Leaning to Read Hieroglyphs

I'm going to go through the book, "Egyptian Grammar" by A.H. Gardiner, and try to learn Middle Egyptian hieroglyphs. In this column, I will attempt to share what I learn as I go along!

Ideograms (Sense Signs)

Ideograms convey their meaning pictorially, usually accompanied by phonograms. A picture of the sun suggests sun, light and time, and as phonograms are used to give the exact meaning of words, can be seen in words such as:

(or ) r' means "sun"
hrw means "day", "daytime"
rk means "time", "period"
wbn means "rise", "shine"

But, in writing, ideograms need not be accompanied by all of the signs needed to express its complete sound value. Full writings are rare, but they show the sound values where the shortened forms don't. For example:

sdjm (full version) and sdjm both mean "hear".

Note that ideograms do not have to end the word.

Determinatives

When ideograms end the word, they are called determinatives. This is because these ideograms determine the meaning of the foregoing sound signs. They also define the meaning in a general way.

Note that words written as ideograms can also have determinatives:
ssh, "scribe"

Only very common words do no have determinatives. Also, some words have more than one determinative!

Generic Determinatives

Ideograms that serve to determine a huge number of different words can only express the kind of sense of these words, rather than their specific meaning. These are known as generic determinatives.

Here is a list of the more important generic determinatives:

	man, person
	woman
	people
	child, young
	old man, old, lean on
	official, man in authority
	exalted person, the dead
	god, king
	king
	god, king1
or	goddess, queen1
	high, rejoice, support
	praise, supplicate
	force, effort
2	eat, drink, speak, think, feel
	lift, carry
	weary, weak
	enemy, foreigner
	enemy, death
or	lie down, death, bury
	mummy, likeness, shape
	head, nod, throttle
	hair, mourn, forlorn
	eye, see, actions of the eye
	actions or conditions of the eye
	nose, smell, joy, contempt
	ear, states or activities of the ear
	tooth, actions of the teeth
	force, effort (exchangeable with )

	offer, present
	arm, bend arm, cease
	envelop, embrace
	phallus, beget, urinate
	leg, foot, actions of the feet
	walk, run
	move backwards
	limb, flesh
	tumours, odours, disease
	bodily discharges
or	cattle
	savage, Setite (Typhonian)3
	skin, mammal
	bird, insect
	small, bad, weak
	fish
	snake, worm
	tree
	plant, flower
or	vine, fruit, garden
	wood, tree
	corn
or	grain
	sky, above
	sun, light, time

	night, darkness
	star
	fire, heat, cook
	air, wind, sail
	stone
	copper, bronze
	sand, minerals, pellets
	water, liquid, actions connected with water
	sheet of water
	irrigated land
	land
	road, travel, position
	desert, foreign country
	foreign (country or person)
	town, village, Egypt
	house, building
	door, open
	box, coffin
	shrine, palanquin, mat
	boat, ship, navigation
	sacred barque
	clothe, linen
	bind, document

	rope, actions with cord or rope
	knife, cut
	hoe, cultivate, hack up
	break, divide, cross
	cup
	vessel, anoint
(less accurately )	pot, vessel, beverages
	bread, cake
or	loaf, cake, offering
	festival
or (older form )	book, writing, abstract
4	royal name, king
	one; the object depicted
(also , , )	several, plural
\	substitute for signs difficult to draw (not often used)

¹The king was often thought of as the incarnation of the falcon god Horus, and the queen as the cobra goddess Edjo. This is how the falcon and the cobra became determinatives for both royalty and deities.

²Note the difference of the arms from the determinative for man.

³This animal represents the god Set (identified by the Greeks with Thyphon), the brother and murderer of Osiris, enemy of his nephew Horus (son of Osiris).

⁴The hieroglyphs spelling the royal name are written inside this shape.

Purely Ideographic Writings

When ideograms stand for the actual objects that they depict, the phonetic signs that would indicate the sounds of these objects are often not used. These ideograms are usually indicated by the use of the stroke determinative .

If the noun is feminine, the stroke is preceded by t, the feminine ending.

Masculine and Feminine

The Egyptian language distinguishes things into two genders - masculine and feminine. Most feminine nouns end in t. Most of the other nouns are masculine.

Masculine:
r', sun

Feminine:
nywt, town

<< Lesson 1 Lesson 2 (Part II) >>

Can you have a look at my Egyptology Column for more Hieroglyph Lessons, Egyptian gods and goddess articles and more!

PS - One favour I do ask, please e-mail your comments about the articles to kunoichi@thekeep.org because it's your comments that keep me writing! Oh, and can you check out my other articles?

I've added a new search function to make it easier for you to find information in my articles!

© Caroline Seawright 2000