dwꜣt

Egyptian

FWOTD – 25 January 2020

Other romanization schemes

Manuel de Codage	dwAt
Gardiner 1927	dwꜣt
Erman & Grapow 1926	dwꜣ·t
Lepsius 1874 (obsolete)	ṭua-t

Pronunciation

 

• (in the sense ‘afterworld’): (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈtʼuwʀat/ → /ˈtʼuwʀaʔ/ → /ˈtʼuːʔə/ → /tʼeːʔ/

• (in the sense ‘afterworld’): (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈtʼuwʀat/
• (in the sense ‘afterworld’): (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈtʼuwʀaʔ/
• (in the sense ‘afterworld’): (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈtʼuːʔə/
• (in the sense ‘afterworld’): (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /tʼeːʔ/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /duːɑt/
  • Conventional anglicization: duat

Noun

 f

1. The Duat, the Egyptian afterworld [since the Pyramid Texts]
   1. In early conceptions, the region in the eastern sky where the sun and stars rise, which serves as the abode of the dead king
      • c. 2255 BCE – 2246 BCE, Pyramid Texts of Merenre — south wall of the vestibule, line 6–7, spell 610.20–610.21:

        
        

        sqr n.k r(w)dw ⟨jr⟩ d(w)ꜣt jr bw nt(j) sꜣḥ jm šzp jḥ-pt ꜥ.k

        Stairways have been beaten out for you to the afterworld, to the place where Orion is, and the Bull of Heaven will take your hand.

   2. Later, the region underneath the earth through which the sun passes at night, in which Osiris and the dead dwell
      • c. 1550 BCE – 1295 BCE, Great Hymn to Osiris (Stela of Amenmose, Louvre C 286) lines 6–7:

        
        

        jmjw dwꜣt m sn-tꜣ ṯztjw m ksw
        ḏrtjw m ṯḥw mꜣ.sn sw ntjw jm ḥr nr n.f

        Those in the afterworld kiss the earth, and those in the desert hills bow down.
        The ancestors are in joy when they see him, and the dead are in awe of him.

      • c. 1401 BCE, Amduat of Amenhotep II (tomb of Amenhotep II, KV35) Second Hour, closing text:

        
        

        šzp.n n.s dwꜣt j(w)f jr(j) pt r ꜥnḫ.k j(w)f m tꜣ dsr n.k

        The afterworld has received to itself the flesh belonging to the sky in order that you live, flesh, in the ground set aside for you.

2. The underworld of a city as a place of dead gods [Late Period]
3. Epithet for the grave [since the New Kingdom]
4. Epithet for the crypt in the Temple of Dendera [Greco-Roman Period]

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of dwꜣt  

dwꜣt	dꜣt	dwꜣt	dwꜣt	dwꜣt	dwꜣt	dwꜣt	dwꜣt	ḏt	djt
	[Pyramid Texts]	[Pyramid Texts]	[Pyramid Texts]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[Late Period]	[Late Period]

Derived terms

• jmj-dwꜣt
• dwꜣtj

 

Descendants

• Old Coptic: ⲧⲏ (tē)
• → English: duat

Proper noun

 f

1. a hippopotamus goddess personifying the afterworld [Greco-Roman Period]

Noun

 f

1. praise, adoration, worship [New Kingdom]

Inflection

Declension of dwꜣt (feminine)

singular	dwꜣt
dual	dwꜣtj
plural	dwꜣwt

Noun

 f

1. adoratrice [Old Kingdom, New Kingdom, Greco-Roman Period]

Inflection

Declension of dwꜣt (feminine)

singular	dwꜣt
dual	dwꜣtj
plural	dwꜣwt

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of dwꜣt  

dwꜣt	dwꜣt	dwꜣ	dwꜣ
[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]

Noun

 f

1. (medicine) a type of medicinal plant

Inflection

Declension of dwꜣt (feminine)

singular	dwꜣt
dual	dwꜣtj
plural	dwꜣwt

Noun

 f

1. Used in the phrase pr-dwꜣt (“‘House of Morning’, a place of purification”) [since the Old Kingdom]
2. Used in the phrase , referring to a royal cloakroom official [since the Old Kingdom]

References

• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1926–1961) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN