Egyptian Hieroglyphs – Lesson 7

Nominal Sentences and Noun Clauses

The Basics

Nominal sentences consist of a subject + a nominal predicate. The subject can be a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase, but no word can intervene between the subject and predicate. This construction is nonverbal, so we must supply the English verb “is” to create a meaningful English translation. An example of this in English could be “My son is Horus.” The subject and nominal predicate of this sentence consists ofย my son andย Horus, respectively.ย In Egyptian, we would find this sentence as “My son, Horus,” without the verb “is.”

Nominal sentences appear with some regularity in Egyptian hieroglyphs, and in a number of different shapes and sizes. In this lesson, we will look at three types of nominal sentences: the AB nominal sentence, the A pwย nominal sentence, and the A pwย B nominal sentence. Some Egyptologists refer to the latter two types as bi-partite and tri-partite nominal sentences.

AB Nominal Sentences

There are two elements to an AB nominal sentence, A and B. Similar parts of speech are found in these spots–nouns, pronouns, and noun phrases.ย More often than not.A noun or noun phrase steals the B spot, while the A spot is usually reserved for an independent pronoun or noun (phrase). It must be noted that no word can appear in between these elements, A and B. They appear side-by-side, bound together. Let’s look at a few examples:
๐“Œ๐“Žก๐“‡“๐“ž๐“€€
ink sลก nsw
“I am a royal scribe” “I am the king’s scribe”
In this first example, we find anย independent pronoun, ink, in element A, while a noun phrase, sลก nsw, is situated in spot B. We can identify the use of honorific transposition in this example as well. The nswย precedesย sลก in the hieroglyphic depiction, so one would expect a transliteration that reflects this organization,ย nswย sลก.ย This is not the case, instead the sentence is transliterated asย sลก nswย “scribe of the king” or “royal scribe.”ย We often find nsw used in honorific transposition out of respect for the king. It seems unlikely, under these circumstances, that the translation “scribe’s king” would be preferable to “king’s scribe.”
๐“†“๐“‚ง๐“‡‹๐“€€๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–๐“†‘
แธdi rn.f
“Djedi is his name”
๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– ๐“ˆ–๐“…๐“๐“๐“†‘๐“ฆ
rn n mwt m3สฟt
“the name of his mother is Maat”

Both of these examples show how names could be introduced in Egyptian hieroglyphs. However, the construction of these sentences emphasize the individual’s name differently.

The first example emphasizes the name, แธdi, by “fronting” it–placing it at the front of the sentences, rather than the last–while the second emphasizes the noun phrase,ย rn n mย mwt, over the name m3สฟt.

A pw Nominal Sentences

A pw nominal sentences, when spotted, are fairly straightforward to translate. Of course, actually spotting them remains the difficult part. They are composed of only two elements, A and pwย ๐“Šช๐“…ฑ, andย roughly translate as “it is A.” A could be a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun. The “it” in the translation may be replaced with other pronouns, depending on context A. For example, if element A was the noun “son,” then “he” would be used, or if the noun “daughter,” sat in position A, “she” would be used. And so on.
๐“Œ๐“Žก๐“€€๐“Šช๐“…ฑ
ink pw “It is I”
๐“ž๐“€€๐“Šช๐“…ฑ
sลก pw “He is a scribe”
These examples are fairly straightforward. An independent pronoun, ink, stands in position A in the first example, while the noun,ย sลก, stands in that position in the next. So, the translation follows the formation of “it is” or “he is” plus the noun or pronoun in position A. Although straightforward, things can get messy when noun phrases come into play,ย especially when theย indirect genitiveย is used.

