Roots

It is important to understand that nouns in Mdw-Ntr are comprised of ROOTS PLUS ENDINGS.  In reading Hieroglyphs, an understanding of the text is dependant upon understanding the relationships between the root and its various endings.

The more I study Mdw-Ntr, the more I come to realize the importance of the roots of words in every language.

A root word can be the foundation of a verb, or adjective or a noun in its singular, plural or "dual" number; as well as its masculine or feminine form in gender.

To best understand the use of nouns in Mdw-Ntr we need to understand the function of the roots word.

As I expressed earlier, a word can often be masculine, feminine, singular, plural or dual, depending upon the ending.  To illustrate this, lets examine the English word "chair."

In its most common sense "chair" [root] represents a piece of furniture.   But it can also serve as the root for "chairman" [masculine] or "chairwoman," [feminine] two nouns that are gender specific in referring to one who "chairs" [verb] a meeting or committee.  And sometimes the "chairperson" [gender neutral] need to make sure that there are enough "chairs" in the hall where he or she plans to "chair" [verb] the meeting.  A person unfamiliar with English would probably be driven to distraction by the previous sentence, but who understand the custom and usage of the English language would have no difficulty in comprehending the writer's intent.

Gender

Almost all feminine nouns end in "t"  in Mdw Ntr.
Masculine nouns have various endings; but of significance are masculine singular nouns ending in "j"  or "w" , which are all treated differently in the plural or dual number.

 Some masculine singular nouns are comprised of the root plus an ending of "j" or "w," and other masculine singular nouns are comprised of the root alone.  And while I understood that early on in my study of Mdw-Ntr, I had great difficulty distinguishing certain words and in translating sentences in which they were contained until I fully appreciated this aspect of masculine nouns.

James P. Allen, in his "Middle Egyptian" uses three words that illustrate this point.

 "sn" = "brother" [the masculine sibling] =  in the masculine singular form uses only the root word "sn."

 "xfti" = "enemy" =  in the masculine singular form uses the root "xft" plus the ending "i."

 "HfAw" = "snake" =  in the masculine singular form uses the root "HfA" plus the ending "w."
 

Feminine

 "sn.t" = "sister" [the feminine sibling] =  in the feminine singular form uses the root "sn" plus the ending ".t."

 "xft.t" = "female enemy" =  in the feminine singular form uses the root "xft" plus the ending ".t."

 "HfA.t" = "female snake" =  in the feminine singular form uses the root "HfA" plus the ending ".t."

Please note that I use a period before the "feminine 't'" to designate it as such.  This is because not all words ending in "t" are feminine.  However, not everyone uses this convention [most notably, James P. Allen, upon whose "MIDDLE EGYPTIAN" this work heavily relies.

Number

PLURAL

Masculine Plural

"snw" = "brothers" [the masculine siblings] =  in the masculine plural form uses the root "sn" plus the ending "w" .  [Note the plural here, and the in following examples, is indicated by three plural strokes, and that the plural ending "w." follows the determinative.]

"xftjw" = "enemies" = in the masculine plural form uses the root "xft" plus the ending "j" followed by the determinative and the [plural strokes] "w."

"HfAww" = "snakes" = in the masculine plural form uses the root "HfA" plus the ending "w" followed by the determinative and the [plural strokes] "w."
 
 

Feminine Plural

"snw.t" = "sisters" [feminine siblings] = in the feminine plural form uses the root "sn" , augmented with the "n", plus the ending ".t" followed by the determinative and the [plural strokes] "w."

"xftw.t" = "female enemies" = in the feminine plural form uses the root "xft"  plus the ending ".t" followed by the determinative and the [plural strokes] "w."

"HfAw.t" = "female snakes" = in the feminine plural form uses the root "HfA" plus the ending ".t" followed by the determinative and the [plural strokes] "w."

As shown above, the plural can be written in more than one way.  The use of three strokes was more common in Middle Egyptian, while the use of three determinatives is believed to be an older practice.   On occasion, the older customs caused some entire words to be written three times in order to express the plural.

DUAL

European centered thought does not focus on the duality of all things, and so the "Dual" form of expression is not as important in western European languages.  But this is not so for most African and Asian cultures.  Mdw-Ntr is a language born of African centered thought, and as such the concept of the dual is very important, and the language reflects this.  And for this reason, the "Dual" is set apart from the "Plural."

Masculine Dual

 "snwj" = "two brothers" [the masculine siblings] = a masculine dual form, uses the root "sn" plus the ending "wj."   [Note the dual in these examples are indicated by two determinative glyphs].

 "xftjwj" = "two enemies" = a masculine dual form, uses the root "xft" followed by the ending "j" plus the ending "wj."

 "HfAwwj" = "two snakes" = a masculine dual form, uses the root "HfA" followed by the ending "w" plus two determinative glyphs.
 

Feminine Dual

 "sn.tj" = "two sisters" [feminine siblings] =  a feminine dual, form uses the root "sn" with the feminine ".t" plus the ending "j" followed by two determinative glyphs.

 "xft.tj" = "two female enemies" = a feminine dual form, uses the root "xft" with the feminine ".t" plus the ending "j" and a determinative.

 "HfA.tj" = "two female snakes" =  a feminine dual form, uses the root "HfA" with the feminine ".t" plus the ending "j" followed by two determinative glyphs.

Also, as with the plural, the dual can be written in more than one way.  And like the plural, the use of two strokes was more common in Middle Egyptian, while the use of two determinatives is believed to be an older practice.   And on occasion, the older customs caused some entire words to be written twice in order to express the dual.

