Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
- Miekko
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Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
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?
And finally, where can I find more information on it?
< Cev> My people we use cars. I come from a very proud car culture-- every part of the car is used, nothing goes to waste. When my people first saw the car, generations ago, we called it šuŋka wakaŋ-- meaning "automated mobile".
Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
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.
"But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
In other words, you have no idea whatsoever about the etymologies of Egyptian theonyms? Goodpost.Zaarin wrote: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.
"It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be said, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is.' Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it."
– The Gospel of Thomas
– The Gospel of Thomas
- Miekko
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Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
Full fucking agreement.Xephyr wrote:In other words, you have no idea whatsoever about the etymologies of Egyptian theonyms? Goodpost.Zaarin wrote: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.
< Cev> My people we use cars. I come from a very proud car culture-- every part of the car is used, nothing goes to waste. When my people first saw the car, generations ago, we called it šuŋka wakaŋ-- meaning "automated mobile".
- Radius Solis
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Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
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.
Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
It was as relevant as talking about the sound/grapheme correspondence rules of French when someone asked you the etymology of a French word.
Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
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.
[quote="Nortaneous"]Is South Africa better off now than it was a few decades ago?[/quote]
Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
<someone> What's the PIE etymon of "wheel"?brandrinn wrote: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.
<Brandrinn> PIE had laryngeals.
Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
Legion wrote: <someone> What's the PIE etymon of "wheel"?
<Brandrinn> PIE had laryngeals so we cannot know for certain until we've discovered Hittite.
Warning: Recovering bilingual, attempting trilinguaility. Knowledge of French left behind in childhood. Currently repairing bilinguality. Repair stalled. Above content may be a touch off.
Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
Apparently only three persons in this thread realise that etymology is not just about phonetic minutiae.
Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
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".Radius Solis wrote:and it is not anyone else's job to be an expert on Egyptian etymology for you.
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.
"It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be said, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is.' Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it."
– The Gospel of Thomas
– The Gospel of Thomas
Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
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 wrote: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?
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Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
I would prefer a peer-reviewed source if possible. Assume "more information" to be "more beyond what wikipedia and wiktionary have"clawgrip wrote: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 wrote: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?
< Cev> My people we use cars. I come from a very proud car culture-- every part of the car is used, nothing goes to waste. When my people first saw the car, generations ago, we called it šuŋka wakaŋ-- meaning "automated mobile".
Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
I think Ma'at is sexy.Xephyr wrote:unfortunately none of the sexy gods in Egyptian mythology begin with "m".
- Radius Solis
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Re: Ancient Egyptian & Etymologies
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.Xephyr wrote: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".Radius Solis wrote:and it is not anyone else's job to be an expert on Egyptian etymology for you.
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.