mdw

Egyptian

Etymology 1

From mdwj (“to speak”).

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːtʼaw/ → /ˈmaːtʼaw/ → /ˈmaːtʼə/ → /ˈmoːtʼ/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːtʼaw/ (singular); IPA^(key): /maˈtʼuww/ (plural)
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːtʼaw/ (singular); IPA^(key): /maˈtʼuww/ (plural)
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːtʼə/ (singular); IPA^(key): /məˈtʼuww/ (plural)
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈmoːtʼ/ (singular); IPA^(key): /məˈtʼøww/ (plural)

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɛduː/
  • Conventional anglicization: medu

Noun

 m

1. spoken word
2. words, speech, things said

   ― sꜥr mdw ― to convey (someone’s) words (+ n: to (a superior))

3. words, text, things written
4. command, order, instruction
5. magic word, spell
6. (law) plea
7. used as a generic object for certain verbs such as wḏ (“to command”) and wḏꜥ (“to judge”)

Usage notes

This word was displaced by mdwt from Late Egyptian on, though in some cases the replacement may have been purely graphic.

Unlike most u-stems, the noun-forming suffix -w was usually written in mdw.

Inflection

Declension of mdw (masculine u-stem)

singular	mdw
dual	mdwj
plural	mdw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mdw  

mdw	mdw	mdw	mdw	mdw	mdw	mdw	mdw	mdwtj
					[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[18th Dynasty]	[18th Dynasty]
					uncommon	uncommon		uncommon

The word may be written without determinatives, or with any of the following:

Determinatives used with mdw  

[Old Kingdom]	[Middle Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]

Derived terms

• jꜥr mdw
• wḏ-mdw
• mdw-nṯr
• ns n mdw
• ḏd-mdw

Descendants

• Demotic: mdt, md
  • (from the plural) ⇒ Coptic: ⲙⲧⲁⲩ (mtau)

Etymology 2

Noun

 m

1. staff, rod
2. staff as a weapon
3. staff as a kind of scepter, staff of authority, baton; also given as a grave good
4. sacred staff with the head of a god, revered as a symbol of a particular god or nome [chiefly Greco-Roman Period]
5. used in various titles: custodian, attendant, maintainer

Inflection

Declension of mdw (masculine)

singular	mdw
dual	mdwwj
plural	mdww

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mdw  

mdw	mdw	mdw	mdw	mdw
		[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]
		uncommon	uncommon	uncommon

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mdw  

mdw	mdw	mdw	mtw	mdw	mḏ
[Middle Kingdom]	[Middle Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[Late Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]
	uncommon	in hieratic			uncommon

Derived terms

• mdw-jꜣw
• mdw n š
• mdw-rḫyt
• mdw-ḥp
• mdw-ḥr
• mdw šps
• mdw šps n spꜣt
• mdw-kꜣ-ḥḏ

References

• “mdw (lemma ID 78150)” and “mdw (lemma ID 78130)”, in Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae‎^[1], 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 (1928) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[2], volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 178.1–178.14, 180.4–180.12
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 122
• Černý, Jaroslav (1976) Coptic Etymological Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 94