DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5538#0279
HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING OF ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 259
ical formulas, correspondence, State-papers, and the like ;* and
it is not too much to say that there are tens of thousands of
demotic documents in the museums of Turin, Berlin, Vienna,
Paris, Leyden, and London. These are chiefly law-deeds, ac-
counts, letters, and the miscellaneous memoranda of a trading
population. The hieratic documents are principally written
on papyrus. The demotic documents are scrawled on all
kinds of materials — on papyrus, parchment, flakes of lime-
stone, potsherds, and the like.
Just as I have compared the three writings of the Egyp-
tians with type, running - hand, and short-hand, so I may
roughly classify them as the monumental, literary, and com-
mercial scripts of that ancient people.
Of the language itself, and of the laws by which it was
governed, a few words must be said. The actual source of
the Egyptian language is wrapped in obscurity. Some great
authorities make it of Aryan origin, while others class it with
the Semitic tongues. In all probability, neither classification
is strictly correct. The Egyptian belongs, however, to what
is called the " Khamitic " family of tongues—a group which
includes the Ethiopian, Lib}Tan, Berber, and other African
languages. In all these the feminine takes the letter t either
as a prefix or a suffix; and they all conjugate the verb by
agglutination. The one and only realty certain fact is that
the Khamitic and Semitic languages are derived from a com-
mon source. Their grammatical system is, in certain essential
points, the same. Many of their roots are identical; their
plural forms are closely related; and in all the feminine de-
terminative is alike. But these two linguistic families—off-
shoots from one parent stem—separated in the ages before his-
tory, that parent being itself but a prehistoric idiom of very
limited range and unknown antiquity. Whether its home
were in the Hindoo Kush, or the plains of Mesopotamia, or
the highlands of Scandinavia, may perhaps forever remain an
open question.
The Egyptian grammar is of most elementary barren-
* See chap. vi.
ical formulas, correspondence, State-papers, and the like ;* and
it is not too much to say that there are tens of thousands of
demotic documents in the museums of Turin, Berlin, Vienna,
Paris, Leyden, and London. These are chiefly law-deeds, ac-
counts, letters, and the miscellaneous memoranda of a trading
population. The hieratic documents are principally written
on papyrus. The demotic documents are scrawled on all
kinds of materials — on papyrus, parchment, flakes of lime-
stone, potsherds, and the like.
Just as I have compared the three writings of the Egyp-
tians with type, running - hand, and short-hand, so I may
roughly classify them as the monumental, literary, and com-
mercial scripts of that ancient people.
Of the language itself, and of the laws by which it was
governed, a few words must be said. The actual source of
the Egyptian language is wrapped in obscurity. Some great
authorities make it of Aryan origin, while others class it with
the Semitic tongues. In all probability, neither classification
is strictly correct. The Egyptian belongs, however, to what
is called the " Khamitic " family of tongues—a group which
includes the Ethiopian, Lib}Tan, Berber, and other African
languages. In all these the feminine takes the letter t either
as a prefix or a suffix; and they all conjugate the verb by
agglutination. The one and only realty certain fact is that
the Khamitic and Semitic languages are derived from a com-
mon source. Their grammatical system is, in certain essential
points, the same. Many of their roots are identical; their
plural forms are closely related; and in all the feminine de-
terminative is alike. But these two linguistic families—off-
shoots from one parent stem—separated in the ages before his-
tory, that parent being itself but a prehistoric idiom of very
limited range and unknown antiquity. Whether its home
were in the Hindoo Kush, or the plains of Mesopotamia, or
the highlands of Scandinavia, may perhaps forever remain an
open question.
The Egyptian grammar is of most elementary barren-
* See chap. vi.