mdt

mdt

See also: MDT and mḏt

Egyptian

Etymology

mdw +‎ -t.

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːtʼat/ → /ˈmaːtʼaʔ/ → /ˈmoːtʼə/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːtʼat/[1]
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːtʼaʔ/
• (Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈmoːtʼə/ (stressed); IPA^(key): /mətʼə(t)/ (unstressed, in construct state)

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɛdɛt/
  • Conventional anglicization: medet

Noun

 f

1. word (written or spoken)
2. a speech
3. the text of a command
4. speech (faculty) [since the Amarna Period]
5. ‘word of the heart’; thought [Middle Kingdom, Late Egyptian]
6. matter, affair, issue [since the Middle Kingdom]
7. Used as a generic object for certain verbs, e.g. wḏ, wḏꜥ.

Usage notes

This word displaced the earlier mdw almost fully by Late Egyptian.

Inflection

Declension of mdt (feminine u-stem)

singular	mdt
dual	mdtj
plural	mdwt

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mdt  

mdt	mdt	mdt	mdt	mdw
	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[21st Dynasty]	[Greco-Roman Period]
		in papyri	in papyri

Determinatives used with mdt  

[since the Old Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]

Derived terms

• mdt pḥtj
• mdt m ḥr
• mdt nb wꜥ
• mdt nfrt
• mdt nṯr
• mdt ḥꜣpt

 

Descendants

• Demotic: mt
  • Bohairic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩϯ (mouti)
  • Bohairic Coptic: ⲙⲉⲧ- (met-)
  • Sahidic Coptic: ⲙⲛⲧ- (mnt-)

References

• Erman, Adolf; Grapow, Hermann (1926–1961) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN

1. Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 57