Traditionally (since Sethe 1911) derived from n(j)(“of, belonging”) + swt(“sedge”) in a direct genitive construction with n(j) used as a noun, literally ‘the belonging one of the sedge’, i.e. ‘the one to whom Upper Egypt belongs’, the sedge being an emblem of Upper Egypt. The odd glyph order in the written form is probably due to a preference for forming compact groups of hieroglyphs.
However, this interpretation has been challenged, as Helck, Schenkel, and others have argued that the plant represented by swt is not the emblem of Upper Egypt at all; Schenkel also suggests the reconstructed vocalization of the word does not support such an etymology. Peust goes so far as to say the word has no special connection with Upper Egypt, and derives it as borrowed from Sumerian𒉺𒋼𒋛(ensi2) with the Egyptian noun-forming suffix -w. This might also be suggested by the alternate reading nzw and the cuneiform rendering 𒅔𒋛𒅁𒅀 (in-si-ib-ia) for the compound form nswt-bjtj from a Ramesside-era Hittite letter.[1]
Much debate centers around the apparent variant form nzw, attested from very early times, and its relation to nswt. Some authors see it as a dialectal variant of the latter; others treat it as an entirely separate word. Schenkel instead reads nswt in a different order as ntsw and considers it a variant spelling of nzw, hypothesizing that the Egyptian z is an affricate equivalent to ts; a number of authors have adopted this suggestion.
In some outdated publications, nswt was read as stn, stnj, or swtn, but these readings are now generally rejected.
Sometimes, based on the traditional etymology, a fuller reading as njswt or nj-swt is given.
“nswt (lemma ID 88040)”, “nswt (lemma ID 851639)”, and “ns.wt (lemma ID 88030)”, 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
James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 33, 44, 66–68.
Gardiner, Alan (1957) Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, third edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, § 54, 72
