Egyptian language

This article is about the languages spoken in ancient Egypt. For the language spoken in modern Egypt, seeEgyptian Arabic.For the language that is the modern descendant of the Egyptian language, seeCoptic language.For the book by Alan Gardiner, seeEgyptian Grammar (book).

Egyptian
r n km.t
Ebers Papyrusdetailing treatment ofasthma
Region	Originally, throughoutAncient Egyptand parts ofNubia(especially during the times of theNubian kingdoms)
Ethnicity	Ancient Egyptians
Era	Late fourth millennium BC – 19th century AD(with the extinction ofCoptic); still used as theliturgical languageof theCoptic OrthodoxandCoptic Catholic Churches
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Egyptian
Dialects	Upper?† Lower?† Coptic dialects†
Writing system	Hieroglyphs,cursive hieroglyphs,Hieratic,DemoticandCoptic(later, occasionally,Arabic scriptin government translations andLatin scriptin scholars' transliterations and several hieroglyphic dictionaries)
Language codes
ISO 639-2	egy(alsocopforCoptic)
ISO 639-3	egy(alsocopforCoptic)
Glottolog	egyp1246
Linguasphere	11-AAA-a

TheEgyptian language,orAncient Egyptian(r n km.t),is anextinct branchof theAfro-Asiatic languagesthat was spoken inancient Egypt.It is known today from a largecorpusof surviving texts, which were made accessible to the modern world following thedecipherment of the ancient Egyptian scriptsin the early 19th century.

Egyptian is one of theearliest known written languages,first recorded in thehieroglyphic scriptin the late4th millennium BC.It is also the longest-attested human language, with a written record spanning over 4,000 years.Itsclassicalform, known as "Middle Egyptian,"served as thevernacularof theMiddle Kingdom of Egyptand remained the literary language of Egypt until theRoman period.

By the time ofclassical antiquity,the spoken language had evolved into Demotic, and by theRoman era,diversified into variousCoptic dialects.These were eventually supplanted byArabicafter theMuslim conquest of Egypt,although Bohairic Coptic remains in use as theliturgical languageof theCoptic Church.

Classification

The Egyptian language branch belongs to theAfroasiatic language family.Among thetypologicalfeatures of Egyptian that are typically Afroasiatic are itsfusionalmorphology,nonconcatenative morphology,a series ofemphatic consonants,a three-vowel system/aiu/,a nominal feminine suffix *-at,a nominal prefixm-,an adjectival suffix-īand characteristic personal verbal affixes.Of the other Afroasiatic branches, linguists have variously suggested that the Egyptian language shares its greatest affinities withBerberandSemiticlanguages, particularlyArabic(which is spoken in Egypt today) andHebrew.However, other scholars have argued that the Egyptian language shared closer linguistic ties with northeastern African regions.

There are two theories that seek to establish the cognate sets between Egyptian and Afroasiatic, the traditional theory and theneuere Komparatistik,founded bySemiticistOtto Rössler. According to theneuere Komparatistik,in Egyptian, theProto-Afroasiaticvoiced consonants*/dzð/developed intopharyngeal⟨ꜥ⟩/ʕ/:Egyptianꜥr.t'portal', Semiticdalt'door'. The traditional theory instead disputes the values given to those consonants by theneuere Komparatistik,instead connecting⟨ꜥ⟩with Semitic/ʕ/and/ɣ/.Both schools agree that Afroasiatic*/l/merged with Egyptian⟨n⟩,⟨r⟩,⟨ꜣ⟩,and⟨j⟩in the dialect on which the written language was based, but it was preserved in other Egyptian varieties. They also agree that original*/kgḳ/palatalise to⟨ṯ j ḏ⟩in some environments and are preserved as⟨k g q⟩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, itsmorphologicalrepertoire is very different from that of the rest of theAfroasiaticlanguages in general, andSemitic languagesin particular. There are multiple possibilities: perhaps Egyptian had already undergone radical changes fromProto-Afroasiaticbefore it was recorded; or the Afroasiatic family has so far been studied with an excessively Semitocentric approach; or, as G. W. Tsereteli suggests, Afroasiatic is anallogeneticrather than ageneticgroup of languages.

History

The Egyptian language can be grouped thus:

• Egyptian
  • Earlier Egyptian, Older Egyptian, or Classical Egyptian
    • Old Egyptian
      • Early Egyptian, Early Old Egyptian, Archaic Old Egyptian, Pre-Old Egyptian, or archaic Egyptian
      • standard Old Egyptian
    • Middle Egyptian
  • Later Egyptian
    • Late Egyptian
    • Demotic Egyptian
    • Coptic

The Egyptian language is conventionally grouped into six majorchronologicaldivisions:

• Archaic Egyptian (before 2600 BC), thereconstructed languageof theEarly Dynastic Period,
• Old Egyptian (c. 2600– 2000 BC), the language of theOld Kingdom,
• Middle Egyptian (c. 2000– 1350 BC), the language of theMiddle Kingdomto earlyNew Kingdomand continuing on as aliterary languageinto the 4th century,
• Late Egyptian (c. 1350– 700 BC),Amarna periodtoThird Intermediate Period,
• Demotic Egyptian (c. 700 BC– 400 AD), the vernacular of theLate Period,Ptolemaicand earlyRoman Egypt,
• Coptic(afterc. 200 AD), the vernacular at the time ofChristianisation,and the liturgical language ofEgyptian Christianity.

Old, Middle, and Late Egyptian were all written using both thehieroglyphicandhieraticscripts. Demoticis the name of the script derived from the hieratic beginning in the 7th century BC.

TheCoptic Alpha betwas derived from theGreek Alpha bet,with adaptations for Egyptian phonology. It was first developed in thePtolemaic period,and gradually replaced the Demotic script in about the 4th to 5th centuries of the Christian era.

Diagram showing the use of the variouslectsof Egyptian by time period and linguisticregister.

Old Egyptian

Seal impression from the tomb ofSeth-Peribsen,containing the oldest known complete sentence in 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 developedwriting system,being at a transitional stage ofproto-writing;over the time leading up to the 27th century BC, grammatical features such asnisbaformation can be seen to occur.

Old Egyptian is dated from the oldest known complete sentence, including afinite verb,which has been found. Discovered in the tomb ofSeth-Peribsen(datedc. 2690 BC), the seal impression reads:

d(m)ḏ.n.f	tꜣ-wjn	zꜣ.f	nsw.t-bj.t(j)	pr-jb.sn(j)
unite.PRF.he	land.two for	son.his	sedge-bee	house-heart.their
"He has unitedthe Two Landsfor his son,Dual KingPeribsen."

Extensive texts appear from about 2600 BC.ThePyramid Textsare the largest body of literature written in this phase of the language. One of its distinguishing characteristics is the tripling ofideograms,phonograms, anddeterminativesto 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 2,000 years.

Middle Egyptian

Middle Egyptian was spoken for about 700 years, beginning around 2000 BC, during theMiddle Kingdomand the subsequentSecond Intermediate Period.As the classical variant of Egyptian, Middle Egyptian is the best-documented variety of the language, and has attracted the most attention by far fromEgyptology.While most Middle Egyptian is seen written on monuments by hieroglyphs, it was also written using acursive variant,and the relatedhieratic.

Middle Egyptian first became available to modern scholarship with thedecipherment of hieroglyphsin the early 19th century. The first grammar of Middle Egyptian was published byAdolf Ermanin 1894, surpassed in 1927 byAlan Gardiner's work. Middle Egyptian has been well-understood since then, although certain points of theverbalinflection remained open to revision until the mid-20th century, notably due to the contributions ofHans Jakob Polotsky.

The Middle Egyptian stage is taken to have ended around the 14th century BC, giving rise to Late Egyptian. This transition was taking place in the later period of theEighteenth Dynasty of Egypt(known as theAmarna Period).

Egyptien de tradition

Main article:Egyptien de tradition

Original Old Egyptian and Middle Egyptian texts were still used after the 14th century BCE. And an emulation of predominately Middle Egyptian, but also with characteristics of Old Egyptian, Late Egyptian and Demotic, called "Égyptien de tradition"or" Neo-Middle Egyptian "by scholars, was used as a literary language for new texts since the laterNew Kingdomin official and religioushieroglyphicand hieratic texts in preference to Late Egyptian or Demotic.Égyptien de traditionas a religious language survived until the Christianisation ofRoman Egyptin the 4th century.

Late Egyptian

Late Egyptian was spoken for about 650 years, beginning around 1350 BC, during theNew Kingdom of Egypt.Late Egyptian succeeded but did not fully supplantMiddle Egyptianas aliterary language,and was also the language of the New Kingdom administration.

Texts written wholly in Late Egyptian date to theTwentieth Dynasty of Egyptand later. Late Egyptian is represented by a large body of religious and secularliterature,comprising such examples as theStory of Wenamun,the love poems of the Chester–Beatty I papyrus, and theInstruction of Any.Instructionsbecame a popular literary genre of the New Kingdom, which took the form of advice on proper behavior. Late Egyptian was also the language of New Kingdom administration.

Late Egyptian is not completely distinct from Middle Egyptian, as many "classicisms" appear in historical and literary documents of this phase.However, the difference between Middle and Late Egyptian is greater than the difference between Middle and Old Egyptian. Originally asynthetic language,Egyptian by the Late Egyptian phase had become ananalytic language.The relationship between Middle Egyptian and Late Egyptian has been described as being similar to that between Latin and Italian.

• Written Late Egyptian was seemingly a better representative than Middle Egyptian of the spoken language in the New Kingdom and beyond: weak consonantsꜣ, w, j,as well as the feminine ending.twere increasingly dropped, apparently because they stopped being pronounced.
• The demonstrative pronounspꜣ(masc.),tꜣ(fem.), andnꜣ(pl.) were used as definite articles.
• The old formsḏm.n.f(he heard) of the verb was replaced bysḏm-fwhich had both prospective (he shall hear) and perfective (he heard) aspects. The past tense was also formed using the auxiliary verbjr(make), as injr.f saḥa.f(he has accused him).
• Adjectives as attributes of nouns are often replaced by nouns.

The Late Egyptian stage is taken to have ended around the 8th century BC, giving rise to Demotic.

Demotic

10th century stela with Coptic inscription, in theLouvre

Demotic is a later development of the Egyptian language written in theDemotic script,following Late Egyptian and precedingCoptic,the latter of which it shares much with. In the earlier stages of Demotic, such as those texts written in the early Demotic script, it probably represented the spoken idiom of the time. However, as its use became increasingly confined to literary and religious purposes, the written language diverged more and more from the spoken form, leading to significantdiglossiabetween the late Demotic texts and the spoken language of the time, similar to the use of classical Middle Egyptian during the Ptolemaic Period.

Coptic

Main article:Coptic language

Copticis the name given to the late Egyptian vernacular when it was written in a Greek-based Alpha bet, the Coptic Alpha bet; it flourished from the time ofEarly Christianity (c. 31/33–324),but Egyptian phrases written in the Greek Alpha bet first appeared during theHellenistic periodc. 3rd century BC,with the first known Coptic text, still pagan (Old Coptic), from the 1st century AD.

Coptic survived into the medieval period, but by the 16th century was dwindling rapidly due to the persecution of Coptic Christians under theMamluks.It probably survived in the Egyptian countryside as a spoken language for several centuries after that. Coptic survives as the liturgical language of theCoptic Orthodox Churchand theCoptic Catholic Church.

