mnmn

Egyptian

Etymology

Perhaps by metathesis from the earlier-attested nmnm (“to move about, to quiver”).

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɛnmɛn/
  • Conventional anglicization: menmen

Verb

 4-lit.

1. (intransitive) to move
2. (intransitive) to move back and forth, to quake, to wobble
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 59–60:

     ḫtw ḥr gmgm tꜣ ḥr mnmn

     Trees were breaking, the ground was quaking.

3. (transitive) to move

Inflection

Conjugation of mnmn (quadriliteral / 4-lit. / 4rad.) — base stem: mnmn

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
mnmn	mnmnw, mnmn	mnmnt	mnmn	mnmn

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

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	passive	contingent
			aspect / mood	active	passive
perfect	mnmn.n	mnmnw, mnmn	consecutive	mnmn.jn	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
terminative	mnmnt
perfective3	mnmn	active + .tj1, .tw2	obligative1	mnmn.ḫr	active + .tj1, .tw2
imperfective	mnmn	active + .tj1, .tw2
prospective3	mnmnw, mnmn	mnmnw, mnmn	potentialis1	mnmn.kꜣ	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
subjunctive	mnmn	active + .tj1, .tw2

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms		participles
	active	passive	active	passive
perfect	mnmn.n	active + .tj1, .tw2	—	—
perfective	mnmn	active + .tj1, .tw2	mnmn	mnmn, mnmnw5, mnmny5
imperfective	mnmn, mnmny, mnmnw5	active + .tj1, .tw2	mnmn, mnmnj6, mnmny6	mnmn, mnmnw5
prospective	mnmn, mnmntj7	—	mnmnwtj1 4, mnmntj4, mnmnt4
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 mnmn  

mnmn

[since the New Kingdom]

Descendants

• Bohairic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲛⲙⲉⲛ (monmen)

References

• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1928) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1], volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 80–81.15
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 109