๐“‡๐“๐“ญ๐“€€๐“Šช๐“ฒ๐“ˆ–๐“‡๐“๐“ˆ‡๐“Ž›๐“Œณ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“–๐“ˆ’๐“ฅ๐“Š–
sแธซty pw n sแธซt แธฅm3t
“He is a peasant of the Wadi Natrun.”
This popular example comes to us from the ancient Egyptian story, The Eloquent Peasant. Let’s break the example down in an attempt to make it appear less complicated. If we remove the pw, we are left with the noun phrase, sแธซty n sแธซtย แธฅm3t, that uses indirect genitive n. This translates as “a peasant of the Wadi Natrun.” Now, we bring ย pw back into the equation, which would add to “he is” to our translation. Combine these elements and we are left with the final result of “He is a peasant of the Wadi Natrun.” You might have noticed that in this example, ย pwย is not at the end of the sentence. This occurs in two different combinations of the Aย pw sentence: (1)ย a noun phrase with an indirect genitive (2) a noun + adjective. Under these circumstances, theย pwย moves as close to the front of the sentence as possible–either preceding the indirect genitive or the adjective.

๐“ท๐“ค๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“„ค๐“†‘๐“‚‹
แธฅr pw nfr
“It is a beautiful face.”

A pw B Nominal Sentences

Of the three types of nominal sentences, A pw B ย sentences are the most difficult to understand. They are primarily used when both A and B are nouns or noun phrases. These sentences create an identity relationship of sorts between two things–either A is B or B is A, depending on preference. Here are a few examples.

pr-สฟ3 pw 3แธซ-n-itn
Ahkenaten is the pharaoh.
๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ– ๐“‡ณ๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“‡‹๐“๐“†‘๐“€€๐“†‘
itn pw it.f
His father is the Aten

The translation, “B is A,” was used in the previous example; however, they could have easily been translated as “A is B.” Preference is the main factor involved in this decision. What does the sentence emphasize? Is Akhenaten the emphasis? Then translate “B is A.” Is pharaoh the emphasis? Then translate as “A is B.”It reinforces how Egyptian hieroglyphs can be both flexible and rigid.

Just like Aย pwย nominal sentences, theย pwย stands as close to the front of the sentence as possible, but always before A. If an indirect genitive stands in position A, then pw is placed before the genitival adjective . If, on the other hand, a direct genitive stands in position A, the pwย must follow the direct genitive. Refer to the examples below.

แธฅmt nb-m3สฟt-rสฟ pw tiy
“the wife of Nebmaatre is Tiye”
mwt pw nt 3แธซ-n-itn tiy
“the mother of Akhenaten is Tiye”

In the first example, pwย stands after the noun phrase of A, แธฅmt nb-m3สฟt-rสฟ.ย ย This is because A is a direct genitive, and cannot be separated. However, in the second example, pw intervenes between the first noun of the noun phrase that uses the indirect genitive construction,ย mwt ntย 3แธซ-n-itn.

Noun Clauses

A clause that functions nominally is considered a noun clause. Let’s look at a sentence in English for clarification: “Akhenaten thoughtย that the Aten was the sole god.” The noun clause (bolded) is introduced by “that.” Noun clauses are eitherย markedย orย unmarked. We will begin with marked clauses, with examples the use two of the more common markers,ย is ๐“‡‹๐“‹ด and the relative adjectiveย ntt ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“.
๐“‚‹๐“๐“œ๐“†‘๐“‹ด๐“๐“‚‹๐“œ๐“‡‹๐“‹ด๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“„ค๐“†‘๐“‚‹
rแธซ.f sแธซr is pw nfr
“He knows that the plan is good.”
๐“ท๐“ค๐“ˆ–๐“๐“๐“‚‹๐“‚๐“‡ณ๐“๐“Šช๐“…ฑ
แธฅr ntt rสฟ pw
“…because he is Re.”

There are three components to the first example: a verb (rแธซ.f ), an Aย pwย B nominal sentence (sแธซr pw nfr),ย and the marker (is). The particleย isย stands before theย pwย in the nominal sentence, allowing the clause to function nominally as the object of the verb.

We find the feminine relative adjective, along with the prepositionย แธฅr,ย in the second example. This marker, when used in noun clauses, will stand at the front of the noun clause.ย nttย can be used alone (trans. as “that”), or in conjunction with prepositions. The most common combinations are listed below.

๐“ˆ– ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ ๐“ท๐“ค๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ ๐“‡ฅ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–๐“๐“
n ntt แธฅr ntt แธr ntt
In this final example, we will see an unmarked noun clause.
๐“… ๐“…“๐“ˆ–๐“€€๐“Ž›๐“†‘๐“„ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“†™๐“Šช๐“…ฑ
gm.n.i แธฅf3w pw
“I found it was a snake.”
In this example,ย แธฅf3w pw, an Aย pwย construction, and main clause, function as as the object of the verbย gm.n.i,ย a verb form that we will find in a later lesson.