Dialects

Most hieroglyphic Egyptian texts are written in a literaryprestige registerrather than thevernacularspeech varietyof their author. As a result, dialectical differences are not apparent in written Egyptian until the adoption of theCoptic Alpha bet.Nevertheless, it is clear that these differences existed before the Coptic period. In oneLate Egyptian letter(datedc. 1200 BC), a scribe jokes that his colleague's writing is incoherent like "the speech of aDeltaman with a man ofElephantine."

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 inhieroglyphs.The native name for Egyptian hieroglyphic writing iszẖꜣ n mdw-nṯr( "writing of the gods' words" ). In antiquity, most texts were written on the quite perishable medium ofpapyrusthough a few have survived that were written in hieratic and (later) demotic.There was also a form ofcursive hieroglyphs,used for religious documents on papyrus, such as theBook of the Deadof theTwentieth Dynasty;it was simpler to write than the hieroglyphs in stone inscriptions, but it was not as cursive as hieratic and lacked the wide use ofligatures.Additionally, there was a variety of stone-cut hieratic, known as "lapidary hieratic". In the language's final stage of development, theCoptic Alpha betreplaced the older writing system.

Hieroglyphs are employed in two ways in Egyptian texts: asideogramsto represent the idea depicted by the pictures and, more commonly, asphonogramsto represent theirphoneticvalue.

As the phonetic realisation of Egyptian cannot be known with certainty, Egyptologists use a system oftransliterationto 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 [which] 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

Further information:Transliteration of Ancient Egyptian

While the consonantal phonology of the Egyptian language may be reconstructed, the exactphoneticsis unknown, and there are varying opinions on how to classify the individual phonemes. In addition, because Egyptian is recorded over a full 2,000 years, the Archaic and Late stages being separated by the amount of time that separatesOld LatinfromModern 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 oftenuisandemphatic consonants,as in many Semitic languages, or one ofaspiratedandejective consonants,as in manyCushitic languages.

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.

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.

Old Egyptian

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:

Early Egyptian consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		ṯ[c]	k	q		ʔ
	voiced	b	d		ḏ[ɟ]	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	š[ʃ]	ẖ[ç]		ḫ[χ]	ḥ[ħ]	h
	voiced		z					ꜥ (ʿ)[ʕ]
Approximant		w	l		j
Trill			r				ꜣ (ȝ)[ʀ]

/l/has no independent representation in the hieroglyphic orthography, and it is frequently written as if it were/n/or/r/.That is probably because the standard for written Egyptian is based on a dialect in which/l/had merged with other sonorants.Also, the rare cases of/ʔ/occurring are not represented. The phoneme/j/is written as ⟨j⟩ in the initial position (⟨jt⟩ =*/ˈjaːtVj/'father') and immediately after a stressed vowel (⟨bjn⟩ =*/ˈbaːjin/'bad') and as ⟨jj⟩ word-medially immediately before a stressed vowel (⟨ḫꜥjjk⟩=*/χaʕˈjak/'you will appear') and are unmarked word-finally (⟨jt⟩ =/ˈjaːtVj/'father').

Middle Egyptian

In Middle Egyptian (2055–1650 BC), a number of consonantal shifts take place. By the beginning of the Middle Kingdom period,/z/and/s/had merged, and the graphemes⟨s⟩and⟨z⟩are used interchangeably.In addition,/j/had become/ʔ/word-initially in an unstressed syllable (⟨jwn⟩/jaˈwin/>*/ʔaˈwin/"colour" ) and after a stressed vowel (⟨ḥjpw⟩*/ˈħujpVw/>/ˈħeʔp(Vw)/'[the god] Apis').

Late Egyptian

In Late Egyptian (1069–700 BC), the phonemesd ḏ ggradually merge with their counterpartst ṯ k(⟨dbn⟩*/ˈdiːban/> Akkadian transcriptionti-ba-an'dbn-weight'). Also,ṯ ḏoften become/td/,but they are retained in manylexemes;ꜣbecomes/ʔ/;and/trjw/become/ʔ/at the end of a stressed syllable and eventually null word-finally:⟨pḏ.t⟩*/ˈpiːɟat/> Akkadian transcription-pi-ta'bow'.

Demotic

Phonology

The most important source of information about Demotic phonology is Coptic. The consonant inventory of Demotic can bereconstructedon the basis of evidence from the Coptic dialects.Demotic orthography is relativelyopaque.The Demotic "Alpha betical" signs are mostly inherited from the hieroglyphic script, and due to historicalsound changesthey do not always map neatly onto Demoticphonemes.However, the Demotic script does feature certain orthographic innovations, such as the use of the signh̭for /ç/,which allow it to represent sounds that were not present in earlier forms of Egyptian.

The Demotic consonants can be divided into two primary classes:obstruents(stops,affricatesandfricatives) andsonorants(approximants,nasals,andsemivowels).Voiceis not a contrastive feature; all obstruents are voiceless and all sonorants are voiced.Stops may be eitheraspiratedortenuis(unaspirated),although there is evidence that aspirates merged with their tenuis counterparts in certain environments.

The following table presents the consonants of Demotic Egyptian. The reconstructed value of a phoneme is given inIPAtranscription, followed by a transliteration of the corresponding Demotic "Alpha betical" sign(s) in angle brackets⟨ ⟩.

