Chapter 1
The Script
§ 5. The hieroglyphic is a picture script. At first only visible objects could be expressed in
writing. Thus,
was written for "man." Or
for "hand." But the picture of a man with his hand to his mouth,
, was in time written to represent "to speak" or "to eat," and the sign for "eye,"
, was in time used also to represent "to see." The first great step in
the evolution of the hieroglyphic script was made when the early Egyptians used their picture signs
to express those abstract words, which happened to be pronounced in the same way as the words
represented by the picture signs. Thus, the sign for "star,"
, was pronounced
dwA
. But the word "to adore" was also pronounced
dwA. Therefore, in order to express the abstract idea "to adore,"
the concrete sign
was used.
§6. As very little account was taken of the expression of vowels, there being no separate vowel
signs in Egyptian, some of the signs came to represent only one consonant. Such consonants were
used as an alphabet. They were also used with another hieroglyph to make up a syllable or a word.
Thus, the second great step was taken, namely, in the development of an alphabetic and of a
phonetic script. Consequently, in the hierglyphic script, we have ideograms, or pictures
for whole words; alphabetic signs, or pictures for individual letters; and phonograms,
or pictures for syllables.
§ 7. Alphabetic signs:
Hiero- glyphic |
Approximate Sound |
Semitic Equivalent |
Approximate Name |
Hieratic |
Demotic |
 |
A, a, e |
  |
eagle |
  |
  |
 |
y, i |
  |
leaf |
  |
  |
 |
a, gh, o |
  |
arm |
  |
  |
 |
w, u |
  |
chick |
  |
  |
 |
b |
  |
leg |
  |
  |
 |
p |
  |
box |
  |
  |
 |
f |
  |
snail |
  |
  |
 |
m |
  |
owl |
  |
  |
 |
n |
  |
water |
  |
  |
 |
r |
  |
mouth |
  |
  |
 |
h |
  |
court yard |
  |
  |
 |
H |
  |
coil |
  |
  |
 |
x |
  |
disk |
  |
  |
 |
X |
  |
club |
  |
  |
 |
s |
  |
bolt |
  |
  |
 |
c |
  |
tape |
  |
  |
 |
S |
  |
pond |
  |
  |
 |
q, o |
  |
triangle |
  |
  |
 |
k |
  |
basket |
  |
  |
 |
g |
  |
stand |
  |
  |
 |
t |
  |
loaf |
  |
  |
 |
T |
  |
tongs |
  |
  |
 |
d |
  |
hand |
  |
  |
 |
D |
  |
snake |
  |
  |
§8. Groups of consonantes, e.g. cDm, Htp, ntr are made pronounceable
by the insertion of a short e between the letters. Thus, we read these words
ceDem, Hetep, neter. But the e, it must be
remembered, is quite conventional. It is not at all represented in the hieroglyphs.
§9. There are no written vowels in Egyptian. The letters
,
,
,
are really weak consonants.
is often omitted:
D f a "food" for
;
it is sometimes interchangeable with
:
"suffering" for
.
The letter
is often omitted; it sometimes corresponds to
; and it sometimes changes to
.
The letter
never changes. But
is often omitted, and sometimes becomes
.
§10. There is no separate sign for l. In order to represent a foreign l, Egyptians used
or
.
Final
was sometimes slurred to
,
and sometimes disappeared, but it often appeared as
.
§11. The aspirates were sharply distinguished,
as in "him,"
more energetic,
as in the Scotch "loch," but
was scarcely distinguishable from
and partly interchangeable with it.
§12. The sibilants
and
were interchangeable.
§13. The dental
often became
,
and
became
.
§14. At a later time in the history of the language, certain consonants in some words were
transposed:
qmA "to create" became at a later date
qAm.
§15. With the passage of time, certain substitute letters were used. They were:
for
,
for
,
for
,
for
.
And at a very early date
was written for
,
and
or
was written for
.
§16. The Egyptians wrote words as much as possible in square groups for the sake of symmetry.
Thus they wrote
instead of
ASr·t.
Occasionally the spelling was sacrificed to symmetry. Thus,
instead of
rmT,
and
xtf
instead of
xft.
For the same reason many signs were written either vertically or horizontally, e.g.
or
;
and some were placed one inside the other, e.g.
instead of
.
§17. The student should accustom himself to writing the hieroglyphs in a simpler form. Thus
the alphabet might be written somewhat as follows:
§18. Read and write:
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