[HRG: M17] = _l_; so conventionally transcribed since it unites two
values, being sometimes y but often [Hebrew: alef] (especially
at the beginning of words), and from the earliest times used in
a manner corresponding to the Arabic _hamza_, to indicate a
prosthetic vowel. Often lost.
[HRG: Z4] and [HRG: M17-M17] are frequently employed for _y_.
[HRG: G1] = '([Hebrew: alef]); easily lost or changes to _y_.
[HRG: D36] = '([Hebrew: ayin]); lost in Coptic. This rare sound, well
known in Semitic, occurs also in Berber and Cushite languages.
[HRG: G43] = _w_; often changes to _y_.
[HRG: D58] = _b_.
[HRG: Q3] = _p_.
[HRG: I9] = _f_.
[HRG: G17] = _m_.
[HRG: N35] = _n_.
[HRG] = _r_; often lost, or changes to _y_. _r_ and _l_ are
distinguished in later demotic and in Coptic.
[HRG] = _h_ } distinction lost in Coptic.
[HRG] = _[h.]_ }
[HRG] = _h_; in Coptic [Coptic: sai] (_sh_) or [Coptic: xai] (_kh_)
correspond to it.
[HRG] = _[h=]_; generally written with [HRG] (_[vs]_) in the Old
Kingdom, but [HRG] corresponds to _kh_ in Coptic.
[HRG] = _s_ } distinction lost at the end of the Old Kingdom.
[HRG] = _[/s]_ }
[HRG] = _[vs]_ (_sh_).
[HRG] = _q_; Coptic [Coptic: kappa].
[HRG] = _k_ } Coptic [Coptic: kappa]; or [Coptic: qima],
} [Coptic: dandia], according to dialect.
[HRG] = _g_ } Coptic [Coptic: kappa]; or [Coptic: qima].
[HRG] = _[t=]_; often lost at the end of words.
[HRG] = _t_ ([theta]); often changes to _t_, otherwise Coptic
[Coptic: tau]; or [Coptic: dandia], [Coptic: qima].
[HRG] = _d_; in Coptic reduced to _t_.
[HRG] = _d_ (_z_); often changes to _d_, Coptic [Coptic: tau];
otherwise in Coptic [Coptic: dandia].
_ROOTS_
Egyptian roots consist of consonants and semi-consonants only, the
inflexion being effected by internal vowel-change and the addition of
consonants or vowels at the beginning or end. The Egyptian system of
writing, as opposed to the Coptic, showed only the consonantal
skeletons of words: it could not record internal vowel-changes; and
semi-consonants, even when radicals, were often omitted in writing.
_PERSONAL PRONOUNS_
Sing. 1. c. _iw_ (?) later _wi_. Pl. 1. c. _n_. Du.
2. m. _kw_. 2. c. _tn_. 2. c. _tny_.
f. _tn_.
3. _m_. *_fy_, surviving only 3. m. _sn_, early lost, 3. c. _sny_.
in a special except as
verbal form. suffix.
f. _sy_. f. *_st_ surviving
as 3. c.
From these are derived the suffixes, which are shortened forms
attached to nouns to express the possessor, and to verbs to express
the subject. In the latter case the verb was probably in the
participle, so that _sdmii-sn_, "they hear," is literally "hearing
are they." The singular suffixes are: (1) c. _-i_; (2) m. _-k_, f.
_-t_; (3) m. _-f_, f. _-[/s]_;--the dual and plural have no special
forms.
Another series of absolute pronouns is: (2) m. _twt_, _tw_; f. _tmt_,
_tm_; (3) m. _swt_, _sw_; f. _stt_, _st_. Of these _twt_, _tmt_, &c.,
are emphatic forms.
Many of the above absolute pronouns were almost obsolete even in the
Old Kingdom. In ordinary texts some survive, especially as objects of
verbs, namely, _wi_, _tw_, _tn_, _sw_, _st_. The suffixes of all
numbers and persons except the dual were in full use throughout, to
Coptic; _sn_, however, giving way to a new suffix, _-w_, which
developed first in the New Kingdom.
Another absolute pronoun of the first person is _ink_, [Coptic: Anoch]
like Heb. [Hebrew: Anochi]. It is associated with a series for the
second and third persons: _nt-k_, _nt-t_, _nt-f_, _nt-sn_, &c.; but
from their history, use and form, it seems probable that the last are
of later formation, and are not to be connected with the Semitic
pronouns (chiefly of the 2nd person) resembling them.
_DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS_
There are several series based on m. _p_; f. _t_; pl. _n_; but _n_ as
a plural seems later than the other two. From them are developed a
weak demonstrative to which possessive suffixes can be attached,
producing the definite and possessive articles (_p'_, _t'_, _n'_,
"the," _p'y-f_, "his," _p'y-s_ "her," &c.) of Middle Egyptian and the
later language.
_NOUNS_
Two genders, m. (ending _w_, or nothing), f. (ending _t_). Three
numbers: singular, dual (m. _wi_, f. _ti_, gradually became obsolete),
plural (m. _w_; f. _wt_). No case-endings are recognizable, but
construct forms--to judge by Coptic--were in use. Masculine and
feminine nouns of instrument or material are formed from verbal roots
by prefixing _m_; e.g. _m.sdm.t_, "stibium," from _sdm_, "paint the
eye." Substantives and adjectives are formed from substantives and
prepositions by the addition of _y_ in the masculine; e.g. _n.t_,
"city," _nt.y_, "belonging to a city," "citizen"; _hr_, "upon," _hr.y_
(f. _hr.t_; pl. _hr.w)_, "upper." This is not unlike the Semitic
_nisbe_ ending _iy_, _ay_ (e.g. Ar. _beled_, "city," _beledi_,
"belonging to a city"). Adjectives follow the nouns they qualify.
_NUMERALS_
1, _w'_; 2, _sn_; 3, _hmt_; 4, _fdw_; 5, _dw'_; 6, _sis_ (or _sw'_ ?);
7, _sfh_; 8, _hmn_; 9, _psd_; 10, _mt_. 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9 (?) resemble
Semitic numerals. 20 and 30 (_m'b_) had special names; 40-90 were
named as if plurals of the units 4-9, as in Semitic. 100, _snt_; 1000,
_h'_; 10,000, _zb'_; 100,000, _hfnw_.
_VERBS_
The forms observable in hieroglyphic writing lead to the following
classification:--
STRONG VERBS.
Biliteral Often showing traces of an original III. inf.;
in early times very rare.
Triliteral Very numerous.
{ Generally formed by reduplication.
Quadriliteral { In Late Egyptian they were no longer
Quinqueliteral { inflected, and were conjugated with the help
{ of _iry_, "do."
WEAK VERBS.
II. geminatae Properly triliterals, but, with the 2nd or 3rd
radical alike, these coalesced in many forms
where no vowel intervened, and gave the word
the appearance of a biliteral.