Demotic Egyptian consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		Postalv.	Palatal	Velar	Pharyng.	Glottal
Nasal		/m/	/n/
Obstruent	aspirate	/pʰ/⟨p⟩	/tʰ/⟨t ṯ⟩		/t͡ʃʰ/⟨ṯ⟩	/cʰ/⟨k⟩	/kʰ/⟨k⟩
	tenuis		/t/⟨d ḏ t ṯ ṱ⟩		/t͡ʃ/⟨ḏ ṯ⟩	/c/⟨g k q⟩	/k/⟨q k g⟩
	fricative	/f/⟨f⟩	/s/⟨s⟩		/ʃ/⟨š⟩	/ç/⟨h̭ ḫ⟩	/x/⟨ẖ ḫ⟩	/ħ/⟨ḥ⟩	/h/⟨h⟩
Approximant		/β/⟨b⟩	/r/⟨r⟩	/l/⟨l r⟩		/j/⟨y ı͗⟩	/w/⟨w⟩	/ʕ/⟨ꜥ⟩

Demotic–Coptic sound correspondences

Demotic spelling	Demotic phoneme	Coptic reflexes
		Old Coptic	B	F	M	S	P	L	I	A
m	*/m/	ⲙ/m/	ⲙ/m/	ⲙ/m/	ⲙ/m/	ⲙ/m/	ⲙ/m/	ⲙ/m/	ⲙ/m/	ⲙ/m/
n	*/n/	ⲛ,ⲻ,ⲳ/n/	ⲛ/n/	ⲛ/n/	ⲛ/n/	ⲛ/n/	ⲛ,ⲻ,ⲳ/n/	ⲛ/n/	ⲛ/n/	ⲛ/n/
p	*/pʰ/	ⲡ/p/	ⲫ/pʰ/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/
t,ṯ	*/tʰ/	ⲧ/t/	ⲑ/tʰ/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/
ṯ	*/t͡ʃʰ/	ⳗ,ⳙ/t͡ʃ/	ϭ/t͡ʃʰ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/
k	*/cʰ/	ϭ/c/	ϭ/t͡ʃʰ/	ϭ/c/	ϭ/c/	ϭ/c/	ⲕ/c/	ϭ/c/	ϭ/c/	ϭ/c/
k	*/kʰ/	ⲹ,ⲕ/k/	ⲭ/kʰ/	ⲕ/k/	ⲕ/k/	ⲕ/k/	ⲹ/k/	ⲕ/k/	ⲕ/k/	ⲕ/k/
p	*[p]	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/	ⲡ/p/
d,ḏ,t,ṯ,ṱ	*/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/	ⲧ/t/
ḏ	*/t͡ʃ/	ⳗ,ⳙ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/
g,k,q	*/c/	ⳛ,ϭ,ⲕ/c/	ϫ/t͡ʃ/	ϭ/c/	ϭ/c/	ϭ/c/	ⲕ/c/	ϭ/c/	ϭ/c/	ϭ/c/
q,k,g	*/k/	ⲹ,ⲕ/k/	ⲕ/k/	ⲕ/k/	ⲕ/k/	ⲕ/k/	ⲹ/k/	ⲕ/k/	ⲕ/k/	ⲕ/k/
f	*/f/	ϥ/f/	ϥ/f/	ϥ/f/	ϥ/f/	ϥ/f/	ϥ/f/	ϥ/f/	ϥ/f/	ϥ/f/
s	*/s/	ⲥ/s/	ⲥ/s/	ⲥ/s/	ⲥ/s/	ⲥ/s/	ⲥ/s/	ⲥ/s/	ⲥ/s/	ⲥ/s/
š	*/ʃ/	ϣ,ⳅ,ⳇ/ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/
h̭,ḫ	*/ç/	ⳓ,ⳋ/ç~ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/	ϣ/ʃ/	ⳋ/ç/	ϣ/ʃ/	ⳃ,ϣ/ç~ʃ/	ⳉ/x/
ẖ,ḫ	*/x/	ϧ/x/	ϧ/x/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϧ/x/	ϩ/h/	ⳉ/x/	ⳉ/x/
ḥ	*/ħ/	ⳕ,ϩ,ⳍ/ħ~h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/
h	*/h/	ⳏ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/	ϩ/h/
b	*/β/	ⲃ/β/	ⲃ/β/	ⲃ/β/	ⲃ/β/	ⲃ/β/	ⲃ/β/	ⲃ/β/	ⲃ/β/	ⲃ/β/
r	*/r/	ⲣ/r/	ⲣ/r/	ⲗ/l/,ⲣ/r/	ⲣ/r/	ⲣ/r/	ⲣ/r/	ⲣ/r/	ⲣ/r/	ⲣ/r/
l, r	*/l/	ⲗ/l/	ⲗ/l/	ⲗ/l/	ⲗ/l/	ⲗ/l/	ⲗ/l/	ⲗ/l/	ⲗ/l/	ⲗ/l/
y, ı͗	*/j/	(ⲉ)ⲓ/j/	(ⲉ)ⲓ/j/	(ⲉ)ⲓ/j/	(ⲉ)ⲓ/j/	(ⲉ)ⲓ/j/	(ⲉ)ⲓ/j/	(ⲉ)ⲓ/j/	(ⲉ)ⲓ/j/	(ⲉ)ⲓ/j/
w	*/w/	(ⲟ)ⲩ/w/	(ⲟ)ⲩ/w/	(ⲟ)ⲩ/w/	(ⲟ)ⲩ/w/	(ⲟ)ⲩ/w/	(ⲟ)ⲩ/w/	(ⲟ)ⲩ/w/	(ⲟ)ⲩ/w/	(ⲟ)ⲩ/w/
ꜥ	*/ʕ/	ⲵ,∅ /ʔ~∅/	∅	∅	∅	∅	∅	∅	∅	∅

Coptic

More changes occur in the 1st millennium BC and the first centuries AD, leading to Coptic (1st or 3rd – c. 19th centuries AD). In Sahidicẖ ḫ ḥhad merged intoϣš(most often fromḫ) andϩ/h/(most oftenẖ ḥ). Bohairic and Akhmimic are more conservative and have a velar fricative/x/(ϧin Bohairic,ⳉin Akhmimic).Pharyngeal*ꜥhad merged into glottal/ʔ/after it had affected the quality of the surrounding vowels./ʔ/is not indicated orthographically unless it follows a stressed vowel; then, it is marked by doubling the vowel letter (except in Bohairic): Akhmimicⳉⲟⲟⲡ/xoʔp/,Sahidic and Lycopolitanϣⲟⲟⲡšoʔp,Bohairicϣⲟⲡšoʔp'to be' <ḫpr.w*/ˈχapraw/'has become'.The phonemeⲃ/b/was probably pronounced as a fricative[β],becomingⲡ/p/after a stressed vowel in syllables that had been closed in earlier Egyptian (compareⲛⲟⲩⲃ<*/ˈnaːbaw/'gold' andⲧⲁⲡ< */dib/'horn').The phonemes/dgz/occur only inGreekloanwords, with rare exceptions triggered by a nearby/n/:ⲁⲛⲍⲏⲃⲉ/ⲁⲛⲥⲏⲃⲉ<ꜥ.t n.t sbꜣ.w'school'.

Earlier*d ḏ g qare preserved as ejectivet' c' k' k'before vowels in Coptic. Although the same graphemes are used for the pulmonic stops (⟨ⲧ ϫ ⲕ⟩), the existence of the former may be inferred because the stops⟨ⲡ ⲧ ϫ ⲕ⟩/ptck/are allophonically aspirated[pʰtʰcʰkʰ]before stressed vowels andsonorantconsonants.In Bohairic, the allophones are written with the special graphemes⟨ⲫ ⲑ ϭ ⲭ⟩,but other dialects did not mark aspiration: Sahidicⲡⲣⲏ,Bohairicⲫⲣⲏ'the sun'.

Thus, Bohairic does not mark aspiration for reflexes of older*d ḏ g q:Sahidic and Bohairicⲧⲁⲡ*/dib/'horn'.Also, the definite articleⲡis unaspirated when the next word begins with a glottal stop: Bohairicⲡ + ⲱⲡ > ⲡⲱⲡ'the account'.

The consonant system of Coptic is as follows:

Coptic consonants

		Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		ⲙ m	ⲛ n
Plosive	voiceless	ⲡ (ⲫ) p(pʰ)	ⲧ (ⲑ) t(tʰ)	ϫ (ϭ) c(cʰ)	ⲕ (ⲭ) k(kʰ)	ʔ
	ejective		ⲧ tʼ	ϫ cʼ	ⲕ kʼ
	voiced		ⲇ d		ⲅ ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	ϥ f	ⲥ s	ϣ ʃ	(ϧ, ⳉ) (x)	ϩ h
	voiced	ⲃ β	ⲍ z
Approximant		(ⲟ)ⲩ w	ⲗ l	(ⲉ)ⲓ j
Trill			ⲣ r

Vowels

Here is the vowel system reconstructed for earlier Egyptian:

Earlier Egyptian vowel system

	Front	Back
Close	iiː	uuː
Open	aaː

Vowels are always short in unstressed syllables (⟨tpj⟩=*/taˈpij/'first') and long in open stressed syllables (⟨rmṯ⟩=*/ˈraːmac/'man'), but they can be either short or long in closed stressed syllables (⟨jnn⟩=*/jaˈnan/'we',⟨mn⟩=*/maːn/'to stay').

In the LateNew Kingdom,afterRamses II,around 1200 BC,*/ˈaː/changes to*/ˈoː/(like theCanaanite shift),⟨ḥrw⟩'(the god) Horus'*/ħaːra/>*/ħoːrə/(Akkadian transcription:-ḫuru).*/uː/,therefore, changes to*/eː/:⟨šnj⟩'tree'*/ʃuːn(?)j/>*/ʃeːnə/(Akkadian transcription:-sini).

In the Early New Kingdom, short stressed*/ˈi/changes to*/ˈe/:⟨mnj⟩"Menes"*/maˈnij/>*/maˈneʔ/(Akkadian transcription:ma-né-e).Later, probably 1000–800 BC, a short stressed*/ˈu/changes to*/ˈe/:⟨ḏꜥn.t⟩"Tanis"*/ˈɟuʕnat/was borrowed into Hebrew as *ṣuʕn but would become transcribed as⟨ṣe-e'-nu/ṣa-a'-nu⟩during theNeo-Assyrian Empire.

Unstressed vowels, especially after a stress, become*/ə/:⟨nfr⟩'good'*/ˈnaːfir/>*/ˈnaːfə/(Akkadian transcription-na-a-pa).*/iː/changes to*/eː/next to/ʕ/and/j/:⟨wꜥw⟩'soldier'*/wiːʕiw/>*/weːʕə/(earlier Akkadian transcription:ú-i-ú,later:ú-e-eḫ).

Egyptian vowel system c. 1000 BC

	Front	Central	Back
Close	iː
Mid	eeː	ə	oː
Open	a

In Sahidic and Bohairic Coptic, Late Egyptian stressed*/ˈa/becomes*/ˈo/and*/ˈe/becomes/ˈa/,but are unchanged in the other dialects:

• ⟨sn⟩*/san/'brother'

  Sahidic and Bohairic⟨son⟩

  Akhmimic, Lycopolitan and Fayyumic⟨san⟩

• ⟨rn⟩'name'*/rin/>*/ren/

  Sahidic and Bohairic⟨ran⟩

  Akhmimic, Lycopolitan and Fayyumic⟨ren⟩

However, in the presence of guttural fricatives, Sahidic and Bohairic preserve*/ˈa/,and Fayyumic renders it as⟨e⟩:

• ⟨ḏbꜥ⟩'ten thousand'*/ˈbaʕ/

  Sahidic, Akhmimic and Lycopolitan⟨tba⟩

  Bohairic⟨tʰba⟩

  Fayyumic⟨tbe⟩

In Akhmimic and Lycopolitan,*/ˈa/becomes/ˈo/before etymological/ʕ,ʔ/:

• ⟨jtrw⟩'river'*/ˈjatraw/>*/jaʔr(ə)/

  Sahidic⟨eioor(e)⟩

  Bohairic⟨ior⟩

  Akhmimic⟨ioore, iôôre⟩

  Fayyumic⟨iaal, iaar⟩

Similarly, the diphthongs*/ˈaj/,*/ˈaw/,which normally have reflexes/ˈoj/,/ˈow/in Sahidic and are preserved in other dialects, are in Bohairic⟨ôi⟩(in non-final position) and⟨ôou⟩respectively:

• "to me, to them"

  Sahidic⟨eroi, eroou⟩

  Akhmimic and Lycopolitan⟨arai, arau⟩

  Fayyumic⟨elai, elau⟩

  Bohairic⟨eroi, erôou⟩

Sahidic and Bohairic preserve*/ˈe/before/ʔ/(etymological or from lenited/trj/or tonic-syllable coda/w/),: Sahidic and Bohairic⟨ne⟩/neʔ/'to you (fem.)' <*/ˈnet/<*/ˈnic/.*/e/may also have different reflexes beforesonorants,nearsibilantsand in diphthongs.

Old*/aː/surfaces as/uː/after nasals and occasionally other consonants:⟨nṯr⟩'god'*/ˈnaːcar/>/ˈnuːte/⟨noute⟩/uː/has acquired phonemic status, as is evidenced by minimal pairs like 'to approach'⟨hôn⟩/hoːn/<*/ˈçaːnan/ẖnn vs. 'inside'⟨houn⟩/huːn/<*/ˈçaːnaw/ẖnw.An etymological*/uː/>*/eː/often surfaces as/iː/next to/r/and after etymological pharyngeals:⟨hir⟩<*/χuːr/'street' (Semitic loan).

Most Coptic dialects have two phonemic vowels in unstressed position. Unstressed vowels generally became/ə/,written as⟨e⟩or null (⟨i⟩in Bohairic and Fayyumic word-finally), but pretonic unstressed /a/ occurs as a reflex of earlier unstressed*/e/near an etymological pharyngeal, velar or sonorant ('to become many'⟨ašai⟩< ꜥšꜣ*/ʕiˈʃiʀ/) or an unstressed*/a/.Pretonic [i] is underlyingly/əj/:Sahidic 'ibis'⟨hibôi⟩< h(j)bj.w*/hijˈbaːj?w/.

Thus, the following is the Sahidic vowel system c. AD 400:

Sahidic vowel system circa 400 AD

	Stressed		Unstressed
	Front	Back	Central
Close	iː	uː
Mid	eeː	ooː	ə
Open	a

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:*/ˈχupiraw/>*/ˈχupraw/'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/ɑː/.Yodh is pronounced/iː/,w/uː/.Between other consonants,/ɛ/is then inserted. Thus, for example, the Egyptian nameRamessesis most accurately transliterated asrꜥ-ms-sw( "Rais the one who bore him ") and pronounced as/rɑmɛssu/.

Intranscription,⟨a⟩,⟨i⟩,and⟨u⟩all represent consonants. For example, the nameTutankhamun(1341–1323 BC) was written in Egyptian astwt-ꜥnḫ-jmn( "living image ofAmun"). 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 althoughtwt-ꜥnḫ-ı͗mnis pronounced/tuːtənˈkɑːmən/in modern Egyptological pronunciation, in his lifetime, it was likely to be pronounced something like *[təˈwaːtəʔˈʕaːnəχʔaˈmaːnəʔ],transliterable astəwā́təʾ-ʿā́nəkh-ʾamā́nəʾ.

Morphology

Egyptian is fairly typical for an Afroasiatic language in that most of its vocabulary is built around a root of three consonants, though there are sometimes only two consonants in the root:rꜥ(w)([riːʕa],"sun" --the[ʕ]is thought to have been something like a voiced pharyngeal fricative). Larger roots are also common and can have up to five consonants:sḫdḫd( "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, orthographicstp( "to choose" ), for example, can represent thestative(whose endings can be left unexpressed), theimperfectiveforms or even averbal noun( "a choosing" ).

Nouns

Egyptiannounscan be masculine or feminine (the latter is indicated, as with other Afroasiatic languages, by adding a-t) and singular or plural (-w/-wt), or dual (-wj/-tj).

Articles,both definite and indefinite, do not occur until Late Egyptian but are used widely thereafter.

Pronouns

Egyptian has three different types ofpersonal pronouns:suffix,enclitic(called "dependent" by Egyptologists) and independent pronouns. There are also a number of verbal endings added to theinfinitiveto form the stative and are regarded by some linguistsas a "fourth" set of personal pronouns. They bear close resemblance to their Semitic counterparts. The three main sets of personal pronouns are as follows:

Personal pronouns

			Suffix	Dependent	Independent
1st person	singular		.jor.ı͗	wjorwı͗	jnkorı͗nk
	plural		.n	n	jnnorı͗nn
2nd person	singular	masc.	.k	ṯw	ntk
		fem.	.ṯ	ṯn	ntṯ
	plural		.ṯn	ṯn	ntṯn
3rd person	singular	masc.	.f	sw	ntf
		fem.	.s	sj	nts
	plural		.sn	sn	ntsn

Demonstrative pronouns have separate masculine and feminine singular forms and common plural forms for both genders:

Demonstrative pronouns

Singular		Plural	Meaning
Masc.	Fem.
pn	tn	nn	this, that, these, those
pf	tf	nf	that, those
pw	tw	nw	this, that, these, those (archaic)
pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ	this, that, these, those (colloquial [earlier] & Late Egyptian)

Finally, interrogative pronouns bear a close resemblance to their Semitic andBerbercounterparts:

Interrogative pronouns

Pronoun	Meaning	Dependency
mjormı͗	who / what	Dependent
ptr	who / what	Independent
jḫ	what	Dependent
jšstorı͗šst	what	Independent
zy	which	Independent & Dependent

Verbs

Egyptian verbs have finite and non-finite forms.

