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The Egyptian language or Ancient Egyptian ( ) is a dead
Afro-Asiatic language The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...
that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large
corpus Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics Music * ...
of surviving texts which were made accessible to the modern world following the decipherment of the ancient Egyptian scripts in the early
19th century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolish ...
. Egyptian is one of the earliest written languages, first being recorded in the hieroglyphic script in the late
4th millennium BC The 4th millennium BC spanned the years 4000 BC to 3001 BC. Some of the major changes in human culture during this time included the beginning of the Bronze Age and the invention of writing, which played a major role in starting recorded history. ...
. It is also the longest-attested human language, with a written record spanning over 4000 years. Its classical form is known as
Middle Egyptian The Egyptian language or Ancient Egyptian ( ) is a dead Afro-Asiatic language that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large corpus of surviving texts which were made accessible to the modern world following the deciphe ...
, the
vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
of the
Middle Kingdom of Egypt The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (also known as The Period of Reunification) is the period in the history of ancient Egypt following a period of political division known as the First Intermediate Period. The Middle Kingdom lasted from approximately ...
which remained the literary language of Egypt until the
Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
. By the time of classical antiquity the spoken language had evolved into
Demotic Demotic may refer to: * Demotic Greek, the modern vernacular form of the Greek language * Demotic (Egyptian), an ancient Egyptian script and version of the language * Chữ Nôm, the demotic script for writing Vietnamese See also * * Demos (dis ...
, and by the Roman era it had diversified into the Coptic dialects. These were eventually supplanted by
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
after the Muslim conquest of Egypt, although Bohairic Coptic remains in use as the liturgical language of the
Coptic Church The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي� ...
.The language may have survived in isolated pockets in Upper Egypt as late as the 19th century, according to James Edward Quibell, "When did Coptic become extinct?" in ''Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde'', 39 (1901), p. 87. In the village of Pi-Solsel (Az-Zayniyyah or El Zenya north of Luxor), passive speakers were recorded as late as the 1930s, and traces of traditional vernacular Coptic reported to exist in other places such as Abydos and Dendera, see Werner Vycichl
''Pi-Solsel, ein Dorf mit koptischer Überlieferung''
in: ''Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo'', (MDAIK) vol. 6, 1936, pp. 169–175 (in German).


Classification

The Egyptian language belongs to the
Afroasiatic language family The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...
. Among the typological features of Egyptian that are typically Afroasiatic are its fusional morphology,
nonconcatenative morphology Nonconcatenative morphology, also called discontinuous morphology and introflection, is a form of word formation and inflection in which the root is modified and which does not involve stringing morphemes together sequentially. Types Apophony ...
, a series of emphatic consonants, a three-vowel system , nominal feminine suffix *''-at'', nominal ''m-'', adjectival *''-ī'' and characteristic personal verbal affixes. Of the other Afroasiatic branches, linguists have variously suggested that the Egyptian language shares its greatest affinities with Berber and Semitic languages, particularly
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
. However, other scholars have argued that the Ancient Egyptian language shared closer linguistic ties with north-eastern African regions. In Egyptian, the Proto-Afroasiatic voiced consonants developed into pharyngeal : Egyptian ''ꜥr.t'' 'portal', Semitic ''dalt'' 'door'. Afroasiatic merged with Egyptian , , , and in the dialect on which the written language was based, but it was preserved in other Egyptian varieties. Original palatalise to in some environments and are preserved as in others. The Egyptian language has many biradical and perhaps monoradical roots, in contrast to the Semitic preference for triradical roots. Egyptian is probably more conservative, and Semitic likely underwent later regularizations converting roots into the triradical pattern. Although Egyptian is the oldest Afroasiatic language documented in written form, its morphological repertoire is very different from that of the rest of the
Afroasiatic The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...
languages in general, and Semitic languages in particular. There are multiple possibilities: Egyptian had already undergone radical changes from Proto-Afroasiatic before it was recorded; the Afroasiatic family has so far been studied with an excessively Semito-centric approach; or, as G. W. Tsereteli suggests, Afroasiatic is an allogenetic rather than a genetic group of languages.


