ḥwꜣ

Egyptian

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈħaːwaʀ/ → /ˈħaːwaʀ/ → /ˈħaːwə/ → /ħoːw/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈħaːwaʀ/
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈħaːwaʀ/
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈħaːwə/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ħoːw/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /huːɑ/
  • Conventional anglicization: hua

Verb

 3-lit.

1. (intransitive) to rot, to be(come) putrid
   • c. 1900 BCE – 1839 BCE, Coffin Texts, version B1C (coffin of Sepi III, Cairo CG 28083) spell 755:

     wrḏ ꜥwt m ws(j)r nj wrḏ zpwj snwj nj ḥwꜣ.sn ꜣd.sn nj [bn.sn nj] jr mw ḏw

     The limbs in Osiris are weary, but won’t be weary, won’t be weary, they won’t putrefy or decay, [they] won’t [swell up, won’t] make foul fluid (literally, “evil water”).

Inflection

Conjugation of ḥwꜣ (triliteral / 3-lit. / 3rad.) — base stem: ḥwꜣ, geminated stem: ḥwꜣꜣ

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
ḥwꜣ	ḥwꜣw, ḥwꜣ	ḥwꜣt	ḥwꜣ	ḥwꜣ

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective2		periphrastic prospective2
ḥwꜣ	ḥr ḥwꜣ	m ḥwꜣ	r ḥwꜣ

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	contingent
		aspect / mood	active
perfect	ḥwꜣ.n	consecutive	ḥwꜣ.jn
terminative	ḥwꜣt
perfective3	ḥwꜣ	obligative1	ḥwꜣ.ḫr
imperfective	ḥwꜣ
prospective3	ḥwꜣ	potentialis1	ḥwꜣ.kꜣ
subjunctive	ḥwꜣ

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms	participles
	active	active	passive
perfect	ḥwꜣ.n	—	—
perfective	ḥwꜣ	ḥwꜣ	ḥwꜣ, ḥwꜣw5, ḥwꜣy5
imperfective	ḥwꜣ, ḥwꜣy, ḥwꜣw5	ḥwꜣ, ḥwꜣj6, ḥwꜣy6	ḥwꜣ, ḥwꜣw5
prospective	ḥwꜣ, ḥwꜣtj7	ḥwꜣtj4, ḥwꜣt4
Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective. Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. Only in the masculine singular. Only in the masculine. Only in the feminine.

Derived terms

• ḥwꜣꜣt

 

Descendants

• Demotic: ḥw
  • Coptic: ϩⲟⲟⲩ (hoou)

References

• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 290.