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CHAPTER V.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE LANGUAGE AND WRITING OF

ANCIENT EGYPT.

THE Egyptian language is one of great simplicity of structure, both in its roots and in its grammatical forms. Many of the appellatives of living beings are imitations of the sounds they utter: for instance, the ass was Є eo; the lion Hoтe moue; the ox €2€ ehe; the frog Xporp chrour; the cat war shaou; the hog piprir; the hoopoe ПETENKI petepep; the serpent 204 hof, hfo. In the same manner, the names of inanimate objects or modes of existence are evidently intended to represent the sounds which proceed from them thus CENCE sensen, means to sound, to sing; oroxorer ouodjouedj, to chew; Xpeupeu kremrem, a noise; kpapЄä kradjredj, to grind the teeth; TATA teltel, to drop, fall in drops; OUK omk, to swallow; POAPEX rodjredj, to rub, to polish.

The mental emotions are expressed in Coptic by various qualifications of the word signifying the heart, Hт het, which was supposed to be the seat of them. Thus, to be in concord, is to be one-hearted eнтлотот; a coward is little-hearted HтWнU; a patient man is heavy-hearted 2дршeнт; a proud person has a high, lofty heart

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GQCIEHT; a timid person is weak-hearted woẞEMT ; an indecisive person has two hearts HTB; while a penitent is said to eat his heart oтЄμgенч. Notions still more abstracted are also expressed by similar compounds : thus, to reflect, is to make the heart come ЄlgHT; to persuade, is to mingle, temper the heart TEHT; to trust, confide, to offer the heart Kaeнт; to observe, examine, teнT to give the heart; to know is to find the heart Єgт; and to satisfy, to fill the heart μ¤¿¿íт .

Another class of ideas is conveyed by the compounds of the word TOT hand; as, to help, to give the hand †TOT; to begin, to put forth the hand TOT. Other parts of the body are also applied in the same way to express states of the mind. Thus, mawтuakƐ stiff-necked, means obstitinate; acea lofty-eyed, denotes audacity; BACHT eye in the heart, clever, witty; AK to draw in the nose, to laugh at. Personal acts, also, are made to denote mental states; as aчip fly-seeker, a covetous man.

The grammatical forms of this singular language partake of the same peculiarity. The commonest modifications of speech, even the oblique and objective cases of the pronoun, are expressed by referring to a physical object; thus, to me, is, according to the sense of the passage in which it occurs, into my hand ЄTOT, into my mouth epo, into my stomach ЄSHT, on my face €2ρa, on my head EÃwi, to my place Ol. The most ordinary relations of subjects of speech to each other are thus expressed immediately by reference to parts of the body: thus, within, is, in the stomach €5Єm, that is, e5HT; out, is, from the eye eɓon. The very particles which are prefixed to the verbs to denote the variations of tense, are all significant. The

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prefix to the present definite is epe, an act, to the future indefinite is Єl, to come, to the future definite Лa, to come, to the imperative à μОl, to give, etc.

The structure of the system of writing employed by the ancient Egyptians corresponds with that of the language itself. We proceed to examine it.

Of the three modes of expressing ideas in use among the ancient Egyptians, the first or imitative characters have already been.sufficiently explained to be pictures of the objects denoted; as the sun, the moon, a star. . The other two modes will require a more extended notice.

SYMBOLIC CHARacters.

The power of imitative characters to express ideas must in the nature of things be very limited. They are able to express but a small portion of that which occurs to the mind. We can, it is true, denote a complete idea of them ; but it must be by grouping them together, in which case they form a design or picture, according to the rules of an art altogether distinct from that of writing, which last consists in expressing word for word the sounds that convey the idea in spoken language. But no series of representations of physical objects, each thus restricted in meaning, that we can devise, will so convey any judgment or act of the mind, as to be intelligible to another person. The reason of this is obvious. The majority of the words used in speaking do not convey the idea of visible objects; and we should meet with the same impossibility of expressing an act of the mind, if we were to substitute words, which have this power, for pictures; that is, if instead of a picture of each, thus

Twe were to write the words horse, crocodile,

altar. It is probable that out of this necessity has arisen the contrivance of symbolic or figurative characters. They may be thus defined; a character representing the form of one object, and conveying the idea of another. There are various methods of effecting this in the ancient Egyptian writings.

1. A part is substituted for the whole. Thus, two arms, the one with a shield, the other with a battle axe, M denote an army or a combat, as Horapollo informs us, lib. ii. c. 5; and as we frequently find in the existing texts; so the head of a goose denotes geese, and the two pupils of the eyes

the eyes.

2. The effect is often put for the cause, the cause for the effect, and the instrument for the work produced. Thus the crescent with the horns downwards, denoted a

month, as we learn both from Horapollo, lib. i. hier. 4, and the texts: a column of smoke issuing from a chafingdish denotes fire on the same authorities. So the picture

of the sun represents the day, of which it is the cause; and so also the idea of letters or writing is denoted by the representation of the reed or pencil, combined with the inkhorn and palette, which were the instruments employed by the sacred scribes in writing the hieroglyphics, M. Horapollo, i. 51.

3. Some fancied resemblance between the object represented and the idea conveyed has, in many cases, prompted the substitution. Thus, contemplation or vision was denoted by the eye of the hawk, because that bird was supposed to possess the power of gazing upon the sun. In this reading, also, the authority of Horapollo is supported by that of the existing texts. Priority or pre-eminence is conveyed by

the foreparts of a lion, Hor. i. 18. A sovereign is denoted by a bee, (probably the queen bee,), Hor. ii. 16, because this insect submits to a regular government; and by a fox or jackal, one of the hierogrammatists or sacred scribes, whose duty it was to take account of the revenues, etc. of temples, over which they ought to watch like faithful dogs, Hor. i. 38, and the texts.

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4. The resemblance between the object represented and the idea conveyed, was often enigmatical, very distant and obscure; in many there was no relation whatever between the two but that of pure convention. So they symbolized justice by an ostrich feather B, because all the feathers in the wing of that bird are equal, Hor. i. 38; and a palm branch signified the year, because they supposed that this tree grew twelve branches every year, and one every month, ib. i. 3. A hawk perched upon a standard, conveyed the idea of God, or Divine Being, Hor. i. 6; and a basket woven of rushes of different colours, that of Lord, Ruler.

5. Another species of symbol was also discovered by the industry and analytical tact of Champollion. It arises out of a peculiarity of the language of ancient Egypt which it has in common with the Chinese,-the employment of the same sound to express many different ideas. Taking advantage of this circumstance to render their writing more intelligible, the representation of one object was made the symbol of another idea, because both were denoted by the same sound, or nearly so, in the spoken language. Thus the character is the picture of the thigh of some animal, dressed and prepared for sacrifice, or the table, which in Egyptian is a, and in this primary sense it is frequently

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