Mdw-Ntr, "The Language Of The Gods", is the language of Ancient Egypt.  But "Egypt" is the name that the Greeks gave to the Ancient Nile Valley Civilization that flourished for thousands of years before the existence of what is commonly called Greek's "Classical Period".

The Purpose Of This Site is For The Reader to Have Fun, and learn a little something about MDW-NTR at the same time.  My attempt here is to help those who are interested in learning this language to do so without the traditional filters of euro centric perspectives.

This site is not intended to replace any formal or structured course of study of Mdw-Ntr, but it is a means by which students of Mdw-Ntr may supplement their studies, and where those interested in its study may familiarize themselves with the language.

NOW FOR A  COUPLE OF ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES:

1.    If I want to really get your attention, I will use RED LETTERS like those, and sometimes, I will even use Italics and Underline Red Letters.  Remember, I am not angry, I am just trying to make a point.

2.    When you come to a brick wall, like this:

this means that you have reached a significant break point in the lessons.  Usually, you will find these when I send you to another site for data or examples, and when you return, just come back to this point.

3.    When you come to TWO brick walls like this:

that is the end of the lesson.  So don't beat your head against a brick wall.

4.    Minor breaks in a lesson will be marked by a Horizontal Line like this:

5.    If you need help getting around these pages, just click the Help Buttons at the bottom of the pages.
The Help Button looks like this: 
 

The culture of English speaking people has been heavily influenced by what is considered to be Greek Culture as filtered through over 250 years of eurocentric thinking.

This eurocentric filter has caused the creation and maintenance of a host of unwarranted beliefs which, when woven together, created a myth system of the existence of the superiority of individuals considered to be of European ancestry.

This myth system has fallen most heavily upon the backs of individuals considered to be of African ancestry.  And while European norms have been considered to be superior, African norms have been viewed as woefully inferior.  So inferior, in fact, were African norms considered to be, that the enslavement of Africans by Europeans was considered an improvement in the African's condition.

But, in order to maintain the false logic of the myth of European superiority and African inferiority, it became necessary to eliminate even the hint of the existence of any highly evolved African culture.  And it is for this reason that Egypt, while located in the continent of Africa had to be disassociated, in the minds of Europeans, from African culture.

"It is because he knows his name that he does not fall on his face."*^1.2

But much of the history of Egypt is African history, and that fact was carved in stone thousand of years ago.  In fact, much of that carving remains today.  It can be found in the temples of Ancient Egypt, and also in museums around the world where a great deal of Egypt's stolen artifacts have been taken.

But if you are to know the history if the Ancient Nile Valley Civilization, it is best that you read it yourself, in the language in which it was written.  And that language is Mdw-Ntr.

The methodology here is to guide the reader to and through other sites which teach Hieroglyphs and Mdw-Ntr, as well as provide information at this site as well.

The reason I use other sites is this effort is because many of those pages are very well done and are extremely helpful in the study of the language.

On occasion, however, this site will link to pages that I consider to contain some incorrect information, and I will point out those portions I believe to be in error.  I will also editorialize on those errors and use them as teaching tools to help the student of the language to identify the culturally "weighted" perspective of the author of that site.  When I do editorialize, it will not be my intent to vilify anyone's perspective, but to merely point out, what I believe to be inaccurate information or "illogic."

NO LITERARY WORK OR SCHOLARLY ENDEAVOR IS CULTURALLY NEUTRAL, AND ANYONE WHO WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE HIS OR HER WORK TO BE SO IS EITHER DISHONEST OR UNINTELLIGENT.  AND IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE READER TO CONSIDER ALL ASPECTS OF ANY INFORMATION THAT IS PRESENTED TO HIM OR HER.

OKAY, NOW LET'S LEARN HOW TO READ WHAT THE AFRICANS OF THE ANCIENT NILE VALLEY CIVILIZATION REALLY SAID ABOUT THEMSELVES!

Mdw-Ntr is written with Signs and Determinatives, which are in fact pictures.  These pictures (often called "signs") are symbols.  The process of arranging and presenting these pictures is symbolization.   And that which is symbolized is called a phenomenon.

DON'T RUN AWAY!  None of this stuff is that "heavy". The symbolization of phenomena is something we do all the time.  In fact, all of the English words on this page are symbols, which when arranged and presented represent different phenomena.  A very simple way of saying this is to call the process "WRITING."

Now, here are two phenomena, which I have symbolized in Englsh and in Mdw-Ntr.

Sister =         Brother = 

Just as the symbols "S" "i" "s" "t" "e" "r" arranged in that order tell you what I am symbolizing, the arrangement of the following four symbols:   in that order can also tell you that I am symbolizing "Sister."
 

Look at the Mdw-Ntr for Sister and Brother and notice the similarities in the two words, and note their differences as well.

While Mdw-Ntr usually distinguished male from female by the presence or absence of the small mound in front of the woman in the word "Sister"; the pictures of the woman and the man also help to distinguish "Brother" from "Sister" in this instance.  These human figures in this instance are "Determinatives."

At this point, it will be helpful if we go to Egyptologica Vlaanderen VZW's website and read their LESSONS 1, 2 and 3.

When You HIt This Brick Wall, Don't Go Further Until You Have Gone To The Linked Sites.

Lesson 2 starts us on “the egyptian alphabet - the one-letter signs.”

http://www.fnspo.cz/mmm/egypt/hiero/12.htm

Lesson 3 continues “the egyptian alphabet” with “two-letter signs and determinatives”

http://www.fnspo.cz/mmm/egypt/hiero/13.htm

Don't forget to come back, and I'll be waiting for you when you get here.

WELCOME BACK! - - - -  What did you think of that?  Mdw-Ntr is very interesting and fun to learn, but there are many differences of opinion regarding the history of the language and of Ancient Egypt itself. Do you recall that the Egyptologica Vlaanderen VZW stated in its Introduction: "Scientists speak of the Afro-Asiatic or Hamito-Semitic language group." and this is true.  But there are also scientists who speak of an "African-Egyptian" language group.

So, what difference does it makes whether Mdw-Ntr belongs to an "Afro-Asiatic" group or an "African-Egyptian" group?  The difference is whether the Ancient Nile Valley Civilization was more connected with Asian cultures to the north, or whether it was more  connected with the African cultures to its south.  Linguistic history is like a bloodline, it evidences the history of a culture.

REMEMBER HOWEVER, we are talking about cultures, not physical phenotypes that people often refer to as race.

For now, it will be enough to know that the Ancient Nile Valley Civilization was situated on the continent of Africa, and that alone makes it accurate to refer to it as an African Civilization.

After we do one more thing, we will be ready, to go to our next page.  I would llike for you to go back to the Egyptologica Vlaanderen VZWs pages for the One-Letter Signs and the Two Letter Signs and copy the pictures of those list of signs and their sounds and bookmark them, print them out, or save in your computer.  Having these lists for quick reference will be of great help as we progress through the lessons.

These buttons will take you to the pages that contain those glyph lists.

	One Letter Signs (1st set)
	One Letter Signs (2nd set)
	One Letter Signs (3rd set)
	Alternate One Letter Signs
	Two Letter Signs

 

Index Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Notes Page Help Page

For more on the ANCIENT NILE VALLEY CIVILIZATION, Go To:  THE Km.T LIBERATION FRONT
 

This site was created and prepared by Oscar H. Blayton (c) 2000-2002

Email me at: Email me at: Blayton_Law@sprynet.com
 

 

Last Updated 4/3/02