Faculty of Tourism and Hotels

‫نصوص مصرية قديمة – دبلوم مرحلة ثانية‬

Dr. Nader Alfy

Associate Professor of Tourist Guidance, in Faculty of

Tourism and Hotels, University of Sadat City

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 Topics page

The Ancient Egyptian Language……………………………………. 3

Scripts of the Ancient Egyptian Language………………………… 4

The Hieroglyphic Writing…………………………………………… 6

Uniliteral Signs……………………………………………………… 7

Biliteral Signs……………………………………………………….. 9

Triliteral Signs………………………………………………………. 9

Arrangement and Direction of Writing……………………………… 10

Determinative………………………………………………………... 11

Phonetic Complement……………………………………………….. 11

Vertical Stroke………………………………………………………. 12

Different ways to write the same words…………………………….. 13

Prepositions………………………………………………………...... 16

Honorary transposition……………………………………………… 17

Verbal Sentence…………………………………………………… 17

Cardinal numbers……………………………………………………. 19

Ordinal numbers…………………………………………………….. 20

The Royal Names (Old Kingdom)…………………………………... 21

Exercises ……………………………………………………………. 24

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The Ancient Egyptian Language

The Ancient Egyptian language belongs to the Afro-Asiatic linguistic

family, sometimes classified under the Semito-Hamitic language family,
which predominately emerged from the Arabian Peninsula and settled in
the regions of Southwest Asia and North Africa. It certainly has a strong
connection with one of those two groups; the Semitic languages, in its
distinguished structures, nominal sentences, and guttural sounds like
Arabic, Amharic, Armenian, and Hebrew.

The Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs dates back to 3400 BCE (ca.), when
the it first appeared on memorial palettes and ivory tags. During that long
period of the Ancient Egyptian language, many changes occurred
prompting researchers to divide it into five main phases.

1- Old Egyptian: This applies to the oldest phase in the language's

history. Although the language first appeared about 3400 BCE. Early
writings were just expressions of names and short writings. So it is
possible for us to say that the Old Egyptian actually began 2600 BCE
with the beginning of the Old Kingdom and continued until 2100 BCE.
Famous Pyramid Texts were inscribed according to the grammar and
alphabet of this phase.

2- Middle Egyptian: This phase came directly after the Old Egyptian
phase. It began to appear around 2100 BCE and continued for about 500
years as a spoken and written language. It was the main phase of the
Ancient Egyptian language, and it is considered as a classical phase or an
era of linguistic eloquence, and it is the phase in which the language
reached the peak of its development with its most magnificent literary
works. As this phase “Middle Egyptian” represents the most complete
phase the Ancient Egyptian language reached, it became the most suitable
phase to start with when studying the Ancient Egyptian language.

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3- Late Egyptian: This phase might have started to replace Middle Phase
as a language for speaking and writing after 1600 BCE. Although it
appeared in writings before 1600 BCE but did not fully appear until 1300
BCE, and remained in use until 600 BCE. This phase appeared in trade
documents and letters from the Ramesside Period in which was evident
the presence of foreign vocabulary in the Ancient Egyptian language.

It is noticeable that the development of the different phases of Ancient

Egyptian language all differ from the early phase of Ancient Egyptian
writing, at least in grammar.

4- The Demotic Phase: This phase developed from the Late Egyptian. It
began to appear in the Eighth Century BCE, and remained in use until the
Fifth Century CE.

5- The Coptic Phase: This is the last phase of the Ancient Egyptian
language that is directly after the Demotic phase. Coptic appeared in the
Third Century BCE, and remained a spoken language for the Egyptians
for over 1000 years.
Scripts of the Ancient Egyptian Language

Ancient Egyptian language was written in four different scripts: Hieroglyphs,

Hieratic, Demotic, and Coptic. These scripts did not all appear simultaneously, but
appeared consecutively over the long period that the ancient Egyptian language
existed. It also shows the maturity in thinking of the ancient Egyptians who knew that
the complexity and development of life would require the invention of the suitable
means of communication to improve and record the wider and more developed
activities. The Hieroglyphic script was the outcome of such long thinking and urgent
need for communication. Hieroglyphic script, the oldest of the ancient Egyptian
scripts, is a beautifully written script which required special material and special
people to write it. By time, Egyptians were forced to invent a different, more cursive
and simplified script to suit their overgrowing needs and to fulfill administrative
needs; hence they invented a cursive script known as Hieratic. In later stages, the
Hieratic script needed to be more cursive to suit the different affairs and social
interactions. This new cursive form was called Demotic script. Later, a new lettering
system was invented to serve the need of time, called the Coptic script. The Egyptian
language was written using the Greek alphabet in addition to seven signs from the
Demotic scripts. Here, it is appropriate to correct a widespread inaccuracy when

