DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6359#0045
DR. YOUNG'S DISCOVERIES.
37
nevertheless true, that beside letters, the enchorial used sym-
bolic signs; and beside symbols, the hieroglyphic used phone-
tic signs. These two important facts were the discovery of
Dr. Young.
After Akerblad's labors, some time elapsed before any
further progress was made. It was not until 1814 that Dr.
Young offered his "conjectural translation of the Egyptian
inscription of the Rosetta stone." The plan which he pur-
sued, as described by himself, was, in substance, as follows
He first acquired the Coptic language, and adopted Akerblau's
alphabet of the enchorial text, suspecting, however, from the
beginning, that this writing contained symbolic signs as well
as letters. He then commenced comparing groups of charac-
ters in the Egyptian writing with proper names in the Greek.
Thus, finding in the fourth and fourteenth lines of the Greek,
the words Alexander and Alexandria, he found in the second
and tenth lines of the demotic inscription, groups which he
conjectured were expressive of the same words. He states that
he did not trouble himself, by an analysis of the groups, to
ascertain the value of each particular character. Again, he
observed the occurrence in almost every line of a small group
of characters; he naturally concluded that it was either a
common termination, or else some common particle. It was
finally found to be the conjunction equivalent to our English
and. He next noticed that a remarkable collection of charac-
ters was repeated some thirty times in the inscription; on
looking to the Greek, he found the Greek word for king
repeated about the same number of times; he hence trans-
lated the unknown group by that word. So also with the
name of Ptolemy and the word Egypt; he compared as before
the number of repetitions of these words in the Greek, with
37
nevertheless true, that beside letters, the enchorial used sym-
bolic signs; and beside symbols, the hieroglyphic used phone-
tic signs. These two important facts were the discovery of
Dr. Young.
After Akerblad's labors, some time elapsed before any
further progress was made. It was not until 1814 that Dr.
Young offered his "conjectural translation of the Egyptian
inscription of the Rosetta stone." The plan which he pur-
sued, as described by himself, was, in substance, as follows
He first acquired the Coptic language, and adopted Akerblau's
alphabet of the enchorial text, suspecting, however, from the
beginning, that this writing contained symbolic signs as well
as letters. He then commenced comparing groups of charac-
ters in the Egyptian writing with proper names in the Greek.
Thus, finding in the fourth and fourteenth lines of the Greek,
the words Alexander and Alexandria, he found in the second
and tenth lines of the demotic inscription, groups which he
conjectured were expressive of the same words. He states that
he did not trouble himself, by an analysis of the groups, to
ascertain the value of each particular character. Again, he
observed the occurrence in almost every line of a small group
of characters; he naturally concluded that it was either a
common termination, or else some common particle. It was
finally found to be the conjunction equivalent to our English
and. He next noticed that a remarkable collection of charac-
ters was repeated some thirty times in the inscription; on
looking to the Greek, he found the Greek word for king
repeated about the same number of times; he hence trans-
lated the unknown group by that word. So also with the
name of Ptolemy and the word Egypt; he compared as before
the number of repetitions of these words in the Greek, with