This book offers a comprehensive, self-contained introduction to one of the oldest known recorded languages—Hieroglyphic Egyptian. Unlike other approaches, it is geared toward learning to read one of the masterpieces of Middle Egyptian literature, the story “Shipwrecked Sailor,” written around 2200 bce. The text’s eighteen lessons–organized around such topics as the body, flora, fauna, titles, administration, religion, sexuality, and warfare—cover all the basic grammar and syntax of Middle Egyptian. The book includes exercises for each chapter, sign lists, Egyptian/English and English/Egyptian dictionaries defining all the words and phrases used in the lessons, and a new edition of the tale “Shipwrecked Sailor” with facing commentary. Although the overall approach is literary, Hieroglyphic Egyptian can also be used as an introduction to reading other material, such as biographical inscriptions, religious texts, historical annals, and mathematical or medical papyri. The text is suitable for classroom use, as well as for those who want to learn independently.

Preface • xvii
Map of Ancient Egypt • xix
Historical Chronology • xxi
Abbreviations • xxiii

PART ONE. GRAMMAR • 1

Introduction • 3
I-1. Afroasiatic Languages • 3
I-2. The Egyptian Language • 5
I-3. Spoken Egyptian and Written Egyptian • 6
I-4. Scripts of the Egyptian Languages • 7
I-5. The Hieroglyphic Writing System • 12
I-6. Monoconsonantal Signs • 13
I-7. Modern “Classroom” Pronunciation • 19
I-8. The Direction of Hieroglyphic Writing • 20
I-9. Arrangement of Signs • 22
l-10. Transliteration: Modern Conventions • 22
I-11. Logographic Writing, Phonetic Writing, and Determinatives • 24
I-12. Biconsonantal and Triconsonantal Signs • 25
I-13. Semantic Determinatives • 26
I-14. The Use of the Linear Stroke • 28
Main Semantic Determinatives • 29
A Note on Lexicography • 33

Lesson 1 • 35
1.1. Egyptian Nouns • 35
1.2. Egyptian Adjectives • 40
Vocabulary: Family, Persons, the Body • 43
Exercises • 44
Further Reading • 45

Lesson 2 • 46
2.1. Noun Phrases • 46
2.2. The Genitive • 46
2.3. Apposition • 50
2.4. Connection • 50
2.5. Alterity • 52
2.6. The Vocative • 52
Vocabulary: The World of Nature • 53
Exercises • 54
Further Reading • 55

Lesson 3 • 56
3.1. The nfr Hr Construction • 56
3.2. Honorific Transposition • 57
3.3. Graphic Transposition • 57
3.4. Monograms • 58
3.5. Nonverbal Sentences: Adjectival • 59
3.6. Degrees of Quality • 61
3.7. Demonstratives • 63
3.8. The Quantifier • 66
Vocabulary: Agencies of Power • 67
Exercises • 69
Further Reading • 70

Lesson 4 • 71
4.1. Relational Adjectives: Forms • 71
4.2. Relational Adjectives: Usage • 75
4.3. Locutions • 78
4.4. The Use of jrj • 79
Vocabulary: Common Nisba-Terms and Titles • 79
Exercises • 80
Further Reading • 81

Lesson 5 • 82
5.1. Independent Pronouns • 82
5.2. Nonverbal Sentences: Nominal • 83
5.3. The Royal Titulary • 87
5.4. Sp sn: “(Read) Twice” • 88
Vocabulary: Ideology of Kingship • 89
Exercises • 90
Further Reading • 91

Lesson 6 • 92
6.1. Nonverbal Sentences: Adverbial • 92
6.2. The Meaning of jw and mk • 93
6.3. Suffix Pronouns • 94
6.4. The M of Predication • 99
Vocabulary: Adverbs, Prepositions, Particles • 100
Exercises • 101
Further Reading • 102

Lesson 7 • 103
7.1. Double Articulation • 103
7.2. Verbs: An Introduction • 107
7.3. Verb Classes • 108
7.4. Infinitives • 113
Vocabulary: Basic Verbs • 115
Exercises • 116
Further Reading • 117

Lesson 8 • 118
8.1. The Pseudoverbal Construction • 118
8.2. The Stative • 122
Vocabulary: Animals • 126
Exercises • 127
Further Reading • 128

