ꜥꜣ

ꜥꜣ

Egyptian

Adverb

1. here
2. (less common) there

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜥꜣ  

ꜥꜣ	ꜥꜣy	ꜥꜣ

See also

Old Egyptian demonstratives

	determiners						pronouns1	adverbs
number	singular		dual		plural		unmarked
gender	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	unmarked
proximal to speaker	pn	tn, jtn	jpnj	jptnj	jpn	jptn	nn	—
distal	pf	tf	jpfj	jptfj	jpf	jptf	nf	—
proximal to spoken of	pj, pw, py, p	tj, tw, jtw	jpwj	jptwj	jpw	jptw	nw	—
vocative	pꜣ	tꜣ	—	—	—	—	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ
Unmarked for number and gender, but treated syntactically as masculine plurals when used with participles and relative forms, and as feminine singulars when referred to by resumptive pronouns.

Middle Egyptian demonstratives

	determiners and pronouns			adverbs
number	singular		plural1
gender	masculine	feminine	unmarked
proximal	pn	tn	nn	ꜥn
distal	pf, pfꜣ	tf, tfꜣ	nf, nfꜣ	ꜥf
‘copula’; vocative	pw, pwy	tw, twy	nw	—
anaphoric	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ
Joined by n(j) to nouns they modify.

Late Egyptian demonstratives and articles

	masculine	feminine	plural		adverb
pronoun	pꜣw				dj
determiners and pronouns	pꜣj	tꜣj	nꜣj
possessive determiners (used with suffix pronouns)	pꜣy	tꜣy	nꜣy
relational pronouns (‘possessive prefixes’)	p-n, pꜣ	t-nt, tꜣ	nꜣyw, nꜣ
definite articles	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ1
indefinite articles	wꜥ1		nhꜣy1
Originally joined by n(j) to nouns they modify; later without it.

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /ɑːʔɑ/
  • Conventional anglicization: aa

Adjective:

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ʕaʀ/ → /ʕaʀ/ → /ʕaʔ/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʕaʀ/[1]
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʕaʀ/
• (Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʕaʔ/, later dialectally IPA^(key): /ʕoʔ/

Adjective

1. perfective active participle of ꜥꜣj: big, great, important

   Synonym: wr

Inflection

Declension of ꜥꜣ (perfective active participle)

	masculine	feminine
singular	ꜥꜣ	ꜥꜣt
dual	ꜥꜣwj	ꜥꜣtj
plural	ꜥꜣw	ꜥꜣwt1, ꜥꜣt2
Archaic in Middle Egyptian when modifying a noun. From Middle Egyptian, this feminine singular form was generally used for the plural. In Late Egyptian, the masculine singular form was used with all nouns.

Along with bjn and nfr, ꜥꜣ is one of the few Egyptian adjectives that continued to show remnants of gender and number inflection into Late Egyptian (and beyond).[2]

Alternative forms

See under the main verb.

Derived terms

See under the main verb.

Noun

 m

1. greatness; prestige and power or importance [since Middle Kingdom literature]
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 139–140:

     sḏd.j bꜣw.k n jtj dj.j sšꜣ.f m ꜥꜣ.k

     I will recount your ba-power to the sovereign and make him aware of your greatness.

2. a great deed (done to someone)

Inflection

Declension of ꜥꜣ (masculine)

singular	ꜥꜣ
dual	ꜥꜣwj
plural	ꜥꜣw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜥꜣ  

ꜥꜣ

Derived terms

• m ꜥꜣ (“boastfully”)

Noun

 m

1. distinguished or respected person or god, great one
2. older person, elder
3. (in titles) leader, head (of something)

Inflection

Declension of ꜥꜣ (masculine)

singular	ꜥꜣ
dual	ꜥꜣwj
plural	ꜥꜣw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜥꜣ  

ꜥꜣ	ꜥꜣ

Derived terms

• ꜥꜣ ꜥꜣ
• ꜥꜣt
• nꜣy.f-ꜥꜣw-rwḏ

 

Etymology 3

Possibly onomatopoeic, from the animal’s cry (hee-haw).

Pronunciation

• (reconstructed Old Egyptian): IPA^(key): /iʕaʀ/
• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /ɑːʔɑ/
  • Conventional anglicization: aa

Noun

 m

1. ass, donkey

Inflection

Declension of ꜥꜣ (masculine)

singular	ꜥꜣ
dual	ꜥꜣwj
plural	ꜥꜣw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜥꜣ  

ꜥꜣ

Derived terms

• ꜥꜣt (“female donkey”)

Descendants

• Demotic: ꜥꜣ
  • Coptic: ⲉⲓⲱ (eiō) – Sahidic, Lycopolitan, ⲓⲱ (iō) – Sahidic, Bohairic, Fayyumic, ⲉⲱ (eō) – Sahidic, Bohairic, ⲉⲉⲓⲱ (eeiō) – Sahidic, ⲉⲓⲟⲩ (eiou) – Sahidic, ⲉⲟⲩ (eou) – Sahidic, ⲓⲟⲩ (iou) – Akhmimic, ⲓⲁⲱ (iaō) – Sahidic, Bohairic

Noun

 m

1. doorleaf, single door
2. (in the dual) double door
3. sarcophagus lid

Inflection

Declension of ꜥꜣ (masculine)

singular	ꜥꜣ
dual	ꜥꜣwj
plural	ꜥꜣw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜥꜣ  

ꜥꜣ	ꜥꜣ	ꜥꜣ	ꜥꜣ	ꜥꜣ

Derived terms

• jrj-ꜥꜣ (“door-keeper”)
• ꜥꜣwj-r (“double door”)

 

Noun

 m

1. column, pillar
2. part of a ship: mast^?

Inflection

Declension of ꜥꜣ (masculine)

singular	ꜥꜣ
dual	ꜥꜣwj
plural	ꜥꜣw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜥꜣ  

ꜥꜣ	ꜥꜣ	ꜥꜣ

References

• Erman, Adolf; Grapow, Hermann (1926) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎, volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, page 161.3–162.12, 162.18–163.7, 163.9–163.10, 164.7–165.11
• Faulkner, Raymond (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 37–38
• Hoch, James (1997) Middle Egyptian Grammar, Mississauga: Benben Publications, →ISBN, page 41
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 457.

1. Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 57
2. Junge, Friedrich (2005) Late Egyptian Grammar: An Introduction, second English edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, page 66