ꜥꜣ

Egyptian

Etymology 1

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
	singular		dual		plural		unmarked
	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
proximal to speaker	pn	tn	*jpnj	jptnj, jptntj	jpn	jptn	nn	—
distal	pf	tf	*jpfj	*jptfj, *jptftj	jpf	jptf	nf	—
proximal to spoken of	pj, pw, p	tj, tw	jpwj	jptwj, jptwtj	jpw	jptw, jptwt	nw	—
vocative	pꜣ	tꜣ	—	—	—	—	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ

¹ 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
	singular		plural1
	masculine	feminine
proximal	pn	tn	nn	ꜥn
distal	pf, pfꜣ	tf, tfꜣ	nf, nfꜣ	ꜥf
‘copula’ and vocative	pw, pwy	tw, twy	nw	—
anaphoric	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ

¹ 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 determiners1	pꜣy	tꜣy	nꜣy
relational pronouns (‘possessive prefixes’)	p-n, pꜣ	t-nt, tꜣ	nꜣyw, nꜣ
definite articles	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ2
indefinite articles	wꜥ2		nhꜣy2

¹ Used with suffix pronouns.
² Originally joined by n(j) to nouns they modify; later without it.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

 

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

• (adjective): (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʕaʀ/
• (adjective): (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʕaʀ/
• (adjective): (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʕaʔ/
• (adjective): (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʕaʔ/, later dialectally IPA^(key): /ʕoʔ/

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

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

¹ Archaic in Middle Egyptian when modifying a noun.
² 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).

Alternative forms

See under the main verb.

Derived terms

See under the main verb.

Descendants

• Bohairic Coptic: ⲟ (o), ⲱ (ō)
• Fayyumic Coptic: ⲁ (a)
• Old Coptic: ⲟ (o), ⲱ (ō), ⲁ- (a-)
• Sahidic Coptic: ⲟ (o), ⲱ (ō), ⲟⲩ (ou)

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
• ꜥꜣ-n-mḏw
• ꜥꜣt
• ꜥꜣ-dyw
• nꜣy.f-ꜥꜣw-rwḏ

Descendants

(Compounded with nj (“of”):)

• ⇒ Demotic: ꜥꜣ n
  • Bohairic Coptic: ⲁⲛ- (an-)
  • Sahidic Coptic: ⲁⲛ- (an-)

Etymology 3

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

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈjaːʕaʀ/ → /ˈjaːʕaʀ/ → /ˈjaːʕə/ → /joːʕ/

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

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

Etymology 4

Noun

 m

1. doorleaf, single door
2. (in the dual) double door
   • c. 1401 BCE, Amduat of Amenhotep II (tomb of Amenhotep II, KV35) First Hour, closing text, line 7:

     wn n.k jmnt štꜣt jrww snš n.k ꜥꜣwj nwt wrt

     As the hidden region, secret of forms, is opened to you, so the double doors of the Great City are unstopped for you.

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”)

Etymology 5

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^[1], volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 161.3–162.12, 162.18–163.7, 163.9–163.10, 164.7–165.11
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, pages 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.