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(intransitive, as a non-attributive relative/emphatic form)used in introductory formulae for oaths, usually with a king or god as subject: As long as … lives, … [since the Old Kingdom]
used at the beginning of inscriptions before the names of kings and gods: originally ‘May … live’, later meaningless[meaningless since the 18th Dynasty]
Inflection
Conjugation of ꜥnḫ (triliteral / 3-lit. / 3rad.) — base stem: ꜥnḫ, geminated stem: ꜥnḫḫ
Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective.
Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn.
Only in the masculine singular.
Only in the masculine.
Only in the feminine.
Alternative forms
Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜥnḫ
ꜥnḫ
ꜥnḫ
ꜥnḫ
ꜥnḫ
ꜥnḫ
[New Kingdom]
[Late Period, Greco-Roman Period]
[Late Period, Greco-Roman Period]
when used at the start of inscriptions/before divine/royal names
The meaning of this term is uncertain.It is a piece of equipment illustrated among coffin offerings, at the foot end of the mummy, and depicted in the hieroglyph used to write its name. Possibilities include:
Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective.
Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn.
Atiya, Aziz Suryal, editor (1991), “Protodialect”, in The Coptic Encyclopedia[2], New York: Macmillan, →ISBN
James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 386.
^ Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 58
^ Gardiner, Alan (1909) The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage from a Hieratic Papyrus in Leiden (Pap. Leiden 344 Recto), page 62 and plate 8