Finite verbs conveyperson,tense/aspect,moodandvoice.Each is indicated by a set ofaffixalmorphemes attached to the verb: For example, the basic conjugation issḏm( "to hear" ) issḏm.f( "he hears" ).

Non-finite verbs occur without a subject and are the infinitive, theparticiplesand the negative infinitive, whichEgyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphscalls "negatival complement". There are two main tenses/aspects in Egyptian:pastand temporally-unmarkedimperfectiveandaoristforms. The latter are determined from theirsyntacticcontext.

Adjectives

Adjectivesagree ingenderand number with the nouns they modify:

z

man

nfr

good.MASC

znfr

man good.MASC

"[the] good man"

zt

woman

nfrt

good.FEM

ztnfrt

woman good.FEM

"[the] good woman"

Attributive adjectives in phrases are after the nouns they modify:nṯrꜥꜣ( "[the] great god" ).

However, when they are used independently as apredicatein anadjectival phrase,asꜥꜣnṯr( "[the] god [is] great",lit."great [is the] god" ), adjectives precede the nouns they modify.

Prepositions

Egyptian makes use ofprepositions.

m	"in, as, with, from"
n	"to, for"
r	"to, at"
jnorı͗n	"by"
ḥnꜥ	"with"
mjormı͗	"like"
ḥr	"on, upon"
ḥꜣ	"behind, around"
ẖr	"under"
tp	"atop"
ḏr	"since"

Adverbs

Adverbs, in Egyptian, are at the end of a sentence: For example:

zı͗.n

went

nṯr

god

ı͗m

there

zı͗.nnṯrı͗m

went godthere

"[the] god went there"

Here are some common Egyptian adverbs:

jmorı͗m	"there"
ꜥꜣ	"here"
ṯnjorṯnı͗	"where"
zy-nw	"when" (lit."which moment" )
mj-jḫormı͗-ı͗ḫ	"how" (lit."like-what" )
r-mjorr-mı͗	"why" (lit."for what" )
ḫnt	"before"

Syntax

Old Egyptian, Classical Egyptian, and Middle Egyptian haveverb-subject-objectas the basicword order.For example, the equivalent of "he opens the door" would bewnsꜥꜣ( "opens he [the] door" ). The so-calledconstruct statecombines two or more nouns to express thegenitive,as inSemiticandBerber 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 usepꜣ,tꜣandnꜣ.

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

Further information:Coptic language § Influence on other languages

The Egyptian language survived through the Middle Ages and into the early modern period in the form of theCoptic language.Coptic survived past the 16th century only as an isolated vernacular and as aliturgical languagefor theCoptic OrthodoxandCoptic Catholic Churches.Coptic also had an enduring effect onEgyptian Arabic,which replaced Coptic as the main daily language in Egypt; theCoptic substratumin Egyptian Arabic appears in certain aspects of syntax and to a lesser degree in vocabulary and phonology.

In antiquity, Egyptian exerted some influence onClassical Greek,so that a number of Egyptian loanwords into Greek survive into modern usage. Examples include:

• ebony(Egyptianhbnj,via Greek and then Latin)
• ivory(Egyptianꜣbw,via Latin)
• natron(Egyptiannṯrj,via Greek)
• lily(Egyptianḥrrt,Coptichlēri,via Greek)
• ibis(Egyptianhbj,via Greek)
• oasis(Egyptianwḥꜣt,via Greek)
• barge(Egyptianbꜣjr,via Greek))
• possiblycat
• pharaoh(Egyptianpr ꜥꜣ,lit."great house", via Hebrew and Greek)

The Hebrew Bible also contains some words, terms, and names that are thought by scholars to be Egyptian in origin. An example of this isZaphnath-Paaneah,the Egyptian name given toJoseph.

The etymological root of"Egypt"is the same asCopts,ultimately from the Late Egyptian name ofMemphis,Hikuptah,a continuation of Middle Egyptianḥwt-kꜣ-ptḥ(lit."temple of theka (soul)ofPtah").

See also

• Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae
• Ancient Egyptian literature
• Coptic language
• Egyptian Arabic
• Egyptian hieroglyphs
• Egyptian numerals
• Hieratic
• Transliteration of Ancient Egyptian

Bibliography

• Allen, James P.(2000).Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-65312-1.
• Allen, James P.(2013).The Ancient Egyptian Language: An Historical Study.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1-107-66467-8.
• Christidēs, Anastasios-Phoivos; Arapopoulou, Maria; Chritē, Maria (2007).A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-83307-3.
• Haspelmath, Martin (2001).Language Typology and Language Universals: An International Handbook.Walter de Gruyter.ISBN3-11-017154-6.
• Bard, Kathryn A. (1999).Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt.Routledge.ISBN0-415-18589-0.
• Callender, John B. (1975).Middle Egyptian.Undena Publications.ISBN978-0-89003-006-6.
• Loprieno, Antonio (1995).Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-44384-5.
• Meyers, Eric M. (1997).The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East.
• Satzinger, Helmut (2008)."What happened to the voiced consonants of Egyptian?"(PDF).Vol. 2. Acts of the X International Congress of Egyptologists. pp. 1537–1546.Archived(PDF)from the original on 15 August 2014.
• Schenkel, Wolfgang (1990).Einführung in die altägyptische Sprachwissenschaft.Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
• Schenkel, Wolfgang (2012).Tübinger Einführung in die klassisch-ägyptische Sprache und Schrift, 7th rev. ed.Tübingen: Pagina.
• Vycichl, Werner(1983).Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Copte.Leuven.ISBN9782-7247-0096-1.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Vycichl, Werner(1990).La Vocalisation de la Langue Égyptienne.Cairo: IFAO.ISBN9782-7247-0096-1.

