bhꜣ

Egyptian

Pronunciation

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /bɛhɑ/
- Conventional anglicization: beha

Etymology 1

Ehret hypothesizes an origin in Proto-Afroasiatic *-bâh- (“to go secretively”) + *r;^[1] as with other attempts at reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic, academic consensus is lacking.

Verb

3-lit.

(intransitive) to flee, to turn tail [since the Middle Kingdom]

Inflection

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

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive¹	singular	plural
bhꜣ	bhꜣw, bhꜣ	bhꜣt	bhꜣ	bhꜣ

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

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

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms	participles
aspect / mood	active	active	passive
perfect	bhꜣ.n	—	—
perfective	bhꜣ	bhꜣ	bhꜣ, bhꜣw⁵, bhꜣy⁵
imperfective	bhꜣ, bhꜣy, bhꜣw⁵	bhꜣ, bhꜣj⁶, bhꜣy⁶	bhꜣ, bhꜣw⁵
prospective	bhꜣ, bhꜣtj⁷	bhꜣtj⁴, bhꜣt⁴
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.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of bhꜣ

bh

[New Kingdom]

[Theban royal tombs]

[Greco-Roman Period]

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

m

fan, flabellum [19th Dynasty]

Inflection

Declension of bhꜣ (masculine)

singular	bhꜣ
dual	bhꜣwj
plural	bhꜣw

References

“bhꜣ (lemma ID 56700)” and “bhꜣ (lemma ID 56690)”, in Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae‎^[2], Corpus issue 18, Web app version 2.1.5, Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning by order of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils by order of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, 2004–26 July 2023
Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1926) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[3], volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 467.2, 467.8, 467
Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 83

^ Ehret, Christopher (1995) Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary (University of California Publications in Linguistics; 126)‎^[1], Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, →ISBN.

[1] Ehret, Christopher (1995) Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary (University of California Publications in Linguistics; 126)‎^[1], Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, →ISBN.

[1]