DOI Artikel:
Griffith, Francis Ll.: Progress of Egyptology: archaeology, hieroglyphic studies, etc.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12424#0058
44
Progress of Egyptology.
Erman reports on the progress of the Wdrt&rlmch der Aegyptischen
Sprache, the texts of the Graeco-Eoman epoch having a special share of
attention at the present time, Sitzb. Berl. Akad. 1907, 61, and (ib. 400)
contributes an interesting article inspired by the same theme. He draws
attention to the peculiar conditions under which the Egyptian lexico-
grapher has to work in the recovery of the dead language. Words for the
existence of which in ordinary speech there is ample evidence, may occur
but once or twice in the known texts; a word known in Coptic may
suddenly be recognised in a single passage of the Pyramid Texts, 3,000
years earlier, without any intermediate appearance having been recorded;
the passages in which a common word occurs may not be of a character
to define its meaning clearly, and so forth. The instances cited are very
remarkable. The projected Wdrt&rbwch, far from being a final treasure-
house of the language, can only be a contribution thereto; the work now
being done is not even upon the walls of such a final structure, but is
rather concerned with the foundations. That it will constitute an
immense advance on previous results is indubitable. The section [~lJ,
which has been written out as a sample of the final form, shows 39 words
beginning with lib, lip, hm, as against 18 in Brugsch's great Dictionary.
Other topics are the peculiar vocabulary, largely artificial, of the Ptolemaic
and Koman temple-inscriptions, the new light thrown on the values of
signs, methods of spelling, and abbreviated writing ; it is pointed out that
the mode of writing involves a good deal of ambiguity as to pronunciation
in special cases.
The stela of the Wazir User, No. 10 of TJriage, translated by Sjoberg,
Sphinx xi. 63.
Notes on the text of the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor. Maspero,
Bee. dc Trav. xxix. 106.
Demotic text of the Papyrus Moral of Leyden, continued. Bevillout,
Joum. Asiatique, viii. 83, ix. 429.
A passage in Pap. Westcar (vi. 7). Devaud, Sphinx xi. 47.
The name of the Sphinx. Naville, Sphinx x. 138.
The title " Hawk of Gold." Moket, Sphinx xi. 33.
Fresh evidence for reading the title ' ha ' as hati-a. Sethe, A.Z. xliii. 98.
The lake-name Moeris and the king-name Marres (Amenemhet III.),
Spiegelberg, A.Z. xliii. 84, Hermotybies explained as 1 horsemen/ a title
that was only traditional in the days of Herodotus, ib. 87, cf. 158.
Aa-^a/j, = avTOfj-oXoi, meaning 'forgetters' and so 'deserters,'^. 95, mns
the name of the royal cartouche, ib. 158, interpretation of I. Harris, 75.2,
ib. 159, Mm mek of sanctity. Bee. de Trav. xxix. 55.
Progress of Egyptology.
Erman reports on the progress of the Wdrt&rlmch der Aegyptischen
Sprache, the texts of the Graeco-Eoman epoch having a special share of
attention at the present time, Sitzb. Berl. Akad. 1907, 61, and (ib. 400)
contributes an interesting article inspired by the same theme. He draws
attention to the peculiar conditions under which the Egyptian lexico-
grapher has to work in the recovery of the dead language. Words for the
existence of which in ordinary speech there is ample evidence, may occur
but once or twice in the known texts; a word known in Coptic may
suddenly be recognised in a single passage of the Pyramid Texts, 3,000
years earlier, without any intermediate appearance having been recorded;
the passages in which a common word occurs may not be of a character
to define its meaning clearly, and so forth. The instances cited are very
remarkable. The projected Wdrt&rbwch, far from being a final treasure-
house of the language, can only be a contribution thereto; the work now
being done is not even upon the walls of such a final structure, but is
rather concerned with the foundations. That it will constitute an
immense advance on previous results is indubitable. The section [~lJ,
which has been written out as a sample of the final form, shows 39 words
beginning with lib, lip, hm, as against 18 in Brugsch's great Dictionary.
Other topics are the peculiar vocabulary, largely artificial, of the Ptolemaic
and Koman temple-inscriptions, the new light thrown on the values of
signs, methods of spelling, and abbreviated writing ; it is pointed out that
the mode of writing involves a good deal of ambiguity as to pronunciation
in special cases.
The stela of the Wazir User, No. 10 of TJriage, translated by Sjoberg,
Sphinx xi. 63.
Notes on the text of the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor. Maspero,
Bee. dc Trav. xxix. 106.
Demotic text of the Papyrus Moral of Leyden, continued. Bevillout,
Joum. Asiatique, viii. 83, ix. 429.
A passage in Pap. Westcar (vi. 7). Devaud, Sphinx xi. 47.
The name of the Sphinx. Naville, Sphinx x. 138.
The title " Hawk of Gold." Moket, Sphinx xi. 33.
Fresh evidence for reading the title ' ha ' as hati-a. Sethe, A.Z. xliii. 98.
The lake-name Moeris and the king-name Marres (Amenemhet III.),
Spiegelberg, A.Z. xliii. 84, Hermotybies explained as 1 horsemen/ a title
that was only traditional in the days of Herodotus, ib. 87, cf. 158.
Aa-^a/j, = avTOfj-oXoi, meaning 'forgetters' and so 'deserters,'^. 95, mns
the name of the royal cartouche, ib. 158, interpretation of I. Harris, 75.2,
ib. 159, Mm mek of sanctity. Bee. de Trav. xxix. 55.