Rediscovering Ancient Egyptian

"It is still early to talk with precision of the vocalic accompaniment of the Egyptian phonemes.  But the way is open for the rediscovery of the vocalics of Ancient Egyptian from comparative studies with the languages of Africa." C.A. Diop - General History Of Africa; vol. II; UNESCO

Pharaonic Egyptian Vowels

The Egyptian Alphabet

Reed          Eagle        Forearm       Quail            Reeds

A B D É Ê F G H H I DJ K Kh L M M' N Ñ O P Ps R S Sh T Ti U X Y Z Ch

father ball dad play let far go : gh : ng hill hissed 'h' machine : yes ledje key queen lion man mwami nile senorita hot : hope pal ep_see ram rose : zoo shoe time 'tee' loose : throw [ks] yes : city zoo [Coptic] bach

In Pharaonic Egyptian, the vowels were variable, and were often times omitted.  It was up to the literate reader to know the sound of the vowel in a word or supply it if it is omitted.  This is easy enough since the individual learns the spoken language first before learning to write and read it.  Thus the word '?m' that is identified by the 'walking' determinative, is pronounced Amou (come!) and not, for example, ['?m' ] Ome (clay).  Reed: This is the 'mother of all Egyptian vowels',  for it can represent an A, E, É, I, or O. Eagle: Rarely used at the beginning of a word, but more often has the A sound. Forearm/hand: Usually O; sometimes A. Quail:  U, W Reeds:  Y, I

Significant Vocabulary

Nsu Biti - King of all Egypt; literally 'he who comes from the south.' Suten - King of the south; probable etymological origin of 'Sudan,' which later became in Arabic 'sud' or black - b-led as sud (land of the Blacks; Africa). Napy - A lock of Egyptian hair. Afri - Heat, smoke, hot vapor | Ka - Elevated, high land above the Nile. Osiri - (Usiri in Coptic) - The actual name of Osiris, who was born in Thebes. Isi - (Ese in Coptic) - Throne; descent through the female line; actual name of  Isis, who was born in Denderah.

African Relatives

"According to the late Cheikh Anta Diop, the great Senegalese historian and anthropologist, the main groups of people in Senegambia have their origins in Ancient Egypt.  To support his theory, Diop draws on a number of disciplines from archaeology to linguistics, and a variety of sources from African oral traditions to the writings of Greeks and Arabs." Insight Guides: The Gambia and Senegal, 1996 APA Publications (HK) Ltd, Houghton Mifflin Company

Egyptian/Wolof Professor C.A. Diop has already demonstrated the close affinity of Wolof to Pharaonic Egyptian.  Here are but a few examples:

Egyptian                           fero - king .......................................... pur - king ........................................... NDam - throne ................................... aam - seize ........................................ kef - to seize, grasp ........................... ro - mouth .......................................... sity - proof .......................................... neb - basket ....................................... ta tenen - first lands ........................... aar - paradise .................................... tefne;tefnit - to spit ............................. kau - elevated, above ........................ diou - five ........................................... set - woman ....................................... kem - black ........................................ bai - a priestly title ............................. ben ben - oveflow, flood .................... bon - evil ........................................... bu - place .......................................... khekh - to fight, struggle .................... djit - vizier ........................................... nag - bull ............................................ mer - love ........................................... sen - brother ...................................... sent - sister ........................................ itef - father ......................................... maga - veteran .................................. nit, niti - citizen ................................... pe - capital, heaven ........................... maat - justice ..................................... da - child ............................................ iaay(t) - old woman ............................ deshret - blood, red ........................... ta - earth, land ................................... kemat -end of a period, completion ... nem - float ......................................... rem - to weap, tears .......................... shopi (Coptic) - transform ................. nen(t) - place where nothing is done,              grave sa - wise, educated ........................... kuk, kwk - darkness .......................... atef - a crown of Osiris, judge of the           soul ba - the ram-god ............................... nak - ox, bull ..................................... per - house .......................................

Wolof fari - king bur - king NDam - throne aam - take this kef - to seize, grasp ro - to swallow seety - to prove ndab - calabash ten - clay of first humans aar - divine protection tefnit - to spit kaou - heaven diou rom - five set - wife               khem - burnt, burnt black bai - father ben ben - overflow, flood bon - evil bu - place khekh - to wage war, war djit - guide, leader nag - cattle maar - passionate love sen - brother san - sister itef - father mag - old person nit - citizen pey - King's capital mat - justice da - child yaay - mother deret - blood ta - inundated earth kematef - limit of something temb - float erem - compassion sopi - transform nen - nothingness sa - to teach kwk - darkness ate - to judge bei - goat nak - cow per - the wall surrounding the house

=

Complete Sentence Comparisons

Egyptian Bu nafret su em bu bon, "a state of good has become a state of evil" Wolof      Bu rafet  mel ni  bu bon, "a state of good has become a state of evil" Egyptian    mer   on ef, "he loved" Wolof         maar on ef, "he loved passionately" Egyptian    mer   on es, "she loved" Wolof         maar on es, "she loved passionately" Egyptian    mer   on sen, "they loved" Wolof         maar on sen, "they loved passionately"

