jw

See also: JW and jw3

Translingual

Symbol

jw

(international standards, obsolete) Former ISO 639-1 language code for Javanese.
Synonym: jv (current)

Egyptian

Pronunciation

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /iuː/
- Conventional anglicization: iu

Particle

proclitic

(Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian) asserts the reality of the following statement, probably serving as a realis modal particle; see usage notes
(Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian) introduces an adverbial clause with a pronominal subject; see usage notes
(Late Egyptian) introduces a subordinate circumstantial clause
(Late Egyptian) introduces a sentence in the third future

Usage notes

In Old and Middle Egyptian, this particle can stand at the beginning of adjective, adverbial, and verbal sentences; it is followed by a nominal subject, a demonstrative pronoun, or an attached suffix pronoun. There is significant debate over what exactly it indicates in these stages of the language:

According to Allen, it indicates that the statement in the sentence is presented as true at the time of the statement, in contrast to false statements and statements which are always or generally true. It occurs at the start of independent clauses, but never those verbal clauses beginning with an imperative, bare stative, perfective, prospective, subjunctive, biliteral suffixed (contingent), or emphatic form. It also occurs at the start of subordinate adverbial clauses if their subject is pronominal, but never if it is nominal.
According to Loprieno, it is a ‘particle of initiality’ indicating that its sentence opens a new segment of discourse, with the semantic scope of an overt assertion of truth, and pragmatically relating the sentence to the speaker’s situation without necessarily implying direct involvement. However, in simple adverbial clauses with a pronominal subject, it can also serve as a semantically and syntactically neutral morpheme that only serves to carry an attached subject pronoun. In extremely rare cases, it can introduce the subject of an existential sentence consisting of just one element, an apparently archaic usage.
According to Hoch, it indicates that the statement is one that the speaker wishes to present as a fact, and it only occurs in main clauses.
It has frequently been characterized as an assertion particle, sometimes noting its apparent modal role marking realis statements.
In the so-called Standard Theory, its role was often considered purely syntactic, marking independent clauses; this view is no longer common. Some scholars working in the frame of the Standard Theory have suggested that bare (proclitic-less) sentences following one introduced by jw are main clauses that become hypotactically linked to the initial sentence in a chain of discourse, with the particle conveying the syntactic or pragmatic ‘theme’ of the whole and functioning as a nominal element.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jw

jw

Derived terms

jwms

Noun

m

island
- c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 39–41:
  
  ꜥḥꜥ.n.j rḏj.kw r jw jn wꜣw n(j) wꜣḏ-wr
  Then I was put on an island by a wave of the sea.

Inflection

Declension of jw (masculine)

singular	jw
dual	jwwj
plural	jww