Journal issue

In 2013 the project “Altägyptische Wörterbücher im Verbund” was initiated at the University of Leipzig. It focusses on three main issues: (a) creating a database including the Egyptian dictionaries and the lexicographical academic literature about the Egyptian language of the 19th and early 20th centuries before the publication of the “Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache”, (b) connecting the lexi-cographical material of these works with a modern standard word corpus (= the “Berliner Wortliste” from the “Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae”), and (c) annotating the entries. Beyond these main tasks the staff of the project is dealing with further questions. One issue is about methods and conceptions the early Egyptological lexicographers were using during preparing their dictionaries. One such method is compilation. That means here the mostly uncritical quoting of foregoing scholarly literature or diction-aries whether there are any proofs for Egyptian lexemes in original sources or not. As an example for compilation the “career” of the ghostword ȧbsi “wolf/jackal” which was haunting all 19th century dictionaries is illustrated. Furthermore, for a broader view, all lexemes appearing in the first volume of H. Brugsch’s “Hieroglyphisch-Demotisches Wörterbuch” (1867) relying solely on other authors and not on works by himself or on original sources and their “careers” are discussed.

Classifiers and the system of classifiers in Ancient Egyptian is a subject that has recently been explored by a number of excellent publications (cf. bibliography). Therefore it could seem difficult to contribute further to this discourse. Nevertheless, the approach proposed here is innovative, since it aims at deter¬mining the actual point in time that divided a long-term process into two phases. This will be achieved by highlighting a particularly interesting phenomenon of evolution inside the classification system. As a matter of fact, the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1064 BC) and, more specifically, the XXth dynasty (c. 1187–1064 BC) seem to constitute a turning point in the development of classifier usage and classifi¬cation strategies.

Personal names are notoriously difficult to examine since they generally lack information about how and when they were formed. It is thus a name’s specific cotext and general cultural context which, in combination with common grammatical rules, may serve as a guideline for evaluation. However, most personal names can be analysed in various ways, all of which are grammatically tenable. Only if names which share certain grammatical characteristics or members of certain word families are evaluated in groups, it becomes achievable to exclude one or the other possibility, though an approach which forces all superficially similar examples into a system way too rigid is to be avoided. Therefore, this contribution aims at collecting names which apparently resemble the pattern #substantive (noun phrase) – ÈDm=f# in order to point out the different types of names which share a common graphic façade.

This study focuses on the bilingual graffiti from Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt. The two parts of each source, differenced by the used script, are examined concerning relationship of text contents, intended use and quantitative comparison.

In the wake of a review in this journal of my book Breathing Flesh, David Warburton and I have been engaged in an exchange spanning the most recent couple of issues. As it would appear that this discus¬sion has run its course, I offer here a few concluding remarks.

The present paper aims to present two monuments from the Late Period and to discuss their historical significance. Photos of stela BM 393 taken in ultraviolet and infrared made possible to read the faded inscription. The study of the record reveals a blood relation between the owner of the stela Anemher (217–132 BC) and Imhotep (IV century BC), known from the sarcophagus Louvre D 12. New research thus introduces a previously unknown family of wnr-priests, who lived in the IV–II centuries BC and officiated in Letopolis and the Serapeum of Memphis. Anemher, the last member of the priestly dynasty, relates that he was involved in the burial of an Apis bull in 143 BC.

The present article provides a brief survey of the various kinds of grammatical ellipsis attested in Earlier Egyptian in addition to the already well-documented subject- and object omission. The various species of ellipsis attested are discussed along with remarks on the possible reasons for the absence in the data of certain other types thereof.

There is ample evidence to show that Late Egyptian, from the 20th dyn. onward, gradually favoured grammatical patterns that fixed an absolute time reference, as shown, inter alia, by several examples of consecutio temporum. This study first re-assesses the uses of the past and future circumstantials, showing that they do not systematically convey anteriority or posteriority, respectively. I then turn to some lesser-known uses of the past converter wn, demonstrating that wn first ceased to mark a rupture in respect with the moment of speaking before becoming more or less systematic when the temporal frame was past, even when the temporal setting was not ambiguous.

The paper gives an overview of the Ancient Egyptian sources containing material for the study of the languages possibly spoken in Nubia in pharaonic times. It also evaluates the research done by Egyptologists in the past 40 years concerning the questions as to which languages were spoken by the A-group and C-group as well as the Kerma people and tackles the problem whether remains of the Nubian language can be detected in Egyptian sources.

I revoke my earlier hypothesis according to which no more than one actant can be shifted in the indirect speech of Later Egyptian. It is argued now that the restriction applies to the direction of the shift rather than to the number of shifted actants. The shift is essentially limited by a person hierarchy, which may sometimes be violated, but only if no actant is available that could be shifted in accordance with the hierarchy.