History

The Egyptian language is conventionally grouped into six major
chronological Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , '' -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. ...
divisions: *Archaic Egyptian (before 2600 BC), the reconstructed language of the Early Dynastic Period, *Old Egyptian (c. 2600 – 2000 BC), the language of the
Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourt ...
, *Middle Egyptian (c. 2000 – 1350 BC), the language of the Middle Kingdom to early New Kingdom and continuing on as a
literary language A literary language is the form (register) of a language used in written literature, which can be either a nonstandard dialect or a standardized variety of the language. Literary language sometimes is noticeably different from the spoken langua ...
into the 4th century, *
Late Egyptian Late Egyptian is the stage of the Egyptian language that was written by the time of the New Kingdom of Egypt around 1350 BC (the Amarna Period). Texts written wholly in Late Egyptian date to the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and later. Late Egyptia ...
(c. 1350 – 700 BC), Amarna period to Third Intermediate Period, *
Demotic Demotic may refer to: * Demotic Greek, the modern vernacular form of the Greek language * Demotic (Egyptian), an ancient Egyptian script and version of the language * Chữ Nôm, the demotic script for writing Vietnamese See also * * Demos (dis ...
(c. 700 BC – AD 400), the vernacular of the Late Period, Ptolemaic and early Roman Egypt, *
Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet, t ...
(after c. 200 AD), the vernacular at the time of
Christianisation Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
, and the liturgical language of
Egyptian Christianity Christianity is the second largest religion in Egypt. The history of Egyptian Christianity dates to the Roman era as Alexandria was an early center of Christianity. Demographics The vast majority of Egyptian Christians are Copts who belong ...
. Old, Middle, and Late Egyptian were all written using both the hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts.
Demotic Demotic may refer to: * Demotic Greek, the modern vernacular form of the Greek language * Demotic (Egyptian), an ancient Egyptian script and version of the language * Chữ Nôm, the demotic script for writing Vietnamese See also * * Demos (dis ...
is the name of the script derived from hieratic beginning in the 7th century BC. The
Coptic alphabet The Coptic alphabet is the script used for writing the Coptic language. The repertoire of glyphs is based on the Greek alphabet augmented by letters borrowed from the Egyptian Demotic and is the first alphabetic script used for the Egyptian la ...
was derived from the Greek alphabet, with adaptations for Egyptian phonology. It was first developed in the Ptolemaic period, and gradually replaced the Demotic script in about the 4th to 5th centuries of the Christian era.


Old Egyptian

The term "Archaic Egyptian" is sometimes reserved for the earliest use of hieroglyphs, from the late fourth through the early third millennia BC. At the earliest stage, around 3300 BC, hieroglyphs were not a fully developed writing system, being at a transitional stage of proto-writing; over the time leading up to the 27th century BC, grammatical features such as
nisba The Arabic word nisba (; also transcribed as ''nisbah'' or ''nisbat'') may refer to: * Nisba, a suffix used to form adjectives in Arabic grammar, or the adjective resulting from this formation **comparatively, in Afro-Asiatic: see Afroasiatic_lan ...
formation can be seen to occur. Old Egyptian is dated from the oldest known complete sentence, including a
finite verb Traditionally, a finite verb (from la, fīnītus, past participle of to put an end to, bound, limit) is the form "to which number and person appertain", in other words, those inflected for number and person. Verbs were originally said to be ''fin ...
, which has been found. Discovered in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen (dated c. 2690 BC), the seal impression reads: : Extensive texts appear from about 2600 BC. The Pyramid Texts are the largest body of literature written in this phase of the language. One of its distinguishing characteristics is the tripling of ideograms, phonograms, and determinatives to indicate the plural. Overall, it does not differ significantly from Middle Egyptian, the classical stage of the language, though it is based on a different dialect. In the period of the 3rd dynasty (c. 2650 – c. 2575 BC), many of the principles of hieroglyphic writing were regularized. From that time on, until the script was supplanted by an early version of Coptic (about the third and fourth centuries), the system remained virtually unchanged. Even the number of signs used remained constant at about 700 for more than 2000 years.


Middle Egyptian

Middle Egyptian was spoken for about 700 years, beginning around 2000 BC. As the classical variant of Egyptian, Middle Egyptian is the best-documented variety of the language, and has attracted the most attention by far from
Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...
. Whilst most Middle Egyptian is seen written on monuments by hieroglyphs, it was also written using a cursive variant, and the related hieratic. Middle Egyptian first became available to modern scholarship with the decipherment of hieroglyphs in the early 19th century. The first grammar of Middle Egyptian was published by
Adolf Erman Johann Peter Adolf Erman (; 31 October 185426 June 1937) was a renowned German Egyptologist and lexicographer. Life Born in Berlin, he was the son of Georg Adolf Erman and grandson of Paul Erman and Friedrich Bessel. Educated at Leipzig and Be ...
in 1894, surpassed in 1927 by
Alan Gardiner Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, (29 March 1879 – 19 December 1963) was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He is regarded as one of the premier Egyptologists of the early and mid-20th century. Personal life ...
's work. Middle Egyptian has been well-understood since then, although certain points of the verbal inflection remained open to revision until the mid-20th century, notably due to the contributions of
Hans Jakob Polotsky Hans Jakob Polotsky ( he, הנס יעקב פולוצקי; also Hans Jacob Polotsky, Hans Jakob Polotzky; 13 September 1905 – 10 August 1991) was an Israeli orientalist, linguist, and professor of Semitic languages and Egyptology at the Hebrew U ...
. The Middle Egyptian stage is taken to have ended around the 14th century BC, giving rise to
Late Egyptian Late Egyptian is the stage of the Egyptian language that was written by the time of the New Kingdom of Egypt around 1350 BC (the Amarna Period). Texts written wholly in Late Egyptian date to the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and later. Late Egyptia ...
. This transition was taking place in the later period of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (known as the Amarna Period). Middle Egyptian was retained as a literary standard language, and in this usage survived until the Christianisation of Roman Egypt in the 4th century.


