ꜣḫ

See also: ꜣḥ

Egyptian

FWOTD – 17 August 2022

Other romanization schemes

Manuel de Codage	Ax
Gardiner 1927	ꜣḫ
Erman & Grapow 1926	ꜣḫ
Lepsius 1874 (obsolete)	aχ

Pronunciation

 

• (noun meaning ‘akh’): (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈʀiːχuw/ → /ˈʀiːχuw/ → /ˈʔiːχə/ → /ˈʔiːχ/

• (noun meaning ‘akh’): (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈʀiːχuw/
• (noun meaning ‘akh’): (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈʀiːχuw/
• (noun meaning ‘akh’): (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈʔiːχə/
• (noun meaning ‘akh’): (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈʔiːχ/

 

• (verb): (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ʀaːχ/ → /ʀaːχ/ → /ʔaːχ/ → /ʔoːχ/

• (verb): (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʀaːχ/ (infinitive)
• (verb): (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʀaːχ/ (infinitive)
• (verb): (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʔaːχ/ (infinitive)
• (verb): (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʔoːχ/ (infinitive)

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /ɑx/
  • Conventional anglicization: akh

Noun

 m

1. akh
2. ghost, spectre, spirit of the dead interfering with the living
3. Used as an epithet for certain lesser gods and demons [Pyramid Texts]

Inflection

Declension of ꜣḫ (masculine)

singular	ꜣḫ
dual	ꜣḫwj
plural	ꜣḫw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜣḫ  

ꜣḫ	ꜣḫ	ꜣḫ	ꜣḫ	ꜣḫ

Descendants

• Bohairic Coptic: ⲓϧ (ix, “demon”)
• → English: akh

Noun

 m

1. the state of being an akh or qualities pertaining to that state: spiritual power or dignity
   • c. 1458 BCE, Biography of Ineni inscribed on a memorial stele in his tomb in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, line 20:

     rn.f nfr m r(ꜣ) ꜥnḫw sḫꜣt.f ꜣḫ.f n ḏt

     His good name will be in the mouths of the living; his memory and his spiritual completeness are for eternity.

2. mental faculty or skill

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜣḫ  

ꜣḫ	ꜣḫ	ꜣḫ

Verb

 2-lit.

1. (intransitive) to be(come) effective, to be(come) useful
2. (intransitive) to be(come) splendid, radiant, glorious
3. (intransitive) to be(come) an akh

Inflection

Conjugation of ꜣḫ (biliteral / 2-lit. / 2rad.) — base stem: ꜣḫ, geminated stem: ꜣḫḫ

infinitival forms imperative infinitive negatival complement complementary infinitive1 singular plural ꜣḫ ꜣḫw, ꜣḫ ꜣḫt ꜣḫ, j.ꜣḫ ꜣḫ, j.ꜣḫ ‘pseudoverbal’ forms stative stem periphrastic imperfective2 periphrastic prospective2 ꜣḫ ḥr ꜣḫ m ꜣḫ r ꜣḫ suffix conjugation aspect / mood active contingent aspect / mood active perfect ꜣḫ.n consecutive ꜣḫ.jn terminative ꜣḫt perfective3 ꜣḫ obligative1 ꜣḫ.ḫr imperfective ꜣḫ, j.ꜣḫ1 prospective3 ꜣḫ potentialis1 ꜣḫ.kꜣ subjunctive ꜣḫ, j.ꜣḫ1 verbal adjectives aspect / mood relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms participles active active passive perfect ꜣḫ.n — — perfective ꜣḫ ꜣḫ ꜣḫḫ, ꜣḫḫj6, ꜣḫ2, ꜣḫw2 5, ꜣḫy2 5 imperfective j.ꜣḫ1, ꜣḫ, ꜣḫy, ꜣḫw5 j.ꜣḫ1, j.ꜣḫw1 5, ꜣḫ, ꜣḫj6, ꜣḫy6 ꜣḫ, ꜣḫw5 prospective ꜣḫ, ꜣḫtj7 ꜣḫtj4, ꜣḫt4 1 Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. 2 Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. 3 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. 4 Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. 5 Only in the masculine singular. 6 Only in the masculine. 7 Only in the feminine.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜣḫ  

ꜣḫ	ꜣḫ	ꜣḫ	ꜣḫ
		[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]

Derived terms

• ꜣḫ jb
• ꜣḫ m jb
• ꜣḫ n
• ꜣḫ-n-jtn
• ꜣḫt
• sꜣḫ

Descendants

• Old Coptic: ⲁϧ (ax) (used as a magical name in DM 9,5)

Noun

 m

1. thicket of papyrus

Inflection

Declension of ꜣḫ (masculine)

singular	ꜣḫ
dual	ꜣḫwj
plural	ꜣḫw

Derived terms

• ꜣḫ-bjt

References

• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 4
• Allen, James Peter (1984) The Inflection of the Verb in the Pyramid Texts, Malibu, California: Undena Publications, →ISBN, § 728, page 544
• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1926) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1], volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 13.7–15.3, 15.17–16.14, 17.10–17.11, 18.14
• Vycichl, Werner (1983) Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Copte, Leuven: Peeters, →ISBN, page 69