Appendix:Egyptian transliteration schemes

Table

The following table provides a comparative overview of the schemes employed by various major scholars or works to transcribe/transliterate Egyptian from its decipherment in the 19th to the present day. Highlighted rows indicate schemes that gained widespread use in their time; the last also indicates the system adopted by Wiktionary.

Author	𓄿	𓇋	𓏭	𓇌	𓂝	𓅱	𓃀	𓊪	𓆑	𓅓	𓈖	𓂋	𓉔	𓎛	𓐍	𓄡	𓊃	𓋴	𓈙	𓈎	𓎡	𓎼	𓏏	𓍿	𓂧	𓆓
Champollion 1822	α	α, ο, ε	ι	η, ι	α, η, ι	ο, ω	β	π, φ		μ	ν	ρ					σ	σ		κ	κ, γ	κ	τ, δ		τ, δ
Lepsius 1837	ⲁ, ⲟ, ⲉ	ⲁ, ⲟ, ⲉ	ⲁⲓ, ⲉⲓ, ⲓ	ⲁⲓ, ⲉⲓ, ⲓ	ⲁ, ⲟ, ⲉ	ⲟ, ⲟⲩ	ⲃ	ⲡ	ϥ	ⲙ	ⲛ	ⲣ, ⲗ	ϩ	ϩ	ϧ		ⲥ	ⲥ	ϣ	ⲕ	ⲕ		ⲧ	ⲧ	ⲧ
Bunsen 1845	a, a̔	a	i	i	a, ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r, l	h	h	χ, ch	χ, ch	s	s	χ, sch	k	k	k	t	t	t	t
Lepsius 1854	a			i		u	b	p	f	m	n	l		h	χ		s		š		k		t
Birch 1857	aa	au	iu	iu	aa	ui	bu	pu	fi	ma	n	ru	ha	hu	khi	kha	su	st	shi	qa	ka	k	tu	tu	ti	gi
Devéria 1857	a	ă	i, y	i, y	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h	h’	h’	s	s	s’	k	k’		t	t	t	t’
Devéria 1858	e	a	i, ï	i, ï	a’, a	ou	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h	χ	χ	s	s	ch	k	q	q	t	t	t	dj
Chabas 1860	a	a	ai, i	ai, i	a	o, u, ou	b, w	p	f, w	m	n	r	h	h	h’, s’	h’	s	s	s’	k	k	k	t	t	t	t’
Lepsius 1863	a	a, ȧ	i	i, ī, ē	a, ā	u	b, ḅ	p, p̣	f	m, ṃ	n	r, l	h	h, ḥ	χ, χ̣	χ	s	s	š, ṣ̌	k	k, ḳ	k, ḳ, χ, χ̣	t	t	t, ṭ	t, ṭ
Brugsch 1867, 1872	a	ȧ	i	ī	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	š	k	k	ḳ	t	t	ṭ	t’
De Rougé 1867	ạ	a	i	i	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	š	k	k	ḳ	t	t	ṭ	t’
Devéria 1868	à	a῾, á	ï	ï	â	û	b	p	w	m	n	r	h	h῾	x῾	x῾	s	s	s῾	q	k	g	t	t῾	d	z῾
Maspero 1873	ā	a	i	ï	â	û	b	p	w	m	n	r, l	h	h῾	χ	χ	s	s	s῾	q	k	g	t	t	d	z
Lepsius 1874	a	ȧ	i	ī	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	š	q	k	ḳ	t	θ	ṭ	t′
Renouf 1875	a	ȧ	i	i	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	ś	q	k	ḳ	t	θ	ṭ	t’
Birch 1877	a	ȧ	i	ī	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	ś	q	k	ḳ	t	θ	ṭ	t’
Rossi 1877	a	ȧ	i	i	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	š	k	k	ḳ	t	t	ṭ	t̆
Brugsch 1880	a	ȧ	i	ī, y	ā	u, ō	b, v	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	š, χ	k, q	k	k, g	t	θ	ṭ	t’
Loret 1889	a	à	i	i	â	ou	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h	kh	kh	s	s	sh	q	k	g	t	t	d	dj
Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache 1889; Erman 1894	ꜣ	ı͗	ï	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ḫ	s	s	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Brugsch 1889 (‘Semitic-Egyptian’)	ꜣ	ʾ		i, j	ꜥ	w, u	b	p	f	m	n	r, l	h	ḥ	ḫ	ḫ	s	s	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Brugsch 1889 (‘Egyptian-hieroglyphic’)	ꜣ	ʾ	″	ʾʾ	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r, l	h	ḥ	ḫ	ḫ	s	s	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Steindorff 1892	ꜣ	ı͗	ı͗	ı͗ı͗	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Beni Hassan II 1893	a	ȧ	i	y	a̔	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h	k͟h	c͟h	s	ś	sh	q	k	ḳ	t	t͟h	t	z
Erman 1896	ꜣ, ʾ	j, i̯			ꜥ	w, u̯	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Budge 1898, 1910	a	ȧ	i	i	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r, l	h	ḥ	χ, kh	χ, kh	s	s	ś, sh	q	k	ḳ	t	θ, th	ṭ	t’, tch
Griffith 1898 (vocalic)	a	ȧ	i	y	a̔	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	k͟h	c͟h	s	ś	s͟h	q	k	g	t	t͟h	d	z
