Dr Raymond Oliver Faulkner, FSA, (26 December 1894 – 3 March 1982) was an English

Egyptologist 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 religiou ...

and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

of the

ancient Egyptian language 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 ...

. He was born in Shoreham, Sussex, and was the son of bank clerk Frederick Arthur Faulkner and his wife Matilda Elizabeth Faulkner ( née Wheeler). In 1912 he took up a position in the

British Civil Service His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, which ...

, but his employment was interrupted by World War I, when he entered the armed forces. After a brief period of service, he was

invalid Invalid may refer to: * Patient, a sick person * one who is confined to home or bed because of illness, disability or injury (sometimes considered a politically incorrect term) * .invalid, a top-level Internet domain not intended for real use As t ...

ed out and rejoined the Civil Service in 1916. Faulkner developed an interest in

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 p ...

, and in 1918 he took to studying

Egyptian hieroglyphs 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, ...

in his spare time at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

under the tutelage of

Margaret Murray Margaret Alice Murray (13 July 1863 – 13 November 1963) was an Anglo-Indian Egyptologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and folklorist. The first woman to be appointed as a lecturer in archaeology in the United Kingdom, she work ...

. In 1926 he became the full-time assistant to Dr

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 G ...

, from whom he received philological training and encouragement to publish his works on hieroglyphic texts. He was the editor of the ''

Journal of Egyptian Archaeology The ''Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (JEA)'' is a bi-annual peer-reviewed international academic journal published by the Egypt Exploration Society. Covering Egyptological research, the JEA publishes scholarly articles, fieldwork reports, and r ...

'' from 1946 to 1959, and wrote many books, articles, and reviews. In 1950 he was admitted as a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

. In 1951 Faulkner became an assistant in language teaching at University College London, progressing to become a lecturer in Egyptian language – a post he held from 1954 to 1967. He received his

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

degree from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1960. Faulkner's main area of interest was Egyptian philology, and he made major contributions to Egyptology with his translations and indexes of many important ancient Egyptian texts, as well as his autographic dictionary of

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 ...

(which remains an important and standard reference for modern Egyptologists and students of the ancient Egyptian language). He died in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, Suffolk, on 3 March 1982.

Selected bibliography

* Raymond O. Faulkner, "The Plural and the Dual in Old Egyptian", 1929. * Raymond O. Faulkner, "The Papyrus Bremner-Rhind", 1933. * Raymond O. Faulkner, ''Egypt from the Inception of the Nineteenth Dynasty to the Death of Ramesses III'', fascicule 52 for the "

Cambridge Ancient History ''The Cambridge Ancient History'' is a multi-volume work of ancient history from Prehistory to Late Antiquity, published by Cambridge University Press. The first series, consisting of 12 volumes, was planned in 1919 by Irish historian J. B. Bur ...

", , 1966. * Raymond O. Faulkner, "The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts", , 1969.

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

hardcover reprint . * Raymond O. Faulkner, "The Book of the Dead: Book of Going Forth by Day", , 1972. * Raymond O. Faulkner and S. Glanville, "Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum. Vol.II: Wooden Model Boats", , 1972. * Raymond O. Faulkner, "A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian", , 1962, 2nd ed. 1972. * Raymond O. Faulkner, "The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts", , 3 vols., 1972–78. * William K. Simpson, E. Wente, and Raymond O. Faulkner, "The Literature of Ancient Egypt", , 1969. {{DEFAULTSORT:Faulkner, Raymond Oliver 1894 births 1982 deaths Alumni of the University of London English Egyptologists English philologists Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Academics of University College London Alumni of University College London People from Shoreham-by-Sea

Further reading

Selected bibliography