Late Egyptian

Late Egyptian Late Egyptian is the stage of the Egyptian language that was written by the time of the New Kingdom of Egypt around 1350 BC (the Amarna Period). Texts written wholly in Late Egyptian date to the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and later. Late Egyptia ...
, appearing around 1350 BC, is represented by a large body of religious and secular literature, comprising such examples as the '' Story of Wenamun'', the love poems of the Chester–Beatty I papyrus, and the ''
Instruction of Any ''The Instruction of Any'', or ''Ani'', is an Ancient Egyptian text written in the style of wisdom literature which is thought to have been composed in the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom, with a surviving manuscript dated from the Twenty-Fir ...
''. Instructions became a popular literary genre of the New Kingdom, which took the form of advice on proper behavior. Late Egyptian was also the language of the New Kingdom administration. The Hebrew Bible contains some words, terms and names that are thought by scholars to be Egyptian in origin. An example of this is
Zaphnath-Paaneah Zaphnath-Paaneah ( hbo, צָפְנַת פַּעְנֵחַ , grc, label=LXX, Ψονθομφανήχ ) is the name given by Pharaoh to Joseph in the Genesis narrative (). The name may be of Egyptian origins, but there is no straightforward ety ...
, the Egyptian name given to Joseph.


Demotic and Coptic

Demotic Demotic may refer to: * Demotic Greek, the modern vernacular form of the Greek language * Demotic (Egyptian), an ancient Egyptian script and version of the language * Chữ Nôm, the demotic script for writing Vietnamese See also * * Demos (dis ...
is the name given to the Egyptian script used to write both the Egyptian vernacular of the Late Period from the eight century BC as well as texts in archaic forms of the language. It was written in a script derived from a northern variety of hieratic writing. The last evidence of archaic Egyptian in Demotic is a graffito written in 452 BC, but Demotic was used to write vernacular before and in parallel with the Coptic script throughout the early Ptolemaic Kingdom until it was supplanted by the
Coptic alphabet The Coptic alphabet is the script used for writing the Coptic language. The repertoire of glyphs is based on the Greek alphabet augmented by letters borrowed from the Egyptian Demotic and is the first alphabetic script used for the Egyptian la ...
entirely.
Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet, t ...
is the name given to the late Egyptian vernacular when it was written in a Greek-based alphabet, the Coptic alphabet; it flourished from the time of Early Christianity (c. 31/33–324) but first appeared during the
Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
. It survived into the medieval period. By the 16th century Coptic was dwindling rapidly due to the persecution of Coptic Christians under the Mamluks. It probably survived in the Egyptian countryside as a spoken language for several centuries after that. Coptic survives as the liturgical language of the
Coptic Orthodox Church The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي� ...
and the
Coptic Catholic Church The Coptic Catholic Church ( ar, الكنيسة القبطية الكاثوليكية; la, Ecclesia Catholica Coptorum) is an Eastern Catholic particular church in full communion with the Catholic Church. Along with the Ethiopian Catholic Chu ...
.


Dialects

Most hieroglyphic Egyptian texts are written in a literary prestige register rather than the
vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
speech variety of their author. As a result, dialectical differences are not apparent in written Egyptian until the adoption of the
Coptic alphabet The Coptic alphabet is the script used for writing the Coptic language. The repertoire of glyphs is based on the Greek alphabet augmented by letters borrowed from the Egyptian Demotic and is the first alphabetic script used for the Egyptian la ...
. Nevertheless, it is clear that these differences existed before the Coptic period. In one Late Egyptian letter (dated c. 1200 BC), a scribe jokes that his colleague's writing is incoherent like "the speech of a
Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...
man with a man of
Elephantine Elephantine ( ; ; arz, جزيرة الفنتين; el, Ἐλεφαντίνη ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological sites on the island were inscribed on the UNESCO ...
.” Recently, some evidence of internal dialects has been found in pairs of similar words in Egyptian that, based on similarities with later dialects of Coptic, may be derived from northern and southern dialects of Egyptian. Written Coptic has five major dialects, which differ mainly in graphic conventions, most notably the southern Saidic dialect, the main classical dialect, and the northern Bohairic dialect, currently used in Coptic Church services.


