mdw-nṯr

Egyptian

Etymology

From mdw (“word”) +‎ nṯr (“god”) in a direct genitive construction, thus literally ‘the god’s word’. The written form demonstrates honorific transposition.

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˌmaːtʼaw ˈnaːcaɾ/ → /ˌmaːtʼaw ˈnaːtaʔ/ → /ˌmaːtʼə ˈnaːta/ → /ˌmoːtʼ ˈnoːtə/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˌmaːtʼaw ˈnaːcaɾ/ (singular); IPA^(key): /maˌtʼuww ˈnaːcaɾ/ (plural)
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˌmaːtʼaw ˈnaːtaʔ/ (singular); IPA^(key): /maˌtʼuww ˈnaːtaʔ/ (plural)
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˌmaːtʼə ˈnaːta/ (singular); IPA^(key): /məˌtʼuww ˈnaːta/ (plural)
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˌmoːtʼ ˈnoːtə/ (singular); IPA^(key): /məˌtʼøww ˈnoːtə/ (plural)

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

Noun

 m

1. sacred literature traditionally written in hieroglyphic writing

   ― mḏꜣwt n(w)t mdw-nṯr ― books of sacred writings

2. Egyptian hieroglyphic writing

   Synonym: zẖꜣw-mdw-nṯr

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see mdw,‎ nṯr.

Inflection

Declension of mdw-nṯr (masculine)

singular	mdw-nṯr
dual	mdwj-nṯr
plural	mdw-nṯr

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mdw-nṯr  

mdw-nṯr	mdw-nṯr	mdw-nṯr	mdw-nṯr	mdw-nṯr	mdw-nṯr	mdw-nṯr	mdw-nṯr	mdw-nṯr
[since the Pyramid Texts]	[Old Kingdom]	[Middle Kingdom]	[Middle Kingdom]	[Middle Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]

Derived terms

• jqr m mdw-nṯr
• nb-mdw-nṯr
• ḥrj sštꜣ n mdw-nṯr
• zẖꜣw-mdw-nṯr
• šsꜣ m mdw-nṯr

References

• “mdw-nṯr (lemma ID 78190)”, 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 180.13–181.6
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 122
• L. H. Lesko (1972) The Ancient Egyptian Book of Two Ways, University of California Press, p. 64.