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referring to the ancient Egyptian language, as it is mistakenly known as “the
Hieroglyphic language”. Hieroglyphic writing is a script and not a language. There is
only one ancient Egyptian language written in four different scripts
(Hieroglyphs, Hieratic, Demotic, Coptic).

Hieroglyphic Script
Hieroglyphic script is the first script used by the ancient Egyptians to write their
language. The term is derived from two Greek words hieros and glyphos. They mean
“sacred inscriptions”, referring to its inscription on the walls of sacred places such as
temple walls and tombs. Hieroglyphic writing was used for all purposes on: temples,
public monuments, tomb walls, stelae, and objects of all kinds.

Hieratic
The word is derived from the Greek word hieratikos, meaning “priestly”.
It was called "priestly" because in the Greco-Roman period, this script
was the usual writing used by priests. The name is now been given to all
the earlier styles of script that are cursive enough for the original pictorial
forms of the signs to be no longer recognizable. The increasing need to
document and communicate was the major factor that resulted in the
invention of such simple and cursive script. It was written mainly on
papyrus and ostraca, however, occasional Hieratic inscriptions also
appear on stone.

Demotic
The word is derived from the Greek demotikos, meaning “popular”. The
name does not mean that the script was only written by the public, but the
name reflects its wide use by all people. Demotic was a very rapid and
simple form of Hieratic script, that made its first appearance around the
Eighth Century BCE and continued to be used until the Fifth Century CE.
As Hieratic, it was written on papyrus and ostraca, and occasionally
appeared on stone.

Coptic
This script represents the last stage of the development of Egyptian
writing. The word Coptic is probably derived from the Greek
word Aegyptos in reference to the Egyptian language. In Coptic, vowels
were used for the first time. This might have been of great help in

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identifying the correct pronunciation of the Egyptian language. Writing
the ancient Egyptian language with Greek letters was a political need
following the Greek occupation of Egypt. The Egyptian language was
written using the Greek alphabet, in addition to seven Egyptian sign-
letters borrowed from Demotic (to represent Egyptian sounds which did
not appear in Greek), these are:

Shai

Fai

Khai

, Hori

GenGia

Tshima

Ti

An important feature of this script is that it renders the vowels of the

language (something which was not in Hieroglyphics, Hieratic or
Demotic) and allows various highly stylized dialects to be distinguished
(Sahidic, Boharic, Akhmimic, and Fayyumic).

The Hieroglyphic Writing

Signs Used and General Principles of Hieroglyphic Writing

Hieroglyphics have two major uses as ideograms and phonograms:
1. Ideograms
There are two kinds of ideograms;
a- Signs that are used to convey both sound and meaning (sound and meaning signs).
For example depicts a house (in plan) and represents the sound combination
of p + r = pr. The sign is used in the word pr = house.

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b- Signs that are used to convey meaning with no sounds and we call those
signs (determinatives)
2. Phonograms
Signs are used to indicate the sounds of signs (sound signs) i.e. sS writing and
scribe. The sign Dw represents a sand hill and is used as a sound sign

in which means evil.

The sound of these signs is in Latin letters, known as transliteration. We shall start
with unilateral signs which could be identified as "Alphabet".

The basic writing system of ancient Egyptian consisted of about five hundred common signs,
known as hieroglyphs. Each hieroglyph is a picture of a thing that existed in the world or
imagination of the ancient Egyptians for instance, the ground plan of a simple house , a human

mouth , or a pair of legs in motion . These could be used to write the words that they

depicted, or related words: for example, “house”; “come.”