Writing systems

Most surviving texts in the Egyptian language are written on stone in hieroglyphs. The native name for Egyptian hieroglyphic writing is ' ("writing of the gods' words"). In antiquity, most texts were written on perishable papyrus in hieratic and (later) demotic. There was also a form of
cursive hieroglyphs Cursive hieroglyphs, or hieroglyphic book hand, are a form of Egyptian hieroglyphs commonly used for handwritten religious documents, such as the Book of the Dead. This style of writing was typically written with ink and a reed brush on papyrus, wo ...
, used for religious documents on papyrus, such as the ''
Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, 𓂋𓏤𓈒𓈒𓈒𓏌𓏤𓉐𓂋𓏏𓂻𓅓𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏤, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ...
'' of the
Twentieth Dynasty The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore togeth ...
; it was simpler to write than the hieroglyphs in stone inscriptions, but it was not as cursive as hieratic and lacked the wide use of
ligatures Ligature may refer to: * Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture used to shut off a blood vessel or other anatomical structure ** Ligature (orthodontic), used in dentistry * Ligature (music), an element of musical notation used especially in the me ...
. Additionally, there was a variety of stone-cut hieratic, known as "lapidary hieratic". In the language's final stage of development, the
Coptic alphabet The Coptic alphabet is the script used for writing the Coptic language. The repertoire of glyphs is based on the Greek alphabet augmented by letters borrowed from the Egyptian Demotic and is the first alphabetic script used for the Egyptian la ...
replaced the older writing system. Hieroglyphs are employed in two ways in Egyptian texts: as ideograms to represent the idea depicted by the pictures and, more commonly, as phonograms to represent their phonetic value. As the phonetic realisation of Egyptian cannot be known with certainty, Egyptologists use a system of transliteration to denote each sound that could be represented by a uniliteral hieroglyph. Egyptian scholar Gamal Mokhtar argued that the inventory of hieroglyphic symbols derived from "fauna and flora used in the signs
hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
are essentially African" and in "regards to writing, we have seen that a purely Nilotic, hence African origin not only is not excluded, but probably reflects the reality" although he acknowledged the geographical location of Egypt made it a receptacle for many influences.


Phonology

While the consonantal phonology of the Egyptian language may be reconstructed, the exact phonetics are unknown, and there are varying opinions on how to classify the individual phonemes. In addition, because Egyptian is recorded over a full 2000 years, the Archaic and Late stages being separated by the amount of time that separates Old Latin from Modern Italian, significant phonetic changes must have occurred during that lengthy time frame. Phonologically, Egyptian contrasted labial, alveolar, palatal, velar, uvular, pharyngeal, and glottal consonants. Egyptian also contrasted voiceless and emphatic consonants, as with other Afroasiatic languages, but exactly how the emphatic consonants were realised is unknown. Early research had assumed that the opposition in stops was one of voicing, but it is now thought to be either one of tenuis and emphatic consonants, as in many Semitic languages, or one of aspirated and
ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some ...
s, as in many
Cushitic languages The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As ...
. Since vowels were not written until Coptic, reconstructions of the Egyptian vowel system are much more uncertain and rely mainly on evidence from Coptic and records of Egyptian words, especially proper nouns, in other languages/writing systems. Also, scribal errors provide evidence of changes in pronunciation over time. The actual pronunciations reconstructed by such means are used only by a few specialists in the language. For all other purposes, the Egyptological pronunciation is used, but it often bears little resemblance to what is known of how Egyptian was pronounced.


