Peust, Carsten: Egyptian phonology: an introduction to the phonology of a dead language (Göttingen, 1999)

• gwl (gawSV) "to push off'^ (?> gawwV) > sSCDOT /'Wow/, b.£a)OTN

• tiw (WwV) "wind" (?> WwV) > THV /'tew/, ^HOTT

• tiw ('tuiwV) "to be taken" (stative) > s£Htf /'cew/, bSHOtr

• djw ('dijwV) "five" > sfOV /'tiw/, bTIOtf

2) Another possibility is that the first consonant survives in Coptic. Thus, if <w> is
the first consonant, it is preserved:

nwi "to see" (niwSV) (since Middle Kingdom)18" (?> niwV) > s<hHW/'naw/lSl

• W ('haw3V) "to be rotten" (?> 'hawV) > sgOOTT /'haw/, ^CBOtT

If <>> is the first consonant, it can be preserved or lost in Coptic, as is true for word-final

• hkiw (h[V]'ka*wV) "magician" (?> hrVJ'kaSV) > ^dvKO /ha'ko/, bdvXC0

• hfly.w (hfV]fry]'?avwV) "snakes" > ^fiOtfl /'hBuj/

• sbi.w "disciple" > ^fiOtf I /'spuj/

• ziw (zaiwV) "beam of wood" (since Middle Kingdom) (?> za'V) > s.bCOI /'sdj/

• z>w ('zV>wV) "Sais (town)" > KAl /'saj/, Hi\ /'sa/, attested as sa-a-a (probably to be
interpreted [saj?] or similarly) in Neo-Assyrian cuneiform transcription (see Borger
1996: 20)

It can be noted that in several of these cases the type of the stressed vowel contradicts
what is expected from the syllable structure rules. The stressed vowel seems to have
followed the second consonant, judging from its vowel type, but it precedes the
reflex of the second consonant in Coptic. This can be interpreted as a very early loss of
the second component of the cluster which would have taken place before the syllable
structure rules were at work (US' §4.8.7): ('niw>V) > (niwV) > N&TT; ('za>wV) > ('zaSV)
>COI.

179 For this word see Osing (1976a: 778).

180 For reading and early attestations see Osing (1976a: note 200 on p. 5o3f.) and
Habach: (1985: 36, line 6).

181 There is a transcription of a New Kingdom Egyptian proper name into Akkadian
cuneiform from Bogazkoy in the following variants: pa-ri-ih-na-PI, pa-H-ih-tia-a-PI,
Bl-ri-ih-na-PI, Bl-ri-ih-na-a-PI, Pl-ri-ik-na-PI (see Edel 1994a: II, 364). The sign PI
is usually read wa in Bogazkoy texts (Roster & Neu 1989: no. 317), but the last
variety of this name proves that a reading pi is also possible here. H. Schafer (men-
tioned by Ranke 1923: i33f.) identified his supposed reading pa/irihnawa with the
rare Egyptian name pl-rh-nwi (lit.: "he who knows to see"), which was accepted by
all subsequent scholars (e.g. Albright 1946a: 18; Edel 1948: 16; Vergote 1973/83:
lb, 93). If this be true, then we have an early cuneiform transcription of the infinitive
of the verb nwi > SH&V "to see". na-(a)-wa is, however, difficult to reconcile with
Coptic sN&,ir (Coptic &. points to older *i rather than to *a, Kg8 §5.5). I suggest that
the sign PI can also be interpreted as pi in the renderings of this name. This would
yield pa/i-ri-ih-na-(a)-pi which could be identified with *p>-rh-nfr ("he who knows
well"), a name, however, which I have not yet found attested in Egyptian texts.

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