Uniliteral Signs

Uniliteral signs are the most common hieroglyphic signs. They represent a single sound.
Examples:
Sign Transliteration Phonetic value Object depicted

A aa Egyptian vulture

i i Flowering reed

Two reed-flowers and

y y
, oblique strokes

a As ‫ع‬in Arabic Forearm

w w Quail chick
,

b b Foot

p p Stool

f f Horned viper

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 m m Owl

n n Water

r r Mouth

h h Reed shelter in fields

H As ‫ح‬in Arabic Wick of twisted flax

x As ‫خ‬in Arabic Placenta

X As ‫غ‬in Arabic Animal’s belly with teats

, s ‫س‬ Bolt and folded cloth

S sh Pool

q q Hill-slope

k k Basket with handle

g g Stand for jar

t t Loaf

T th Tethering rope

d d Hand

D dj Snake

l l Lion

Remarks:

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Biliteral Signs

Examples:
Phonetic value Sign Phonetic value Sign

Aw wn

Ab sA

Ax Hr

gm pA

di aA

DA Wp

TA wD

kA Pr

xA Ir

wa Hr

ms Mr

iH Dw

ib In

Dd tm

Triliteral Signs

Examples

phonatic value sign phonatic value sign

iwn Htp

xrw nTr

Xnm nfr

aSA anx

wHm HqA

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 wsr xpr

mwt sDm

snD wab

dwA HAt

stp mAa

dSr aHa

Arrangement and Direction of Writing

Hieroglyphic inscriptions were organized into registers of vertical columns or

horizontal lines. Signs were written from right to left, and from left to right. The signs
were placed in a continuous sequence, without any punctuation marks, or word
spacing. Reading is according to the direction of the sign; if signs are directed towards
the left, then the reading starts from left to right. If signs are directed towards the
right, then the reading starts from right to left.
From right to left

From left to right

From up to down

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Determinative

This is a sign that comes at the end of words to indicate their meaning. For instance,

the sign represents the sun disk and is a determinative at the end of words
indicating the sun and its rising, light and the notion of time.
Examples

ra The Sun

hrw Day

Sw Shadow

wbn To rise

sf Yesterday

The sign refers to boats and is a meaning sign for a number of words
Examples

dpt Boat

na To sail

Haw Ship

Xd Fare northwards
Phonetic Complement

Sound signs can be used as sound complements (or phonetic complements) indicating

the sound conveyed by other phonograms. In the sign, it is added to flesh out

the r of pr and in the one-consonant sign and are used to flesh

out fr of nfr. In , the is added to flesh out the r in Hr.

Sound complement can be added in three ways:
1. Before the phonograms
Many such cases are well documented in Old Kingdom texts. This phoneme was used
in Middle Kingdom texts.
Example

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 tm ( t sound complement + tm phonogram)
2. Sound Complement added after the phonograms
This usage is a common feature in the inscriptions of the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
Examples

pA ( pA phonogram + A sound complement).

mn ( mn phonogram + n sound complement).

3. Sound Complement added before and after the phonograms
This is a rare way in which Egyptians tried to flesh out consonants in bilateral or
triliteral signs.
Example

in

( i sound complement + in phonogram + sound)

Vertical Stroke

The vertical stroke as a sign is often used with sound-meaning signs to indicate their

status as ideograms. More commonly it is also used as a space filler. , , .

Examples:
Solar disk

House

Awl

Mouth

Face

Heart

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 Arm

Relation between Sign and Meaning

One might ask if there is any relation between what the sign originally represents and
the meaning of the words in which the same sign is used as a phonogram. In fact,

generally speaking, there is no relation: for instance which is a biliteral sign that

forms the word indicates to love, like, desire. The sign itself represents a
hoe and is used in the word in question only as a sound sign.
Different ways to write the same words

Hieroglyphic words were written in the form of groups of signs for space and artistic
reasons, for example the title mAa-xrw“true of voice”can be written in different ways:

Although the words are written in different ways, but the two main words

mAa and xrw exist in all the forms of the title.

We should notice that the word mAa was only written in the unilateral signs

Abbreviations
Abbreviations are common in the hieroglyphic inscriptions, mainly in titles and
adjectives.
Examples of abbreviations

HAty-a
mayor or local prince. Literally (foremost in position)

It was written using the sign HAt above the sign a with no phonetic
complements.

Xry-Hbt
Lector priest
The words Xry and Hbt were abbreviated and written using the signs Xr and
Hb, and we notice that the vertical signs were written on the right and left

of the sign Xr.