Consonants

The following consonants are reconstructed for Archaic (before 2600 BC) and Old Egyptian (2686–2181 BC), with IPA equivalents in square brackets if they differ from the usual transcription scheme: *Possibly unvoiced ejectives. has no independent representation in the hieroglyphic orthography, and it is frequently written as if it were or . That is probably because the standard for written Egyptian is based on a dialect in which had merged with other sonorants. Also, the rare cases of occurring are not represented. The phoneme is written as in initial position ( = 'father') and immediately after a stressed vowel ( = 'bad') and as word-medially immediately before a stressed vowel ( = 'you will appear') and are unmarked word-finally ( = 'father'). In Middle Egyptian (2055–1650 BC), a number of consonantal shifts take place. By the beginning of the Middle Kingdom period, and had merged, and the graphemes and are used interchangeably. In addition, had become word-initially in an unstressed syllable ( > "colour") and after a stressed vowel ( > '
he god He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
Apis'). In Late Egyptian (1069–700 BC), the phonemes ''d ḏ g'' gradually merge with their counterparts ''t ṯ k'' ( > Akkadian transcription ''ti-ba-an'' 'dbn-weight'). Also, ''ṯ ḏ'' often become , but they are retained in many lexemes; ''ꜣ'' becomes ; and become at the end of a stressed syllable and eventually null word-finally: > Akkadian transcription -''pi-ta'' 'bow'. More changes occur in the 1st millennium BC and the first centuries AD, leading to Coptic (1st–17th centuries AD). In Sahidic ''ẖ ḫ ḥ'' had merged into ''š'' (most often from ''ḫ'') and (most often ''ẖ ḥ''). Bohairic and Akhmimic are more conservative and have a velar fricative ( in Bohairic, in Akhmimic). Pharyngeal ''*ꜥ'' had merged into glottal after it had affected the quality of the surrounding vowels. is not indicated orthographically unless it follows a stressed vowel; then, it is marked by doubling the vowel letter (except in Bohairic): Akhmimic , Sahidic and Lycopolitan ''šoʔp'', Bohairic ''šoʔp'' 'to be' < ''ḫpr.w'' * 'has become'.There is evidence of Bohairic having a phonemic glottal stop: . The phoneme was probably pronounced as a fricative , becoming after a stressed vowel in syllables that had been closed in earlier Egyptian (compare < 'gold' and < * 'horn'). The phonemes occur only in Greek loanwords, with rare exceptions triggered by a nearby : < ''ꜥ.t n.t sbꜣ.w'' 'school'. Earlier ''*d ḏ g q'' are preserved as ejective ''t' c' k' k'' before vowels in Coptic. Although the same graphemes are used for the pulmonic stops (), the existence of the former may be inferred because the stops are allophonically aspirated before stressed vowels and sonorant consonants. In Bohairic, the allophones are written with the special graphemes , but other dialects did not mark aspiration: Sahidic , Bohairic 'the sun'.In other dialects, the graphemes are used only for clusters of a stop followed by and were not used for aspirates: see . Thus, Bohairic does not mark aspiration for reflexes of older ''*d ḏ g q'': Sahidic and Bohairic 'horn'. Also, the definite article is unaspirated when the next word begins with a glottal stop: Bohairic 'the account'. The consonant system of Coptic is as follows: *Various orthographic representations; see above.


Vowels

Here is the vowel system reconstructed for earlier Egyptian: Vowels are always short in unstressed syllables ( = 'first') and long in open stressed syllables ( = 'man'), but they can be either short or long in closed stressed syllables ( = 'we', = 'to stay'). In the Late New Kingdom, after Ramses II, around 1200 BC, changes to (like the
Canaanite shift In historical linguistics, the Canaanite shift is a vowel shift/ sound change that took place in the Canaanite dialects, which belong to the Northwest Semitic branch of the Semitic languages family. This sound change caused Proto-NW-Semitic *ā ...
), '(the god) Horus' > (Akkadian transcription: -ḫuru). , therefore, changes to : 'tree' > (Akkadian transcription: -sini). In the Early New Kingdom, short stressed changes to : " Menes" > (Akkadian transcription: ma-né-e). Later, probably 1000–800 BC, a short stressed changes to : " Tanis" was borrowed into Hebrew as *ṣuʕn but would become transcribed as during the
Neo-Assyrian Empire The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...
. Unstressed vowels, especially after a stress, become : 'good' > (Akkadian transcription -na-a-pa). changes to next to and : 'soldier' > (earlier Akkadian transcription: ú-i-ú, later: ú-e-eḫ). In Sahidic and Bohairic Coptic, Late Egyptian stressed becomes and becomes , but are unchanged in the other dialects: 'brother' > Sahaidic and Bohairic , Akhminic, Lycopolitan and Fayyumic ; 'name' > > Sahaidic and Bohairic , Akhminic, Lycopolitan and Fayyumic . However, Sahaidic and Bohairic preserve , and Fayyumic renders it as in the presence of guttural fricatives: 'ten thousand' > Sahaidic, Akhmimic and Lycopolitan , Bohairic , Fayyumic . In Akhmimic and Lycopolitan, becomes before etymological : 'river' > > Sahaidic , Bohairic , Akhminic , Fayyumic . Similarly, the diphthongs , , which normally have reflexes , in Sahidic and are preserved in other dialects, are in Bohairic (in non-final position) and respectively: "to me, to them" Sahidic , Akhminic and Lycopolitan , Fayyumic , Bohairic . Sahidic and Bohairic preserve before (etymological or from lenited or tonic-syllable coda ),: Sahidic and Bohairic 'to you (fem.)' < < . may also have different reflexes before sonorants, near sibilants and in diphthongs. Old surfaces as after nasals and occasionally other consonants: 'god' > has acquired phonemic status, as is evidenced by minimal pairs like 'to approach' < ẖnn vs. 'inside' < ẖnw. An etymological > often surfaces as next to and after etymological pharyngeals: < 'street' (Semitic loan). Most Coptic dialects have two phonemic vowels in unstressed position. Unstressed vowels generally became , written as or null ( in Bohairic and Fayyumic word-finally), but pretonic unstressed /a/ occurs as a reflex of earlier unstressed near an etymological pharyngeal, velar or sonorant ('to become many' < ꜥšꜣ ) or an unstressed . Pretonic is underlyingly : Sahidic 'ibis' < h(j)bj.w . Thus, the following is the Sahidic vowel system c. AD 400:


Phonotactics

Earlier Egyptian has the syllable structure CV(ː)(C) in which V is long in open stressed syllables and short elsewhere. In addition, CVːC or CVCC can occur in word-final, stressed position. However, CVːC occurs only in the infinitive of biconsonantal verbal roots, CVCC only in some plurals. In later Egyptian, stressed CVːC, CVCC, and CV become much more common because of the loss of final dentals and glides.


Stress

Earlier Egyptian stresses one of the last two syllables. According to some scholars, that is a development from a stage in Proto-Egyptian in which the third-last syllable could be stressed, which was lost as open posttonic syllables lost their vowels: > 'transformation'.


Egyptological pronunciation

As a convention, Egyptologists make use of an "Egyptological pronunciation" in English: the consonants are given fixed values, and vowels are inserted according to essentially arbitrary rules. Two of these consonants known as alef and ayin are generally pronounced as the vowel . Yodh is pronounced , ''w'' . Between other consonants, is then inserted. Thus, for example, the Egyptian name Ramesses is most accurately transliterated as (" Ra is the one who bore him") and pronounced as /rɑmɛssu/. In transcription, , , and all represent consonants. For example, the name Tutankhamun (1341–1323 BC) was written in Egyptian as ("living image of
Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...
"). Experts have assigned generic sounds to these values as a matter of convenience, which is an artificial pronunciation and should not be mistaken for how Egyptian was ever pronounced at any time. So although ''twt-ꜥnḫ-ı͗mn'' is pronounced in modern
Egyptological pronunciation Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...
, in his lifetime, it was likely to be pronounced something like *, transliterable as ''təwā́təʾ-ʿā́nəkh-ʾamā́nəʾ''.


Morphology

Egyptian is fairly typical for an Afroasiatic language in that at the heart of its vocabulary is most commonly a root of three consonants, but there are sometimes only two consonants in the root: (, "sun"--the is thought to have been something like a voiced pharyngeal fricative). Larger roots are also common and can have up to five consonants: ("be upside-down"). Vowels and other consonants are added to the root to derive different meanings, as Arabic, Hebrew, and other Afroasiatic languages still do. However, because vowels and sometimes glides are not written in any Egyptian script except Coptic, it can be difficult to reconstruct the actual forms of words. Thus, orthographic ("to choose"), for example, can represent the
stative According to some linguistics theories, a stative verb is a verb that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are ...
(whose endings can be left unexpressed), the imperfective forms or even a
verbal noun A verbal noun or gerundial noun is a verb form that functions as a noun. An example of a verbal noun in English is 'sacking' as in the sentence "The sacking of the city was an epochal event" (''sacking'' is a noun formed from the verb ''sack''). ...
("a choosing").


Nouns

Egyptian nouns can be masculine or feminine (the latter is indicated, as with other Afroasiatic languages, by adding a ) and singular or plural ( / ), or dual ( / ).
Article Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: ...
s, both definite and indefinite, do not occur until Late Egyptian but are used widely thereafter.


Pronouns

Egyptian has three different types of personal pronouns: suffix, enclitic (called "dependent" by Egyptologists) and independent pronouns. There are also a number of verbal endings added to the infinitive to form the stative and are regarded by some linguists as a "fourth" set of personal pronouns. They bear close resemblance to their Semitic counterparts. The three main sets of personal pronouns are as follows: Demonstrative pronouns have separate masculine and feminine singular forms and common plural forms for both genders: Finally, are interrogative pronouns. They bear a close resemblance to their Semitic and Berber counterparts:


Verbs

Egyptian verbs have finite and non-finite forms. Finite verbs convey
person A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of propert ...
, tense/
aspect Aspect or Aspects may refer to: Entertainment * ''Aspect magazine'', a biannual DVD magazine showcasing new media art * Aspect Co., a Japanese video game company * Aspects (band), a hip hop group from Bristol, England * ''Aspects'' (Benny Carter ...
, mood and voice. Each is indicated by a set of
affix In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English ''-ness'' and ''pre-'', or inflectional, like English plural ''-s'' and past tense ''-ed''. They ar ...
al morphemes attached to the verb: For example, the basic conjugation is ("to hear") is ''sḏm.f'' ("he hears"). Non-finite verbs occur without a subject and are the infinitive, the participles and the negative infinitive, which '' Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs'' calls "negatival complement". There are two main tenses/aspects in Egyptian:
past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...
and temporally-unmarked imperfective and
aorist Aorist (; abbreviated ) verb forms usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite. Ancient Greek grammar had the aorist form, and the grammars of other Indo-European languages and languages influenced by the I ...
forms. The latter are determined from their syntactic context.


