Egyptian Hieroglyphs: Lesson 2

Nouns
The Basics
Nouns can describe both tangible (book, man, Amun) and intangible things
(love, desire, justice). In Middle Egyptian, there are to terms that e use to
describe nouns! gender and number. A noun"s gender can be either #eminine
or masculine, and its number can be singular, plural, or dual.
$he best method to determine hether a noun is #eminine or masculine is to
look #or the t hieroglyph . $his hieroglyph signals that the gender o# the ord
is #eminine (usually). In some cases, the t hieroglyph is present and the
gender is not #eminine. $hese e%ceptions, hoever, are #e and #ar beteen.
I# the t hieroglyph is not present, then the noun is more than likely masculine.
$he #olloing chart lists the masculine and #eminine endings #or nouns.

Noun Endings
Number Masculine Feminine
Singular
&
t
Plural
, w (w)t
Dual
, wy ty
No, lets look at a #e e%amples to see these endings in action. $he
hieroglyph #or 'brother( is sn . $here is no ending attached to the noun,
so e can identi#y it as singular and masculine. No, as e no kno
that sn is a masculine noun, e can attach a di##erent ending to it in order to
change its number. I# e add a w , it becomes the plural, 'brothers.( I#
e add the ending wy , it becomes the dual, 'the to brothers.(
)ometimes, in place o# the w in the plural, three plural strokes may be used
instead .
In some cases, the plural and dual endings may not be ritten. Instead, the
repetition is used to sho its number. $he ord t3 , 'land,( is a great
e%ample o# this. I# e ere to add a second land hieroglyph belo the #irst, it
ould become t3wy , 'the $o *ands,( re#erring to +pper and *oer Egypt.
I# e ere to add a third land hieroglyph belo the second, it ould
become t3w 'lands.( $his type o# repetition to sho number is common
enough you should commit it to memory along ith the more common
endings.
Nouns: Apposition
,hen to nouns are placed ne%t to each other, they are described as being
in apposition. $his type o# relationship is common in Middle Egyptian. *et"s
look at an e%ample to see ho this orks. In this e%ample, e ill be looking
at part o# $utankhamun"s cartouche and the noun nswt, '(the) king.(


nswt
twt- n -imn
-ing $utankhamun
,hen these nouns are placed in apposition, they #orm a noun phrase, '(the)
king, $utankhamun.(
,e can identi#y another #eather o# the Egyptian language ithin the
cartouche, honorific transposition. .ut o# respect, the names #or gods and
kings are commonly placed at the #ront o# noun phrases, even though they
should be read a#ter the connected nouns. )o, you might be inclined to
transliterate $utankhamun"s cartouche as imn-twt- n , as the orientation o#
the hieroglyphs suggests/ hoever, this transliteration does not account #or
the honori#ic transposition, and should read twt- n -imn instead.
Nouns: Direct Genitive
$he direct genitive is #ormed by to nouns that are placed in apposition.
0oever, the direct genitive e%presses a relationship o# possession, 1 Noun"s
2 Noun ($he king"s i#e)3the possessor noun and the possessed noun. In
Middle Egyptian the possessed noun alays precedes its possessor. *ets
look at an e%ample o# the direct genitive.



q3
'4uler o# 0eliopolis o# +pper Egypt( '$he 4uler o# +pper Egypt"s 0eliopolis.(
In this e%ample, the direct genitive is composed o# a noun ( q5) and a noun
phrase (iwnw m w) . ,e kno this is a direct genitive through a process o#
elimination. I# e ere to translate this e%ample ithout the possessive
relationship, it ould be '$he 4uler, +pper Egypt"s 0eliopolis.( $he more likely
option ould be to translate it as a direct genitive, '$he ruler o# +pper Egypt"s
0eliopolis,( describing $utankhamun"s role as 0eliopolis" ruler.
$here are to ays to translate the genitive! Apostrophe 6 s attached to the
possessor noun, #olloed by the possessed noun ($he king"s i#e)/ the
possessed noun #olloed by 'o#( 6 possessor noun (i#e o# the king).
Nouns: Indirect Genitive
$he indirect genitive is another construction that e%presses possession. $his
construction is easier to identi#y, because it uses genitival adjective (see chart
belo). $he genitival adjective is placed in beteen to nouns, and like direct
genitives, the #irst noun is the possessed noun. $he genitival adjective that is
used is determined by the #irst noun3it must match in both gender and
number.

lic! to reveal the list and e"a#ple$
In the e%ample above, the #irst noun, mwt, is singular and #eminine, so the
corresponding singular, #eminine genitival adjective (nt) #ollos it.
$he singular, possessive adjective is identical to a preposition that you ill
learn later, n, 'to, #or.( )o, it may be di##icult, at #irst, to determine ho the n is
being used, but ith practice, this ill become a non&issue.
Nouns: Lists
*ists are common in Middle Egyptian, and contain to or more nouns. 7elo
is an e%ample that shos a number o# consecutively placed nouns.
t nqt bit irp '7read, beer, honey, and ine.(
,hen you #ind a string o# nouns, it is 8uite likely that it is a list. $he easiest
ay to determine the relationship o# the nouns is translate them using all three
relationships. 9or apposition, 'the bread, beer and the honey, ine( does not
make much sense. 9or possession, 'the bread o# beer and the honey o#
ine,( is an even sillier option. )o, it is most likely a list, ( bread, beer, honey,
and ine.(

Lesson 2 %oca&ulary and E"ercises

%oca&ulary list
pr 'house(
imn 'Amun(
nb 'lord, oner, master(
nswt 'king(
n r 'god(
r '4e(
rn 'name(
s 'man(
s3 'son(
sn 'brother(
s 'scribe(
dpt 'boat(

Biliterals
w
pr
nw

sw
sn
km
gm
tm
Triliterals
w m
sr
mwt
q3
tp
pr

E"ercises: transliterate and translate
'$
rn n s: 'the name o# the scribe( or 'the scribe"s name
2$
pr r 'the house o# 4e( or '4e"s house(
($
s5 n s: 'the son o# the scribe( or 'the scribe"s son
)$
imn nst n r 'Amun, -ing o# the ;ods(