Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies

[Miekko]

To what extent are the etymologies of the names of the gods of Ancient Egyptian known? To what extent is this just good guesses?

And finally, where can I find more information on it?

[Zaarin]

As far as I know, we're pretty certain on the consonants but we can only guess at vowels based on how words descended into Demotic and Coptic, or were borrowed into other languages like Hebrew or Greek. It's too bad; if we could figure out the vowels, we do actually have a very good corpus of material on Ancient Egyptian.

[Xephyr]

As far as I know, we're pretty certain on the consonants but we can only guess at vowels based on how words descended into Demotic and Coptic, or were borrowed into other languages like Hebrew or Greek. It's too bad; if we could figure out the vowels, we do actually have a very good corpus of material on Ancient Egyptian.

In other words, you have no idea whatsoever about the etymologies of Egyptian theonyms? Goodpost.

[Miekko]

As far as I know, we're pretty certain on the consonants but we can only guess at vowels based on how words descended into Demotic and Coptic, or were borrowed into other languages like Hebrew or Greek. It's too bad; if we could figure out the vowels, we do actually have a very good corpus of material on Ancient Egyptian.

In other words, you have no idea whatsoever about the etymologies of Egyptian theonyms? Goodpost.

Full fucking agreement.

[Radius Solis]

Zaarin's reply was polite, relevant, and reasonable, and it is not anyone else's job to be an expert on Egyptian etymology for you.

[Legion]

It was as relevant as talking about the sound/grapheme correspondence rules of French when someone asked you the etymology of a French word.

[brandrinn]

The vowels of ancient Egyptian is relevant to etymology. When you look up IE words and their PIE roots, do you care what the vowels are? That might be an important step to understanding where these words come from in Afro-Asiatic.

[Legion]

The vowels of ancient Egyptian is relevant to etymology. When you look up IE words and their PIE roots, do you care what the vowels are? That might be an important step to understanding where these words come from in Afro-Asiatic.

<someone> What's the PIE etymon of "wheel"?
<Brandrinn> PIE had laryngeals.

[Wattmann]

<someone> What's the PIE etymon of "wheel"?
<Brandrinn> PIE had laryngeals so we cannot know for certain until we've discovered Hittite.

[Legion]

Apparently only three persons in this thread realise that etymology is not just about phonetic minutiae.

[Xephyr]

and it is not anyone else's job to be an expert on Egyptian etymology for you.

Radius, what the hell kind of sense does that make? There is a gaping difference between "expecting someone to be an expert on something" and "wanting people to be relevant and informative if they bother replying".

When people ask a question, they expect people to either address the actual question being asked, or else to not bother wasting their time. Nobody is demanding anybody else to be an expert on anything, here.

I could save this little nugget of wisdom from you, and break it out the next time somebody replies to something you say when they have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. But I won't, cause I like you too much.


As for the actual question: There's an M-volume of the Egyptian etymological dictionary available for download, but unfortunately none of the sexy gods in Egyptian mythology begin with "m". Also that book can't seem to decide whether it wants to be written in German or in English. I also found this JSTOR article about Horus' name's etymology.

[clawgrip]

To what extent are the etymologies of the names of the gods of Ancient Egyptian known? To what extent is this just good guesses?

And finally, where can I find more information on it?

If you trust Wikipedia, the articles on each god seem to have details on their etymologies. It seems like overall they are not terribly certain, but they have some guesses with some of them.

[Miekko]

To what extent are the etymologies of the names of the gods of Ancient Egyptian known? To what extent is this just good guesses?

And finally, where can I find more information on it?

If you trust Wikipedia, the articles on each god seem to have details on their etymologies. It seems like overall they are not terribly certain, but they have some guesses with some of them.

I would prefer a peer-reviewed source if possible. Assume "more information" to be "more beyond what wikipedia and wiktionary have"

[Vuvuzela]

unfortunately none of the sexy gods in Egyptian mythology begin with "m".

I think Ma'at is sexy.

[Radius Solis]

and it is not anyone else's job to be an expert on Egyptian etymology for you.

Radius, what the hell kind of sense does that make? There is a gaping difference between "expecting someone to be an expert on something" and "wanting people to be relevant and informative if they bother replying".

When people ask a question, they expect people to either address the actual question being asked, or else to not bother wasting their time. Nobody is demanding anybody else to be an expert on anything, here.

I was trying to moderate without being so loud as to greentext it. In the context of a newish person well-behavedly offering whatever they do know about a question, which had gotten zero replies up to that point, hostility was out of place. Plus house rules, etc. It's not like this is an academic journal, people are and should be free to discuss a topic at whatever level of knowledge they have. Which Zaarin did, in the regard that whatever can be said of Egyptian etymology overall is likely to be the case among any given set of Egyptian etymologies. Not the sort of answer Miekko was looking for, but far from having done anything wrong.