Memorization

Vocabulary

๐“„ฟ๐“Ž›๐“๐“ˆ‡3แธฅtField
๐“ฏ๐“„ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ—w3wWave
๐“‡ฌ๐“€๐“…ฑ๐“’๐“ฅwnmwFood
๐“‰”๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ˆ–๐“ญ๐“†ฑhbnyEbony
๐“‹พ๐“ˆŽ๐“€€แธฅq3Ruler
๐“Šƒ๐“‚๐“Ž›๐“€พsสฟแธฅMummy
๐“‹ด๐“ƒ€๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“‡‹๐“‡‹๐“๐“›sb3ytTeachings
๐“Šƒ๐“Šช๐“Š–sp
Time, deed, matter, misdeed
๐“ฎ๐“๐“…‚๐“Œ™๐“€€๐“ฅstywNubians
๐“ˆ™๐“ˆ‡๐“คลกPool, lake
๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พลกwbtyUshabti
๐“ˆŽ๐“ˆ–๐“ƒ€๐“๐“Š‹๐“€€๐“ฅqnbtCourt

Biliterals

๐“ ๐“ถ ๐“Ž ๐“Œ ๐“†› ๐“‡ฉ
im in is
๐“„
๐“Œค
๐“
สฟbสฟแธฅhb or triliteral ลกnสฟ
๐“„‘
 ๐“ข ๐“ฒ
๐“ฑ
แธฅw or bแธฅ ลกn sลก or triliteral sลกr

Triliterals

๐“Ž
 ๐“‡ธ ๐“‡ท
๐“ˆ„
wแธฅ3 wแธสฟ or psแธ wแธb
๐“Žบ
๐“Žธ
๐“ด
แธฅnwแบ–nmsw3
๐“Šถ
๐“Œ
๐“Œฅ
k3pแธสฟmแธb3

Exercises

Exercise 1.

Transliterate and translate the following phrases.

1.

๐“„ฟ๐“Ž›๐“๐“ˆ‡๐“๐“†‘๐“ˆ–๐“๐“‡๐“๐“ญ๐“€€

3แธฅtย tf nt sแธซtyย 

“That is a field of a peasant.”

2.

๐“ˆŽ๐“ˆ–๐“‡‹๐“ฒ๐“‚˜๐“†ฑ๐“‰”๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ˆ–๐“ญ๐“†ฑ๐“Šช๐“ฒ

qniw hbny pwย 

“It is a palanquin of ebony.”

3.

๐“๐“๐“†‘๐“€๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ–๐“‹พ๐“ˆŽ๐“€€๐“ฎ๐“๐“…‚๐“Œ™๐“€€๐“ฅ

แธซfty pw n แธฅq3 stywย 

“He is an enemy of the ruler of the Nubians.”

4.

๐“Šƒ๐“€€๐“ค๐“Šช๐“ฒ๐“Šƒ๐“‚๐“Ž›๐“€พ

s pw sสฟแธฅย 

“The man is a mummy.”

5.

๐“‡ฅ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–๐“๐“๐“…ช๐“‚‹๐“‹ด๐“‰ป๐“‚๐“„ฟ๐“œ๐“‹ด

แธr ntt wr s(y)ย สฟ3 s(y)ย 

“Since it is great and it is big.”

6.

๐“‡พ๐“ˆ‡๐“ค๐“Šช๐“ฒ๐“„ค๐“†‘๐“‚‹๐“‡‹๐“„ฟ๐“„ฟ๐“†ฐ๐“ˆ‰๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– ๐“†‘

t3 pw nfr i33 rn.f ย 

“it was a good land, Iaa was its name.

Return to Index – Continue to Lesson 8

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ABOUT
THE AUTHOR

I have a M.A. in Egyptian Art and Archaeology. Although no longer a part of academic Egyptology, I still enjoy translating texts in my spare time. I live on a small farm with his wife, son, and two dogs.

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