mryt

Egyptian

Etymology 1

Compare Beja mari (“side, direction”). Suffixed with -t (feminine ending). Related to mrj (“to run aground, to strand (a ship)”), but most likely this verb was derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /mVˈɾaːjaʔ/ → /məˈɾaːʔə/ → /məˈɾoːʔ/

• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /mVˈɾaːjaʔ/

  where V represents an unknown short vowel.

• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /məˈɾaːʔə/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /məˈɾoːʔ/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɛriːt/
  • Conventional anglicization: meryt

Noun

 f

1. shore or riverbank with a natural embankment or levee [since the Middle Kingdom]
2. a landing place for ships on shore; wharf, quay [since the Middle Kingdom]
3. harbor [chiefly since Late Egyptian]

Inflection

Declension of mryt (feminine)

singular	mryt
dual	mrytj
plural	mrywt

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mryt  

mryt	mrw	mrw	mry	mryt
	[Middle Kingdom]	[19th-20th Dynasty]	[Late Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]
		Černý considers this a variant of mrw (“desert”) rather than mryt.

Descendants

• Demotic: mrt, mr
  • Coptic: ⲙⲣⲱ (mrō) (Sahidic), ⲉⲙⲣⲱ (emrō) (Bohairic)
    • → Egyptian Arabic: دَمْرُوء (Damrūʔ)
• → Ancient Greek: Μάρεια (Máreia), Μᾰρεῶτῐς (Mareôtis)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɛriːt/
  • Conventional anglicization: meryt

Proper noun

 f

1. a female given name, Meryt

References

• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1928) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1], volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 109.3, 109.12–110.3
• Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 410, →ISBN
• Černý, Jaroslav (1976) Coptic Etymological Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 88
• Hoch, James (1997) Middle Egyptian Grammar, Mississauga: Benben Publications, →ISBN, page 83