Lesson 9 • 129
9.1. Dependent Pronouns • 129
9.2. Infi nitives: Subject, Object, Indirect Object • 131
9.3. Independent Uses of the Infinitive • 133
9.4. The Infinitive as a Noun • 134
Vocabulary: Warfare • 136
Exercises • 137
Further Reading • 138

Lesson 10 • 139
10.1. The Stative: Independent Uses • 139
10.2. Abstract Nouns—Idioms with bw and s.t • 141
10.3. Numbers • 142
10.4. Measurements • 148
10.5. Weights • 151
10.6. Time • 151
10.7. Dates • 152
Vocabulary: Time, Number, Measure • 153
Exercises • 154
Further Reading • 155

Lesson 11 • 156
11.1. Nonverbal Sentences: Overview • 156
11.2. Verbal Sentences: Introduction • 158
11.3. The Suffix Conjugation: Overview • 160
11.4. The Transposition of the Verb in Middle Egyptian • 163
11.5. The Circumstantial Sdm=f Form • 165
Vocabulary: Temples, Holy Sites, Rituals • 167
Exercises • 168
Further Reading • 169

Lesson 12 • 170
12.1. The Circumstantial %Dm.n=f Form • 170
12.2. Clauses of Circumstance: Main and Dependent • 172
12.3. Relative Clauses • 176
Vocabulary: Sailing, Travel • 181
Exercises • 182
Further Reading • 183

Lesson 13 • 184
13.1. Fronting • 184
13.2. Nominal Verb Forms • 186
13.3. The Nominal Sdm=f : Usage • 187
13.4. The Nominal Sdm.n=f : Usage • 192
Vocabulary: Love and Sex • 194
Exercises • 194
Further Reading • 195

Lesson 14 • 196
14.1. Verbs of Perception • 196
14.2. Verbs of Motion • 196
14.3. Verbs of Incomplete Predication • 197
14.4. The Prospective Sdm=f • 197
Vocabulary: Luxuries • 204
Exercises • 205
Further Reading • 206

Lesson 15 • 207
15.1. Word Order in the Verbal Sentence • 207
15.2. Omission of the Subject and/or Direct Object • 210
15.3. The Old Indicative sdm=f • 211
15.4. Negation • 211
Vocabulary: Comestibles and their Consumption • 216
Exercises • 217
Further Reading • 218

Lesson 16 • 219
16.1. Existential Sentences • 219
16.2. The Passive Voice • 220
16.3. The Imperative • 224
16.4. The Negative Imperative • 227
16.5. Additional Enclitic Particles • 228
Vocabulary: Everyday Life • 229
Exercises • 230
Further Reading • 231

Lesson 17 • 232
17.1. The Form Sdm.t=f • 232
17.2. Participles • 234
17.3. The Participial Statement • 241
17.4. Extended Use of the Passive Participles • 242
17.5. Passive Participle + Noun • 243
Vocabulary: Death • 243
Exercises • 244
Further Reading • 245

Lesson 18 • 246
18.1. Narrative Past Tense Constructions • 246
18.2. Possession • 249
18.3. Relative Verb Forms • 250
18.4. The Sm.t pw jrj.n=f Construction • 253
18.5. The Offering Formula • 253
Vocabulary: Speaking and Writing • 255
Exercises • 255
Further Reading • 256

PART TWO. READING • 257

Introduction • 259
Shipwrecked Sailor • 259
“Shipwrecked Sailor” [Transcription] • 262
Shipwrecked Sailor: Bibliography • 294

PART THREE. FURTHER RESOURCES • 297

R-1. Supplementary Grammar • 299
R-2. Table of Biconsonantal Signs • 311
R-3. Table of Triconsonantal Signs • 313
R-4. List of Basic Prepositions • 314
R-5. Tables of Verbs • 316
R-6. Vocabulary • 318
R-7. Sign Lists • 347

Index • 388

Daniel L. Selden, Professor of Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and co-editor of Innovations of Antiquity, has written widely on classical literatures of the Mediterranean and Near East.

"Any student who works diligently through this book will acquire a good grounding in Middle Egyptian grammar and a basic reading knowledge of the language and hieroglyphic script." --Gay Shute Robins, Professor of Art History at Emory University and author of The Art of Ancient Egypt.