The

Egyptian hieroglyphic Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

text ''Hieroglyphs Without Mystery: An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Writing'', is one of the modern

primer Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a t ...

s on the

Egyptian language The Egyptian language or Ancient Egyptian ( ) is a dead language, dead Afroasiatic languages, Afro-Asiatic language that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large Text corpus, corpus of surviving texts which were made acces ...

hieroglyphs, from the late 20th to early 21st century. The text is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

text authored by Karl-Theodor Zauzich, c. 1992, and translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

by Ann Macy Roth. The text is built upon only four chapters and an Appendix: :#Generalities :#The Writing System :#Examples :#Conclusion :#Appendixes

Examples

Six of the examples are from

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

, including a white Alabaster Chest-(

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

JE 61762), with hieroglyphs down the top center and an end text of three vertical columns. Three

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

s and a horizontal

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adorn the box's ''end text''. The horizontal text-(below the cartouches), uses three hieroglyphs that can elucidate a meaning for a hieroglyph block from the

scarab artifact Scarabs were popular amulets and impression seals in ancient Egypt. They survive in large numbers and, through their inscriptions and typology, are an important source of information for archaeologists and historians of the ancient world. They a ...

, ''

The lion hunts of Amenhotep III during the first ten years of his reign The Lion-Hunts of Amenhotep III During the First Ten Years of his Reign is one of a group of five historical and commemorative scarabs made during the reign of Amenhotep III. The set of five scarabs were presumably used to validate, and proclaim ...

''. It is an addition below Ankhesenamun cartouche, a wife of Tutankamun. The three hieroglyphs, ''ti'', '' ankh'', and '' renpet'', U33, S34, M7, are used.

The text under Ankhesenamun's name: S34-U33-.-M7-U33 is translated as: :''"may she live"'' :''"may she be (forever) young"'' The ''ti'' is described as a "grammatical ending", (for third person, feminine, singular): it is: "a special group of endings attached to verbs in order to express a wish".Zauzich, 1992, p. 62. The standard version of analytic Egyptian hieroglyphs is based upon the 26 categories of the Gardiner's Sign List, (about 700 signs). That categorization is still the basic standard. The approach in ''Hieroglyphs Without Mystery'' is an abbreviated Gardiner's Sign List, categorized and described as a 'study reference appendix'-(16 pages), with many of the most common or more important Egyptian hieroglyphs. With the older styles and outlines of hieroglyphs being redone and rethought by modern Egytologists, new approaches to books on the

and the hieroglyphs have been tried. The text contains a short 'answer key' to exercises.

References

*Zauzich, 1992. ''Hieroglyphs Without Mystery: An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Writing'', Karl-Theodor Zauzich, English translation, Ann Macy Roth, c. 1992, University of Texas Press,

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

. Appendix-(problem solutions), " Hieroglyphic Sign List"-(abbreviated Gardiner's), ''Museum Numbers and Photo Credits for the Objects Discussed''-(12 entries); 121 pages. (softcover, ) Modern Egyptian hieroglyphs books {{AncientEgypt-book-stub