt nb t? c?sr
Uniliteral signs
The Egyptian hieroglyphic script contained 24 uniliterals (symbols that stood for single consonants, much like English letters) which today we associate with the 26 glyphs listed below. (Note that the glyph associated with w/u also has a hieratic abbreviation.)
The traditional transliteration system shown on the left of the chart below is over a century old and is the one most commonly seen in texts. It includes several symbols such as 3 for sounds that were of unknown value at the time. Much progress has been made since, though there is still debate as to the details. For instance, it is now thought the 3 may have been an alveolar lateral approximant ("l") in Old Egyptian that was lost by Middle Egyptian. The consonants transcribed as voiced (d, g, dj) may actually have been ejective or, less likely, pharyngealized like the Arabic emphatic consonants. A good description can be found in Allen. For other systems of transliteration, see transliteration of ancient Egyptian
| Uniliteral signs |
|---|
| Sign | Traditional transliteration | Phonetic values per Allen (2000) |
|---|
| | Say | Notes | Old Egyptian | Middle Egyptian |
|---|
| A | an Egyptian vulture | 3 | a | called aleph,
a glottal stop | | | | i | a reed | | i/a | called yodh | an initial or final vowel; sometimes | | i-i | a pair of reeds | y | y | double yodh | no record | | | y | pair of strokes
or river | |
| a | an arm | ? | a | called ayin,
a voiced pharyngeal fricative | | | | w or W | a quail chick or its
hieratic abbreviation | w | w/u | called waw
| ~ | | b | a lower leg | b | b | | ~ | | p | a reed mat or stool | p | p | | aspirated | | f | a horned viper | f | f | | | | m | an owl | m | m | | | | n | a ripple of water | n | n | | | | | r | a mouth | r | r | | see image | (always in some dialects) | | h | a reed shelter | h | h | | | | H | a twisted wick | | h | an emphatic h,
a voiceless pharyngeal fricative | | | x | a placenta | | kh |
a voiceless velar fricative | | | X | an animal belly with tail | | kh | a softer sound,
a voiceless palatal fricative | | | s | a folded cloth | s | s | Old Egyptian sound for
"door bolt" is unknown,
but perhaps was z or th | | | | z | a door bolt | | S or
N38 or
N39 | a garden pool | | sh | | | | q | slope of a hill | or q | k | an emphatic k,
a voiceless uvular plosive | ejective | | k | a basket with a handle | k | k | | aspirated
in some words, palatalized | | g | a jar stand | g | g | | ejective | | t | a bun | t | t | | aspirated | | T | a tethering rope | or tj | ch | as in English church | palatalized or | | d | a hand | d | d | | ejective | | D | a cobra | or dj | j | as in English judge | ejective or |
Gardiner lists several variations:
| Uniliteral signs |
|---|
| Sign | Traditional transliteration | Notes |
|---|
| V33 | bag of linen | g | Appears in a few older words | | Aa15 | unknown (Possibly: Finger) | m | Originally biliteral im | | S3 | crown of Lower Egypt | n | Originally ideogram nt for 'crown of Lower Egypt' | | U33 | pestle | t | Originally biliteral ti |
See also
External links
- : technical details of electronic transliteration of Egyptian texts
- for converting ASCII-based transliterations into Unicode.
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