DOI issue:
Nr. 1-3
DOI article:Müller, Wilhelm Max: An ostracon in the Museum of New York
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12425#0117
104
AN OSTRACON IN THE MUSEUM OF NEW YORK
I regret not to have been able to examine the reverse of the monument. The per-
mission to handle any of the objects exhibitecl was connected witii formalities and the
opening of the cases implied much time and considérable difficulty. Therefore, I had no
opportunity to study the verso. Rev. Chas. R. Gillett was kind enough to communicate
a copy with me. This copy présents great difficulties. If it is exact, then the verso
must be written verv carelessly. One recognizes easily in line 1 : \
~6
o III
. and in the beginning of line 2 : y^^m but the following signs are quite
doubtful. I reproduce the rest of the copy
o
2 In line 3
n °
I , seems to be recognizable (cp.
/ j 3 . Ebers), in line 2 one is tempted to correct
o
(?), below 0 ^\ ° (?), etc., but ail this is extre-
mely questionable.
Notes on the recto : on nkt cp. Ebers, 17, 2, " four nkwt of green stone " i. e. the
smallest possible particle which can be detached from the hard stone. The connection
with _" hurt, damage" seems to be plain there, but 55, 1, it means already
something", like Coptic «kô,. We have an analogous development of meaning e. g.
in the English " a bit of " (cp. German, " ein bischen"), at least in connection with a
négation.
L. 2. " Greenstone " is often mentioned in Ebers, cp. 59, 16 (ground), likewise
the lapis-lazuli.
Akibu evidenly represents a foreign word. It has a Semitic appearance but the
dictionaries of the various Semitic languages do, upon close examination, furnish
nothing corresponding. Consequently, we can hope to explain it from the Semitic only
by assuming mutilations by the Egyptian tongue. Perhaps, we may remind of the fact
that the Egyptians called the drops of raisin used for perfumes and fumigating " nail-
like" cnty and, later on, simply "claws" 'gî^y) or <Lg'{y)t^. So we might think of the
Semitic équivalent Spç, ^Jkt- which, of course, here would have designated a spécial
kind of fragrant raisin. But, I admit, the incorrect rendering both of cAin and Koph
which this comparison would force us to assume, is a serious difïiculty and I do not at
ail wish to insist upon it.
Ssyt is a remarkable orthography for the plant written in Pap. Ebers : 1
((û , V^3.^/^ ^ tCl lll' W^1C *s menh°ned as commg from the Mz\w- country,
i. e. probably the région on the Blue Nile2 (Ebers, 33, 21; Kahunpap. 20, 61). Hsyt
^TT\ came from Pwnt after Dûmichen, Flotte 2; here we learn that this shrub3 grew
also, in a somewhat différent species, in the Nubian valley. The géographie connection
of those three countries is shown very plainly. Of philological interest is the confusion
of and s in the new ostracon which proves that, in the new Empire as well as in
1. Cp. Ebers, Glossary, sub *g',yt, and my Asien und Europa, p. 114, n. 2; p. 270, n. 3.
2. See my remarks, Studien sur Vorderasiatisehen Geschichte (M VA G., 1898), p. 40 (146).
3. Of course, not " cassia " fUJ^SS) as still is frequently asserted!
AN OSTRACON IN THE MUSEUM OF NEW YORK
I regret not to have been able to examine the reverse of the monument. The per-
mission to handle any of the objects exhibitecl was connected witii formalities and the
opening of the cases implied much time and considérable difficulty. Therefore, I had no
opportunity to study the verso. Rev. Chas. R. Gillett was kind enough to communicate
a copy with me. This copy présents great difficulties. If it is exact, then the verso
must be written verv carelessly. One recognizes easily in line 1 : \
~6
o III
. and in the beginning of line 2 : y^^m but the following signs are quite
doubtful. I reproduce the rest of the copy
o
2 In line 3
n °
I , seems to be recognizable (cp.
/ j 3 . Ebers), in line 2 one is tempted to correct
o
(?), below 0 ^\ ° (?), etc., but ail this is extre-
mely questionable.
Notes on the recto : on nkt cp. Ebers, 17, 2, " four nkwt of green stone " i. e. the
smallest possible particle which can be detached from the hard stone. The connection
with _" hurt, damage" seems to be plain there, but 55, 1, it means already
something", like Coptic «kô,. We have an analogous development of meaning e. g.
in the English " a bit of " (cp. German, " ein bischen"), at least in connection with a
négation.
L. 2. " Greenstone " is often mentioned in Ebers, cp. 59, 16 (ground), likewise
the lapis-lazuli.
Akibu evidenly represents a foreign word. It has a Semitic appearance but the
dictionaries of the various Semitic languages do, upon close examination, furnish
nothing corresponding. Consequently, we can hope to explain it from the Semitic only
by assuming mutilations by the Egyptian tongue. Perhaps, we may remind of the fact
that the Egyptians called the drops of raisin used for perfumes and fumigating " nail-
like" cnty and, later on, simply "claws" 'gî^y) or <Lg'{y)t^. So we might think of the
Semitic équivalent Spç, ^Jkt- which, of course, here would have designated a spécial
kind of fragrant raisin. But, I admit, the incorrect rendering both of cAin and Koph
which this comparison would force us to assume, is a serious difïiculty and I do not at
ail wish to insist upon it.
Ssyt is a remarkable orthography for the plant written in Pap. Ebers : 1
((û , V^3.^/^ ^ tCl lll' W^1C *s menh°ned as commg from the Mz\w- country,
i. e. probably the région on the Blue Nile2 (Ebers, 33, 21; Kahunpap. 20, 61). Hsyt
^TT\ came from Pwnt after Dûmichen, Flotte 2; here we learn that this shrub3 grew
also, in a somewhat différent species, in the Nubian valley. The géographie connection
of those three countries is shown very plainly. Of philological interest is the confusion
of and s in the new ostracon which proves that, in the new Empire as well as in
1. Cp. Ebers, Glossary, sub *g',yt, and my Asien und Europa, p. 114, n. 2; p. 270, n. 3.
2. See my remarks, Studien sur Vorderasiatisehen Geschichte (M VA G., 1898), p. 40 (146).
3. Of course, not " cassia " fUJ^SS) as still is frequently asserted!