Graphic Transpositions
Sometimes signs were transposed in order to give a better appearance

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 Ddw was written instead of

Ddw was written instead of

mAA was written instead of

aH was written instead of

Transpositions with Honorific Intentions
There was a common tendency to write words as nsw “king” and
ntr “god”, as well as the names of specific kings and gods, ahead of closely
connected words which in actual speech were pronounced first.
Examples

rx-nsw

known to the king

Hm-nTr

servant of god (priest)

mry Imn

beloved of god Amun

mi-Ra

like Re

sA nsw

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 son of the king

mry Imn Ra ms sw

Beloved of Amun, Re gave birth to him. (birth name of Ramses II)

We notice here that the names of the two gods Amun and Re are written at the
beginning of the cartouche although they are not to be read first.
Defective and Superfluous Writings
Some words were written without some of its sound signs, probably due to
calligraphic reasons

r(m)T

People

H(n)qt

Beer

s(my)t

Desert

Some other words were written with redundant sound signs, that were not pronounced

nsw

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 King

it

Father

Prepositions

Egyptian prepositions are either simple or compound. Simple prepositions consist of a single unit, and compound prepositions consist of
more than one unit.

1. Examples on simple prepositions:

m
In

n
To (a person)

r
To (a place)

Hr
On, above, upon

Xr
Under

Hna
With

These simple prepositions convey different meanings according to their use in sentences; i.e r can mean ‘to a place’ and also give the

meaning of ‘against’ someone. Sometime it is used as a reference to ‘future’ or comparative sense. m simply means in, from, but can be
used as the m of predication.

2. Examples of compound prepositions:

n - ib For the sake of

m-a Together with

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Honorary transposition
Anticipation characterizes that the elements of the sentence are removed from their
regular place and placed in a forward position: it is said to stand in anticipation.
Anticipation appears in titles, royal names, and god’s names, known as honorary
transposition.

For reasons of prestige, names for gods and kings and related words sometimes precede
closely connected words, although they are actually read afterwards (this is termed more
formally honorific transposition). Honorific transposition is particularly common in epithets
and titles:

mry Imn Beloved of Amun

mi Ra Like Re

rx nsw King’s advisor

Hm nTr Servant of the god

Verbal Sentence

Egyptian sentences are verbal or non-verbal as is the case in Arabic sentences. Verbal
sentences are those, which start with a verb. Non-verbal sentences start with a noun or
pronoun, or with derivative nouns.

Verbal Sentence

If the subject is a pronoun, it is always a suffix; and if the object is pronoun, it is always a
dependent pronoun. When the subject is a pronoun, the word order is normal, meaning
that the subject follows the verb and precedes the object.

hAb.n.f wi

He sent me.

If the subject is a noun and the object is a dependent pronoun, the pronoun object is
before the noun subject.

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 hAb.n wi sS

The scribe sent me.

The dative has a special place in the word-order of verbal sentences. It is expressed by
the preposition n in addition to a noun or pronoun referring to a person, if the subject is a
pronoun. It assumes a third place following the verb and its subject. However, if the
subject is a noun, the dative is allocated a forward position and occurs before the subject.

Dd.n.f n.f

He said to him.

Dd n.f s

The man says to him.

If the subject is a noun and the object is a pronoun and the sentence consists of a dative,
the word order is thus:

Verb + dative + dependent pronoun (object) + subject

Dd n.f st s

The man says it to him.

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 The pillar of King Senousert III

(1) the accompanied texts, they include wishes for the king to be given
life, stability, power, health and happiness by the god.

Dd mdw di n anx Dd wAs nb snb nb Aw-ibt nb n nsw-biti #pr-KA-Ra

Word spoken to give all life, stability power, all health and all
joyful to king of Upper and Lower Egypt #pr-KA-Ra (Existence of
the kA of Ra).

The name of god Ptah is inscribed: PtH.

The name of the king is inscribed: %n-Wsrt Man of

goddess Wsrt.

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B- Funerary Chamber of Deshri _Sry

Htp di nsw Inpw tpy Dw.f imy-wt nb-&A-Dsr pr-xrw t Hnqt n.f smr waty
_Sri

" May the King be kind and cause god Anubis who is upon his mountain,
who is in his embalming place and the Lord of the Sacred Land
(Necropolis) to give offerings of bread and beer to him, the sole friend
Deshri ".

Htp di nsw Wsir nb-_Dw xnty imnty pr-xrw t Hnqt n.f

" May the kung be kind and cause Osiris, the Lord of Djedu
(Abusir) 1, and the Foremost of the Westerners to give offerings of
bread and beer to him ".

1
Abuser is a town in the middle of Delta.

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Statue of Ra-Htp and Nfrt

A- Inscriptions of Ra-Htp :
1- The left side :

(a)
wr npt = The great one of the city,

imy-r msTtiw = The chief of the quarry workers.

(b)
imy-r mSa = The chief of the army,

xrp tmA = The controller of the troops.

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 (c)
sA-nsw n Xt.f Ra-Htp
the son of the king from his body Ra-Htp
2- The right side :

(a)
wr mAA Iwn = great watcher of Heliopolis

wa wr Hb = great one in the feast

mDH Ams = overseer of the Ams scepters

(b)
iAw wa = the unique one

wr Sp n tyw = the great of the Shepnep people (place in Giza)

(c)
sA-nsw n Xt.f Ra-Htp
the son of the king from his body Ra-Htp
B- Inscriptions of Nfrt :
- On either side of her head, there are the following inscriptions:

rxt- nsw Nfrt

The known one to the king Nfrt.

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The False Door of Ika :

- on the drum, there are hieroglyphic inscriptions, which could be read as

the following:

HqA-Hwt-aA rxt-nsw IkA

" The Ruler of the Great House, the known to the King, Ika".

- There are group of hieroglyphic inscriptions bearing the name and title
of Imrt as priestess of Goddess Hathor.

@wt-@r Hm nTr nbt nht rxt nsw imAxt Ii-mrt

" Priestess of Goddess Hathor, Lady of the Sycamore, the known one to
the King, the justified, Imrt ".

- There is the famous Htp di nsw formula, which is directed to Anubis to

bury the deceased Ika in the necropolis.
- The inscription could be read as the following:

Htp di nsw Inpw Htp xnty sAH-nTr qrst.f m xry-nTr rx-nsw IikA

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" May the King be kind and let God Anubis be kind - which is in front of
the divine shrine - and bury him in the necropolis, the known one to the
King, Ika ".

(2) The Lower Lintel :

- it has also the Htp di nsw formula

Htp di nsw ir.n.f dbHt-Htp t Hnqt kA AbD rx-nsw HqA-Hwt-aA IikA

" May the King be kind and give, he made offerings consisted of bread,
beer, geese and oxen (to) the well known to the King, the Master of the
great House, Ika ".

The panels of Hesyre

Some titles for Hesyre can be read from the three panels such as :

 wr ibH swnw "great dentist and physician".

 sS nsw "royal scribe".
 rx nsw "known one to the king".
 Hm nTr P "high priest of the city of Buto".
 wr (mDw) Smaw "great (of the ten) of Upper Egypt".

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 - Pylons or Temple Façade

1) Then there are rows of cartouches which have the name and titles of
god Aten which is considered something unusual to find the name of a
god inscribed inside a cartouche. This is because Akhenaten wanted to
assure that Aten was the supreme god and the king of the universe.
- From the cartouches of the god we can read :

anx-Ra-HoA-Axty-Hay-m-Axt

" The living sun, the ruler of the two horizons, the joyful in the horizon ".

2) Near the left frieze are some hieroglyphic inscription :

di anx Dt nHH di anx Dt nHH

" Giving life forever and eternity, giving life forever and eternity ".

3) The names of the royal family :

On either side of the towers, there are three cartouches; two for
Akhenaten and one for Nefertiti.

- The two of Akhenaten :

nfr-xprw-Ra-wa.n-Ra

" Beauty is the forms of Re, the sole of Re ".

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 Ax.n-Itn

" The good spirit of Aten "

- The cartouche of Nefertiti :

nfr-nfrw-Itn-nfrt-ii-ti

"Beauty of the beauties of Aten, the beauty is coming".

- Above the daughter Meryt-Aten is a long vertical columns which has

her name and titles which are identical on the both sides :

sAt-nsw m Xt.f mrt.f "Mrt-Itn" ms.n Hmt-nsw wrt Nfr-nfrw-Itn-nfrt-ii-ti

" The royal daughter from his body and his beloved Meryt-Aten, the child of
the great royal wife Nfr-nfrw-Itn-nfrt-ii-ti.

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The Royal Names (Old Kingdom)

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31
Exercise 1

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Exercise 2

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Exercise 3

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Exercise 4

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Exercise 5

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Exercise 6

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Exercise 7

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Exercise 8

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Exercise 9

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Exercise 10

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