• Takács, Gábor (2011). "Semitic-Egyptian Relations". In Weninger, Stefan (ed.).The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook.de Gruyter Mouton.
• Allen, James P.(2020).Ancient Egyptian Phonology.Cambridge University Press.doi:10.1017/9781108751827.ISBN978-1-108-48555-5.S2CID216256704.
• Rubin, Aaron D.(2013). "Egyptian and Hebrew". InKhan, Geoffrey;Bolozky, Shmuel; Fassberg, Steven;Rendsburg, Gary A.;Rubin, Aaron D.; Schwarzwald, Ora R.; Zewi, Tamar (eds.).Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics.LeidenandBoston:Brill Publishers.doi:10.1163/2212-4241_ehll_EHLL_COM_00000721.ISBN978-90-04-17642-3.
• Mattessich, Richard(2002)."The oldest writings, and inventory tags of Egypt".Accounting Historians Journal.29(1): 195–208.doi:10.2308/0148-4184.29.1.195.JSTOR40698264.S2CID160704269.Archived fromthe originalon 31 December 2019.

Literature

Overviews

• Allen, James P.,The Ancient Egyptian Language: An Historical Study,Cambridge University Press, 2013.ISBN978-1-107-03246-0(hardback),ISBN978-1-107-66467-8(paperback).
• Loprieno, Antonio,Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction,Cambridge University Press, 1995.ISBN0-521-44384-9(hardback),ISBN0-521-44849-2(paperback).
• Peust, Carsten (1999).Egyptian Phonology: An Introduction to the Phonology of a Dead Language.Peust & Gutschmidt.doi:10.11588/diglit.1167.ISBN3-933043-02-6.
• Vergote, Jozef, "Problèmes de la «Nominalbildung» en égyptien",Chronique d'Égypte51 (1976), pp. 261–285.
• Vycichl, Werner,La Vocalisation de la Langue Égyptienne,IFAO, Cairo, 1990.ISBN9782-7247-0096-1.

Grammars

• Allen, James P.,Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs,first edition, Cambridge University Press, 1999.ISBN0-521-65312-6(hardback)ISBN0-521-77483-7(paperback).
• Borghouts, Joris F.,Egyptian: An Introduction to the Writing and Language of the Middle Kingdom,two vols., Peeters, 2010.ISBN978-9-042-92294-5(paperback).
• J. Cerny, S. Israelit-Groll, C. Eyre,A Late Egyptian Grammar,4th, updated edition – Biblical Institute; Rome, 1984
• Collier, Mark, and Manley, Bill,How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself,British Museum Press (ISBN0-7141-1910-5) and University of California Press (ISBN0-520-21597-4), both 1998.
• Gardiner, Sir Alan H.,Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs,Griffith Institute, Oxford, 3rd ed. 1957.ISBN0-900416-35-1.
• Hoch, James E.,Middle Egyptian Grammar,Benben Publications, Mississauga, 1997.ISBN0-920168-12-4.
• Selden, Daniel L.,Hieroglyphic Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Literature of the Middle Kingdom,University of California Press, 2013.ISBN978-0-520-27546-1(hardback).

Dictionaries

• Erman, Adolf;Grapow, Hermann(1926–1961).Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache[Dictionary of the Egyptian Language] (in German). Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.ISBN978-3-05-002264-2.
• Faulkner, Raymond O.,A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian,Griffith Institute, Oxford, 1962.ISBN0-900416-32-7(hardback).
• Lesko, Leonard H.,A Dictionary of Late Egyptian,2nd ed., 2 vols., B. C. Scribe Publications,Providence,2002 et 2004.ISBN0-930548-14-0(vol.1),ISBN0-930548-15-9(vol. 2).
• Shennum, David,English-Egyptian Index of Faulkner's Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian,Undena Publications, 1977.ISBN0-89003-054-5.
• Bonnamy, Yvonne and Sadek, Ashraf-Alexandre,Dictionnaire des hiéroglyphes: Hiéroglyphes-Français,Actes Sud, Arles, 2010.ISBN978-2-7427-8922-1.
• Vycichl, Werner,Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Copte,Peeters, Leuven, 1984.ISBN2-8017-0197-1.
• de Vartavan, Christian,Vocalised Dictionary of Ancient Egyptian (Open Access),Projectis Publishing, London, 2022.ISBN978-1-913984-16-8.[Free PDF download:https:// academia.edu/101048552/Vocalised_Dictionary_of_Ancient_Egyptian_Open_Access_]

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 monumental Altägyptisches WörterbuchArchived14 December 2020 at theWayback Machineof 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 ofE. A. Wallis Budgehave long been considered obsolete by Egyptologists, even though these books are still available for purchase.

More book information is available at Glyphs and Grammars.

External links

• Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae: Dictionary of the Egyptian language
• The Egyptian connection: Egyptian and the Semitic languagesby Helmut Satzinger
• Ancient Egyptian in the wikiGlossing Ancient Languages(recommendations for theInterlinear Morphemic Glossingof Ancient Egyptian texts)