ꜥm

Egyptian

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /ɑːm/
  • Conventional anglicization: am

Verb

 2-lit.

1. (transitive) to swallow, devour
   • c. 2353 BCE – 2323 BCE, Pyramid Texts of Unas — gable of the west wall of the burial chamber, line 4–5, spell 226.3:

     tꜣ j.ꜥm n.k prt jm.k hjw sḏr zbn

     Earth, swallow up into yourself what has emerged from you! Hiu-serpent, lie down, crawl away!

2. (transitive) to know

Inflection

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

infinitival forms imperative infinitive negatival complement complementary infinitive1 singular plural ꜥm ꜥmw, ꜥm ꜥmt ꜥm, j.ꜥm ꜥm, j.ꜥm ‘pseudoverbal’ forms stative stem periphrastic imperfective2 periphrastic prospective2 ꜥm ḥr ꜥm m ꜥm r ꜥm suffix conjugation aspect / mood active passive contingent aspect / mood active passive perfect ꜥm.n ꜥmw, ꜥm consecutive ꜥm.jn active + .tj1, .tw2 active + .tj1, .tw2 terminative ꜥmt perfective3 ꜥm active + .tj1, .tw2 obligative1 ꜥm.ḫr active + .tj1, .tw2 imperfective ꜥm, j.ꜥm1 active + .tj1, .tw2 prospective3 ꜥm ꜥmm potentialis1 ꜥm.kꜣ active + .tj1, .tw2 active + .tj1, .tw2 subjunctive ꜥm, j.ꜥm1 active + .tj1, .tw2 verbal adjectives aspect / mood relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms participles active passive active passive perfect ꜥm.n active + .tj1, .tw2 — — perfective ꜥm active + .tj1, .tw2 ꜥm ꜥmm, ꜥmmj6, ꜥm2, ꜥmw2 5, ꜥmy2 5 imperfective j.ꜥm1, ꜥm, ꜥmy, ꜥmw5 active + .tj1, .tw2 j.ꜥm1, j.ꜥmw1 5, ꜥm, ꜥmj6, ꜥmy6 ꜥm, ꜥmw5 prospective ꜥm, ꜥmtj7 — ꜥmtj4, ꜥmt4 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 ꜥm  

ꜥm

Derived terms

• ꜥm jb
• ꜥm-ḥḥ
• ꜥm-mwt

Descendants

• Demotic: ꜥm
  • Akhmimic Coptic: ⲙⲙⲉ (mme)
  • Bohairic Coptic: ⲉⲙⲓ (emi)
  • Fayyumic Coptic: ⲉⲓⲙⲓ (eimi), ⲓⲙⲓ (imi)
  • Lycopolitan Coptic: ⲙⲙⲉ (mme)
  • Old Coptic: ⲉⲙⲓ (emi), ⲙⲙⲓ (mmi)
  • Sahidic Coptic: ⲉⲓⲙⲉ (eime), ⲉⲓⲙⲙⲉ (eimme)

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 457.
• Marcion Coptic dictionary