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 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.

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