Adjectives

Adjective In linguistics, an adjective ( abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...
s agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify: (" hegood man") and '' '' (" hegood woman"). Attributive adjectives in phrases are after the nouns they modify: (" hegreat god"). However, when they are used independently as a
predicate Predicate or predication may refer to: * Predicate (grammar), in linguistics * Predication (philosophy) * several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic: **Predicate (mathematical logic) **Propositional function **Finitary relation, o ...
in an
adjectival phrase An adjective phrase (or adjectival phrase) is a phrase whose head is an adjective. Almost any grammar or syntax textbook or dictionary of linguistics terminology defines the adjective phrase in a similar way, e.g. Kesner Bland (1996:499), Crystal ( ...
, as (" hegod sgreat", lit. "great
s the S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. Histor ...
god"), adjectives precede the nouns they modify.


Prepositions

Egyptian makes use of prepositions.


Adverbs

Adverbs, in Egyptian, are at the end of a sentence: For example, in (" hegod went there", lit. "went hegod there"), ''ı͗m'' ("there") is the adverb. Here are some common Egyptian adverbs:


Syntax

Old Egyptian, Classical Egyptian, and Middle Egyptian have verb-subject-object as the basic word order. For example, the equivalent of "he opens the door" would be ("opens he hedoor"). The so-called construct state combines two or more nouns to express the genitive, as in Semitic and Berber languages. However, that changed in the later stages of the language, including Late Egyptian, Demotic and Coptic. The early stages of Egyptian have no articles, but the later forms use , and . As with other Afroasiatic languages, Egyptian uses two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. It also uses three grammatical numbers: singular, dual and plural. However, later Egyptian has a tendency to lose the dual as a productive form.


Legacy

The Egyptian language survived through the Middle Ages and into the early modern period in the form of the
Coptic language Coptic (Bohairic Coptic: , ) is a language family of closely related dialects, representing the most recent developments of the Egyptian language, and historically spoken by the Copts, starting from the third-century AD in Roman Egypt. Coptic ...
. Coptic survived past the 16th century only as an isolated vernacular and as a liturgical language for the
Coptic Orthodox The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي� ...
and
Coptic Catholic Church The Coptic Catholic Church ( ar, الكنيسة القبطية الكاثوليكية; la, Ecclesia Catholica Coptorum) is an Eastern Catholic particular church in full communion with the Catholic Church. Along with the Ethiopian Catholic Chu ...
es. Coptic also had an enduring effect on Egyptian Arabic, which replaced Coptic as the main daily language in Egypt; the Coptic substratum in Egyptian Arabic appears in certain aspects of syntax and to a lesser degree in vocabulary and phonology. In antiquity, Egyptian exerted some influence on Classical Greek, so that a number of Egyptian loanwords into Greek survive into modern usage. Examples include: * '' ebony'' (Egyptian , via Greek and then Latin) * '' ivory'' (Egyptian , via Latin) * '' natron'' (Egyptian , via Greek) * '' lily'' (Egyptian , Coptic , via Greek) * '' ibis'' (Egyptian , via Greek) * ''
oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
'' (Egyptian , via Greek) * ''
barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...
'' (Egyptian , via Greek)) * possibly ''
cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
'' * '' pharaoh'' (Egyptian , lit. "great house", via Hebrew and Greek) The etymological root of "Egypt" is the same as ''
Copts Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are C ...
'', ultimately from the
Late Egyptian Late Egyptian is the stage of the Egyptian language that was written by the time of the New Kingdom of Egypt around 1350 BC (the Amarna Period). Texts written wholly in Late Egyptian date to the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and later. Late Egyptia ...
name of Memphis, ''Hikuptah'', a continuation of Middle Egyptian (lit. "temple of the ka (soul) of
Ptah Ptah ( egy, ptḥ, reconstructed ; grc, Φθά; cop, ⲡⲧⲁϩ; Phoenician: 𐤐𐤕𐤇, romanized: ptḥ) is an ancient Egyptian deity, a creator god and patron deity of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the ...
").