False Plurals and False Duals

 There are exceptions to every rule and when it comes to false plurals and duals it is helpful to think of the variation between the treatment of the word "jury" and "council" by English speakers from the U.K. and the U.S.  The Brits say: "The jury are…" and The council are…" While the yanks say: "The jury is …" and "The council is …"  Singular or plural?  Who knows, who cares?  Well – I guess we do, because Collective nouns such as this are written in the plural in Mdw-Ntr.  And for this reason, you will see a word like "population" = rxiitwritten with plural strokes.

 "Perfection" = nfrw = ends in "w" and as it is deemed to be "singular" phenomenon, it is considered to be a false plural.  [But could it be that "perfection" is a multiplicity of being good, and is therefore a plural concept?]

 "Local" = nwti =  is a false dual and is often written with the determinative for "jurisdictional place" = nwt written twice.  [And here, is there some concept that a local person, or body, has a duty to both the locality and to the land of km.t; and is therefore a dual concept?]
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Noun Phrases

Remember when we talked about the nouns "chairperson?"  Well, this is a noun that is made up of more than one other noun; "chair" and "person."  And so this is called a "compound noun" or a "noun phrase."  You often get compound nouns when playing the dozens.  For example, when you call someone's moma a "biscuit eater."
 

APPOSITION

 In fact, "chairperson" and "biscuit eater" are both noun phrases of "apposition."  This means that the words comprising the noun phrase are side.

CONNECTION

 If you are old enough [or young enough] to remember the song "Conjunction Junction" on Saturday morning's "Schoolhouse Rock", you will remember that "conjunction" has to do with "hooking up" [hooking up can also be referred to as "coordination"]

 Fish and chips, beer and pizza [depending on which side of the North Atlantic Ocean you are on] or bread and beer if you were in ancient km.t.  Here we are talking about things that go together, like "Q&A" for "Questions and Answers."

 Mdw-Ntr creates conjunction in noun phrases with the use of "apposition"
Bread and Beer = t Hnqt = 
 Use of the word "with" = Hna = 
 Use of the word "upon" = Hr = 
 

DISJUNCTION
Disjunction can be designated by apposition

Use of the word "whichever" = r-pw =  after the second noun of a two word noun clause.  Whatever

If the concepts of conjunction and disjunction give you a headache, just pick up a highschool English grammar text and try to untangle "conjunctive commas" and "disjunctive commas."
 

TOO POSSESSIVE
It is said that there are forms of construction in Mdw-Ntr that designate one thing as "belonging to another."  I think the concept is much more complicated than this, but that is a matter that would require me to write for much longer than this website can support.  So, for the sake of these lessons, we will say that there exist a "possessive" construction in Mdw-Ntr.

The possessive can be expressed in two different ways:  the "Direct Genitive" and the "Indirect Genitive"
 

DIRECT GENITIVE

 The Direct Genitive is merely two nouns in apposition with the latter understood to be the possessor of the former.

He my Baby Daddy = sw it hrd.j  = 
But think about it, does either the baby or the daddy own the other?
 

INDIRECT GENITIVE

 The Indirect Genitive places a "genitival adjective" between the first noun, which is the possessed, and the second noun, which is the possessor.

I know, I know, you can slap your computer as much as you want, but it wont hurt me.  Now, if you calm down, I'll show you that it is not that complicated.

Remember "Son of Sam"?  Well, "of" is a genitival adjective.  Simple, no?

Now, Just remember that there is a masculine singular form of the genitival adjective
n = 
the language of Km.T = rn km.t =

Then remember that there is a masculine plural/dual form of the genitival adjective
nw =
The fish of the river = rmw-nw-jtrw = 

Finally, just remember that there is a feminine form of the genitival adjective that is used with the singular, plural and dual.
n.t = 
The place of the living = st-nt-anxw = 
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Honorific Transposition

I have a friend who, instead of simply saying: "Honorific transposition," he say, each and every time, "Honorific transposition, in order to show respect."  Why he says it that way each time, I do not know.  But, I must admit, I am sure he will never forget the purpose of honorific transposition.
Not being on the look out for honorific transposition can cause a great deal of confusion, because things will appear to be backwards.  This convention in Mdw-Ntr caused many serious scholars to be quite confused about the names of certain kings for many years because the names, when read as they appeared, made no historical sense.

Honorific transposition simply means that the name of a god, goddess or king is put first in a phrase.  And this convention overrides the convention that the possessor noun is always placed second in a direct genitive noun phrase.  Inattention to honorific transposition may cause you to think that a god belongs to an offering, when you see:
Htpw nswt = 

Or, that a god belongs to a scribe, when you see:
zXAw-nfr = 

And finally, a word about "nswt."  It is unclear to me why modern Egyptologist do not read this as swtn [suten].  There is no etymological basis to believe that swtn is not correct, or that nswt is correct.  I suspect that it has to do with the connotation of a European centered cultural dislike for the connotations of Egyptian royalty and the possible connection between "swtn" and "suden" or "southern" which is Nubian and central African relative to Km.t.  However, for the sake of current convention, I will cite the word as "nswt," until I can definitively cite it as otherwise.

Well folks, I don't know about you, but I have had about enough of nouns for now.  But if you want to get into it in more depth, think about acquiring James P. Allen's MIDDLE EGYPTIAN by Cambridge Press.

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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: Blayton_Law@sprynet.com
 

 

Last Updated 6/19/02