Egyptian and Wolof Demonstratives (this, that, these, those - P>B)

Egyptian     Wolof                                             pw                bw                                             pwy              bwy                                             pane            bane                                             pafe             bafe                                             pafa             bafa                                             pa                ba                                             ipatw            batw                                             ipatne          batne                                             ipatafe         batafe

Egyptian/Yoruba

English                   Egyptian                             Yoruba name                       ran                                        ran seed                        naprit                                    naprit water                       miri                                        miri evil                          bu huru                                 bu buru pot; cup                   apoti                                     apoti yes; nod head         hen                                       hen no                           enen                                     enen concealed               amon                                    amon elevated                  hor                                        hor silvery fish               fahaka                                  fahaka to wipe, erase         nu                                         nu --- E: Oni = a form of Osiri(s)     Y: Oni = king E: Oba = to direct, captain    Y: Oba = king ----- The following text is contributed by Ade from J. Olumide Lucas' book: (further ) Examples of AE survivals in Yoruba: Yoruba.......Ancient Egyptian Inoki............Noki-t "fabulous beast" A-gu-ta(n)...Ha-khu-ptah O-ni.............Au-nu "Crocodile" Saluga.........Salug "god of wealth" ibatan..........Bahtan "compatriot" amon...........amon "to hide/concealed" Wu...............Uu "swell" Miri...............Miri "water" dazzle(of water) Riri...............Ririt "dirty (like a hippo)" Ade..............Ade-f "crown/plumes" Ako...............Ak "male" Abo...............Ab "female" Ala................Ala "boundary - Obatala==King of Nile" A-ke..............qe-h "axe" a-dua............dua or tua "prayer" a-ru-gbo........ru-ba "evening of ba i.e. later stage of life" Sadu.............Zaddu "abode of the dead" I-re................Re "That whis is good, goodness" Ko.................Qo-t "build" Wombia.........nubia "you, a Nubian" - derogatory - "a covetous person" Note: (O-ni is pronouced with an 'Or' sound) The sacred animal of the city of On (Aunu) survives in the word O-ni, "crocodile", a name used as the title of the paramount King in Yorubaland, i.e., the Oni of Ife. The Yoruba phrase "apa amu sua", which means "an unthrifty person" is derived from three AE words: Apa - "he who belongs to the house i.e. servant" Amu - one of the Asiatic tribes engaged in domestic service in Ancient Egypt Sua (Sua-nit), a nome in AE. The phrase is a comtemptuous term which preserves the idea of the wastefulness of foreign domestic servants in AE who hardly knew the value of crockery and other articles they sometimes smashed to pieces. The word "bu" in AE means "place". This word survives in Yoruba vocabulary: "ki bu e e" means "what place are you going?" "ibudo" means "a place to settle" "ibusun" means "a place to sleep" "ibu-joko" means "a place to sit" "ibu-so" means "a station" "a-bu-le" means "premises" The connection bewteen the two languages is so close that it is quite possible for one to help in determining the siginifcance of words whose meanings have not yet been definitely ascertained or have become obscure in the other! There is a survival of customs - Religious beliefs. Most of the prinicpal gods are well known: Osiris, Isis, Horus, Shu, Sut, Thoth, Kepera, Amon, Anu, Khonsu, Khnum, Khopri, Hathor, Sokaris, Ra, Seb, the 4 elmental deities etc. -- Ra survives in name only, but the words Irawo (star), rara (swear by Ra), rara (dwarfs - AE mythological Danga dwarfs that hailed the daily arrival of the sun-god) preserve the idea. -- The idea of a future life and that of judgement after death -- The deification of Kings. -- The importance attached to names. A man's name is supposed to have a real force in determining his character. Names are not given haphazardly, but acording to prevailing circumstances at the time of birth. -- Strong belief in a future life. The AE and Yoruba ideas are identical. The Yoruba word for the verb "too die" is Ku, i.e. to become a luminous spirit. The Egyptian word Khu, or the luminous part of a man, "is a spark of that divine intelligence which pervades the world and to which it must return" - Polygamy - similarity in the position of the first wife and her rights and privileges - Burial customs. Previous to burial the corpse in Yorubaland is dressed like the Egyptian mummy. In the case of the burial of the king, the king slaves must be buried with him, and his Chief Officers and wives must die on the day of the burial. The king will require the services of his dependents in the next world. The British influence has put an end to such practices. Ushebti figures are now substitued for living persons. -----

Colors and their symbolism

Red : Desher    evil, bad luck, devil, fiend, blood, fire, not holy, not ripe Blue : Kesbedj   earth's life, rebirth, healing, transformation Yellow : Kenit : Oadj : Ksantha    eternal, the gods       Gold : Nub    (see yellow) Green : Wodj    (see blue) White : Hedj    the color silver, bright, dawning, clean, purity, new beginning Ubakh/Ubash    the color white, (same as above) Black : Kem    holy, sacred, good, rebirth, human life, resurrection, ripe

"Egyptian antiquity is to African culture what Graeco-Roman antiquity is to Western culture.  The building up of a corpus of African humanities should be based on this fact." C.A. Diop - General History Of Africa; vol. II; UNESCO

This is an ongoing project and we would like your input on any relevant additions to the above.