See also

*'' Altägyptisches Wörterbuch'' *
Ancient Egyptian literature Ancient Egyptian literature was written in the Egyptian language from ancient Egypt's pharaonic period until the end of Roman domination. It represents the oldest corpus of Egyptian literature. Along with Sumerian literature, it is consid ...
*
Coptic language Coptic (Bohairic Coptic: , ) is a language family of closely related dialects, representing the most recent developments of the Egyptian language, and historically spoken by the Copts, starting from the third-century AD in Roman Egypt. Coptic ...
* Demotic Egyptian * Egyptian Arabic * Egyptian hieroglyphs *
Egyptian numerals The system of ancient Egyptian numerals was used in Ancient Egypt from around 3000 BCE until the early first millennium CE. It was a system of numeration based on multiples of ten, often rounded off to the higher power, written in hieroglyphs. Th ...
* Hieratic *
Transliteration of Ancient Egyptian As used for Egyptology, transliteration of Ancient Egyptian is the process of converting (or mapping) texts written as Egyptian language symbols to alphabetic symbols representing uniliteral hieroglyphs or their hieratic and demotic counterparts. T ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * *


Literature


Overviews

* Allen, James P., ''The Ancient Egyptian Language: An Historical Study'', Cambridge University Press, 2013. (hardback), (paperback). * Loprieno, Antonio,
Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction
', Cambridge University Press, 1995. (hardback), (paperback). * Peust, Carsten, ''Egyptian phonology: An Introduction to the Phonology of a Dead Language'', Peust & Gutschmidt, 1999.
PDF online
. * Vergote, Jozef, "Problèmes de la «Nominalbildung» en égyptien", ''Chronique d'Égypte'' 51 (1976), pp. 261–285. * Vycichl, Werner, ''La Vocalisation de la Langue Égyptienne'', IFAO, Cairo, 1990. .


Grammars

* Allen, James P., ''Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs'', first edition, Cambridge University Press, 1999. (hardback) (paperback). * Borghouts, Joris F., ''Egyptian: An Introduction to the Writing and Language of the Middle Kingdom'', two vols., Peeters, 2010. (paperback). * Collier, Mark, and Manley, Bill, ''How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself'', British Museum Press () and University of California Press (), both 1998. * Gardiner, Sir Alan H., '' Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs'', Griffith Institute, Oxford, 3rd ed. 1957. . * Hoch, James E., ''Middle Egyptian Grammar'', Benben Publications, Mississauga, 1997. . * Selden, Daniel L., ''Hieroglyphic Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Literature of the Middle Kingdom'', University of California Press, 2013. (hardback).


Dictionaries

* Erman, Adolf and Grapow, Hermann, '' Das Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache'', Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Berlin, 1992. (
paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, le ...
), (reference vols. 1–5). * Faulkner, Raymond O., ''A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian'', Griffith Institute, Oxford, 1962. ( hardback). * Lesko, Leonard H., ''A Dictionary of Late Egyptian'', 2nd ed., 2 vols., B. C. Scribe Publications,
Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
, 2002 et 2004. (vol.1), (vol. 2). * Shennum, David, ''English-Egyptian Index of Faulkner's Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian'', Undena Publications, 1977. . * Bonnamy, Yvonne and Sadek, Ashraf-Alexandre, ''Dictionnaire des hiéroglyphes: Hiéroglyphes-Français'', Actes Sud, Arles, 2010. . * Vycichl, Werner, ''Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Copte'', Peeters, Leuven, 1984. . * , ''Vocalised Dictionary of Ancient Egyptian'', SAIS, London, 2016. . ree PDF download: https://www.academia.edu/24283355/Vocalised_Dictionary_of_Ancient_Egyptian


Online dictionaries


''The Beinlich Wordlist''
an online searchable dictionary of ancient Egyptian words (translations are in German).
''Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae''
an online service available from October 2004 which is associated with various German Egyptological projects, including the monumenta
Altägyptisches Wörterbuch
of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften ( Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Berlin, Germany).
Mark Vygus Dictionary 2018
a searchable dictionary of ancient Egyptian words, arranged by glyph. Important Note: The old grammars and dictionaries of E. A. Wallis Budge have long been considered obsolete by Egyptologists, even though these books are still available for purchase. More book information is available a
Glyphs and Grammars


External links


Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae: Dictionary of the Egyptian languageThe Egyptian connection: Egyptian and the Semitic languages
by Helmut Satzinger
Ancient Egyptian in the wiki ''Glossing Ancient Languages''
(recommendations for the Interlinear Morphemic Glossing of Ancient Egyptian texts) {{DEFAULTSORT:Egyptian Language Languages attested from the 27th century BC Languages with own distinct writing systems Extinct languages of Africa