mdwj

Egyptian

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːtʼat/ → /ˈmaːtʼaʔ/ → /ˈmaːtʼa/ → /ˈmoːtʼə/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːtʼat/
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːtʼaʔ/
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːtʼa/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈmoːtʼə/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɛduːi/
  • Conventional anglicization: medui

Verb

 4ae inf.

1. (intransitive, of people, mouths, or tongues) to speak (+ n or ḫr or ḫft: to; + ḥr: about; + ḥnꜥ or m-dj or jrm: with (someone); + m: with (the mouth))
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 73–76:

     jw mdw.k n.j nn wj ḥr sḏm{.j} st jw.j m bꜣḥ.k ḫm.n(.j) wj

     ―You’re speaking to me, but I’m not hearing it; I am before you, but I don’t know myself.

2. (intransitive) to dispute, speak in opposition, contest, contend (+ ḥnꜥ: with; + m: in (some matter, e.g. a will))
3. (intransitive, with ḥr or ḥr tp) to put in a good word for (someone)
4. (intransitive, of birds) to cry
5. (intransitive, of the heart) to beat [Medical Papyri]
6. (intransitive, of the sky) to thunder [Pyramid Texts]
7. (transitive, rare) The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include: [Pyramid Texts]
   1. to claim
   2. to address

Inflection

Conjugation of mdwj (fourth weak / 4ae inf. / IV. inf.) — base stem: mdw

infinitival forms imperative infinitive negatival complement complementary infinitive1 singular plural mdwt, mdwj mdww, mdwyw, mdw mdwt, mdwwt, mdwyt mdw mdw, mdwy ‘pseudoverbal’ forms stative stem periphrastic imperfective2 periphrastic prospective2 mdw8 ḥr mdwt, ḥr mdwj m mdwt, ḥr mdwj r mdwt, ḥr mdwj suffix conjugation aspect / mood active passive contingent aspect / mood active passive perfect mdw.n mdww, mdw, mdwy consecutive mdw.jn active + .tj1, .tw2 active + .tj1, .tw2 terminative mdwt perfective3 mdw active + .tj1, .tw2 obligative1 mdw.ḫr active + .tj1, .tw2 imperfective mdw, mdwy active + .tj1, .tw2 prospective3 mdww, mdw, mdwy mdw potentialis1 mdw.kꜣ active + .tj1, .tw2 active + .tj1, .tw2 subjunctive mdw, mdwy active + .tj1, .tw2 verbal adjectives aspect / mood relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms participles active passive active passive perfect mdw.n active + .tj1, .tw2 — — perfective mdww1, mdwy, mdw active + .tj1, .tw2 mdw mdwy, mdw imperfective mdw, mdwy, mdww5 active + .tj1, .tw2 mdw, mdwj6, mdwy6 mdw, mdww5 prospective mdww1, mdwy, mdw, mdwtj7 — mdwwtj1 4, mdwtj4, mdwt4 1 Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. 2 Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. 3 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. 4 Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. 5 Only in the masculine singular. 6 Only in the masculine. 7 Only in the feminine. 8 Third-person masculine statives of this class often have a final -y instead of the expected stative ending.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mdwj  

mdwj	mdwj	mdwj	mdwj	mdwj	mdwj
		[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[Middle Kingdom]	[Middle Kingdom]
		uncommon	uncommon

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mdwj  

mdwj	mdwj	mdwj	mdwj	mdwj	mdwj
[since the Middle Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[18th Dynasty]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]

Derived terms

• mdw
• mdw r ḫrw.f
• mdwt

Descendants

• Akhmimic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩⲛⲧⲉ (mounte), ⲙⲟⲩⲧⲉ (moute)
• Bohairic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩϯ (mouti)
• Fayyumic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩϯ (mouti)
• Lycopolitan Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩⲧⲉ (moute)
• Sahidic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩⲧⲉ (moute)

References

• “mdwi̯ (lemma ID 78140)”, 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 179.2–179.28, 180.2
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 122
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 174, 292–293.
• Hoch, James (1997) Middle Egyptian Grammar, Mississauga: Benben Publications, →ISBN, page 83