Griffith 1898 (consonantal)	ʾ	y	i	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	z
Petrie 1899	a, a̓	a	i	y	a, ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h	kh	kh	s	s	sh	q	k	g	t	th	d	z
Erman 1911	ꜣ	ı͗, y	y	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Budge 1920	a	ȧ	i	i	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	kh	kha	s	s	sh	q	k	g	t	th	ṭ	tch
Erman & Grapow 1926	ꜣ	ı͗, j	j	j	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Gardiner 1927	ꜣ	ı͗	y	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	s	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Edel 1955, 1964	ꜣ	j	j	jj, j	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Ward 1968	ꜣ	ı͗	y	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	s	š	q	k	g	t	č	d	ǰ
Rössler 1971	ː	ı͗	ı͗	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ġ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	č	ṭ	č̣
Buurman et al. 1988 (encoding hieroglyphs)	A	i	y	i*i	a	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	H	x	X	z	s	S	q	k	g	t	T	d	D
Buurman et al. 1988 (transliteration)	A	i	y	y	a	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	H	x	X	z	s	S	q	k	g	t	T	d	D
Vernus 1988	ꜣ	j	j	y	Ɛ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ç	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	č	d	ǧ
Hodge 1990	ꜣ	ʔ	y	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	x	x̯	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	č	d	ǧ
Schenkel 1990	ꜣ	ı͗	ı͗	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	č	ṭ	č̣
Loprieno 1995	ɜ	j	j	j, y	‘	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Hannig 1995, Allen 2000	ꜣ	j	j	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Hoch 1997	ꜣ	ı͗	y	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Depuydt 1999	3	j	y	jj	ᶜ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Loprieno 2001	ʀ	j	j	y	ʕ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ħ	x	ç	θ	s	ʃ	q	k	ḳ	t	c	ṭ	c̣
Schneider 2003	ɹ	ı͗	ı͗	y	ɗ	w	b	p	f	m	n	l	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	c	ṭ	c̣
Rabinovich 2004	a	j	y	y	a2	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h2	h3	h4	s	s	s2	q	k	g	t	t2	d	d2
Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2004 (Hieroglyphic)	A	j	j	y	a	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	H	x	X	z	s	S	q	k	g	t	T	d	D
Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2004 (Demotic)	A	i		j	a	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	H	x	X	s	s	S	q	k	g	t	T		D
Takács 2008	3	j	j	j	ˁ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Di Biase-Dyson et al. 2009	ꜣ	j	ï	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Werning 2013 (‘Traditional’), 2015	ꜣ	j	ï	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Werning 2013 (‘Advanced’)	ꜣ	j	ï	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	č	ṭ	č̣
Haspelmath 2015	ꜣ	j	j	jj	ʕ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2022 (Hieroglyphic)	ꜣ	j	j	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2022 (Demotic)	ꜣ	ı͗		j	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ		ḏ
Leiden Unified Transliteration 2023	ꜣ	ı͗	ï	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ḫ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ

Chronological list of sources

• Champollion, Jean-François. 1822. Lettre à M. Dacier.
• Lepsius, C. R. 1837. Letter to Rosellini.
• Bunsen, Christian. 1845. Ägyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte.
• Lepsius, C. R. 1854. Das allgemeine linguistische Alphabet: Grundsätze der Übertragung fremder Schriftsysteme und bisher noch ungeschriebener Sprachen in europäische Buchstaben.
• Birch, Samuel. 1857. An Introduction to the Study of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics.
• Devéria, Théodule. 1857. Notice sur les antiquités égyptiennes du musée de Lyon.
• Devéria, Théodule. 1858. Spécimen de l’interprétation des écritures de l'ancienne Égypte.
• Chabas, François Joseph. 1860. Le papyrus magique Harris.
• Lepsius, C. R. 1863. Standard Alphabet for Reducing Unwritten Languages and Foreign Graphic Systems to a Uniform Orthography in European Letters, 2nd rev. edn.
• Brugsch, Heinrich. 1867. Hieroglyphisch-demotisches Wörterbuch, vol. 1.
• De Rougé, Emmanuel. 1867. Chrestomathie égyptienne, ou Choix de textes égyptiens transcrits, traduits et accompagnés d’un commentaire perpétuel et précédés d’un abrégé grammatical.
• Devéria, Théodule. 1868. Le papyrus judiciaire de Turin et les papyrus Lee et Rollin.
• Brugsch, Heinrich. 1872. Hieroglyphische Grammatik.
• Maspero, Gaston. 1873. in Mélanges d’archéologie égyptienne et assyrienne, vol. 1.
• Lepsius, C. R. 1874. Second International Congress of Orientalists, London.
• Renouf, Peter Le Page. 1875. An Elementary Grammar of the Ancient Egyptian Language in the Hieroglyphic Type.
• Birch, Samuel. 1877. Egyptian Texts.
• Rossi, Francesco. 1877. Grammatica copto-geroglifica, con un’ appendice dei principali segni sillabici e del loro significato, illustrati da esempi.
• Brugsch, Heinrich. 1880. Hieroglyphisch-demotisches Wörterbuch, vol. 5.
• Loret, Victor. 1889. Manuel de la langue égyptienne: grammaire, tableau des hieroglyphes, textes & glossaire.
• Brugsch, Heinrich. 1889. Die Aegyptologie: ein Grundriss der aegyptischen Wissenschaft.
• Steindorff, Georg. 1892. Das altägyptische Alphabet und seine Umschreibung.
• Egypt Exploration Fund, ed. Newberry, Percy E. 1893. Beni Hassan, vol. II.
• Erman, Adolf, trans. Breasted, James Henry. 1894. Egyptian Grammar, with Table of Signs, Bibliography, Exercises for Reading and Glossary.
• Erman, Adolf. 1896. “Die Umschreibung des Ägyptischen” in Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, Volumes 34-36.
• Budge, E. A. Wallis. 1898. The Book of the Dead.
• Griffith, Francis Llewelyn. 1898. A Collection of Hieroglyphs.
• Petrie, W. M. Flinders. 1899. A History Of Egypt.
• Budge, E. A. Wallis. 1910. Egyptian Language: Easy Lessons in Egyptian Hieroglyphics.
• Erman, Adolf. 1911. Ägyptische Grammatik.
• Budge, E. A. Wallis. 1920. An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary.
• Erman, Adolf; Grapow, Hermann. 1926–1961. Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache.
• Gardiner, Alan. 1927. Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, First Edition.
• Edel, Elmar. 1955. Altägyptische Grammatik.
• Ward, William A. Notes on Some Egypto-Semitic Roots.
• Rössler, Otto. 1977. “Das Ägyptische als semitische Sprache” in Christentum am roten Meer, vol. 1.
• Buurman, Jan; Nicolas Grimal; Jochen Hallof; Michael Hainsworth; Dirk van der Plas. 1988. Inventaire des signes hieroglyphiques en vue de leur saisie informatique.
• Vernus, Pascal. 1988. “L’égypto-copte” in Cohen, David. Les langues chamito-sémitiques.
• Hodge, Carleton Taylor. 1990. “The Role of Egyptian Within Afroasiatic” in ed. Baldi, Philip. Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology.
• Schenkel, Wolfgang. 1990. Einführung in die altägyptische Sprachwissenschaft.
• Loprieno, Antonio. 1995. Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction.
• Hannig, Rainer. 1995. Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch.
• Hoch, James E. 1997. Middle Egyptian Grammar.
• Depuydt, Leo. 2012. Fundamentals of Egyptian Grammar I: Elements.
• Allen, James P. 2000. Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, First Edition.
• Loprieno, Antonio. 2001. “From Ancient Egyptian to Coptic” in Haspelmath, Martin et al. (eds.), Language Typology and Language Universals.
• Schneider, Thomas. 2003. “Etymologische Methode, die Historizität der Phoneme und das ägyptologische Transkriptionsalphabet” in Lingua aegyptia: Journal of Egyptian Language Studies 11:187–199.
• Rabinovich, Yakov. 2004. Isle of Fire: A Tour of the Egyptian Further World.
• Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2004 = Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae, https://aaew.bbaw.de/tla/, Corpus issues 1-19, Web app version 1.x, 2004-2014, ed. by Stephan Seidlmayer on behalf of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (accessed: 2024-12-04).
• Takács, Gabor. 2008. Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, vol. 3.
• Di Biase-Dyson, Camilla; Kammerzell, Frank; Werning, Daniel A. 2009. “Glossing Ancient Egyptian: Suggestions for adapting the Leipzig Glossing Rules” in Lingua aegyptia: Journal of Egyptian Language Studies 17:343-366.
• ed. Werning, Daniel A.; Glossing Ancient Languages contributors. 2013. Glossing Ancient Languages. Excellence Cluster Topoi, Berlin: Humboldt University Berlin.
• Werning, Daniel A. 2015. Einführung in die hieroglyphisch-ägyptische Schrift und Sprache.
• Haspelmath, Martin. 2015. “A Grammatical Overview of Egyptian and Coptic” in Egyptian-Coptic Linguistics in Typological Perspective.
• Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2022 = Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae, https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de, Corpus issues 17-19, Web app version 2.x, 2022-..., ed. by Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning on behalf of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils on behalf of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig (accessed: 2024-12-04).
• Leiden Unified Transliteration (LUT) = 13th International Congress of Egyptologists (Olaf Kaper, president). 2023. “The Leiden Unified Transliteration”.

Other resources

• Legge, F. 1902. “The History of the Transliteration of Egyptian” in Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, Volume 24.
• Peust, Carsten. 1999. Egyptian phonology: an introduction to the phonology of a dead language.