sḫm

See also: SHM

Egyptian

Pronunciation

(noun): (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈsaːχam/ → /ˈsaːχam/ → /ˈsaːχəm/ → /ˈsoːχəm/

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /sɛxɛm/
- Conventional anglicization: sekhem

Verb

3-lit.

(intransitive) to be(come) physically powerful or vigorous [since the Pyramid Texts]
(intransitive) to be(come) powerful, capable (+ m: through the power of (magic, the Eye of Horus, food, etc.); + mm: among (the gods); + ḫr: before (a god); + ḫnt: at the head of (people); + m ḫt or m sꜣ: in pursuit of (enemies)) [since the Pyramid Texts]
(intransitive, of poison, magic, names, etc.) to be(come) potent, effective
(intransitive, of a quality such as might) to be(come) strong, intense, great
(intransitive, with m or (since the 18th Dynasty) r or (rarely) transitive) to have or take control of, to have power over (enemies, people, gods, places, oneself, etc.) [since the Pyramid Texts]
- c. 1900 BCE, The Instructions of Kagemni (pPrisse/pBN 183) lines 1.10–1.11:
  
  jr šww m srḫ n t nj sḫm.n mdt nbt jm.f
  As for one who is free of notoriety regarding bread, no word can take control of him.
(intransitive, with m or (rarely) transitive) to have the use of, to be able to make use of (one’s limbs)
(intransitive, with m) to take possession of (a thing)
(intransitive, with m, of knives, lions, snakes, poison, magic, etc.) to have power to freely harm (someone), to have injurious power over [chiefly Late Period]
(intransitive, with m or r, of fire) to burn, to consume (someone) [Greco-Roman Period]
(intransitive, with m, Late Egyptian, of sleep) to overpower, to overtake (the body)
(intransitive, with m and infinitive) to be(come) capable (of doing something), empowered or entitled (to do something)
(intransitive, of the heart/mind) to be(come) bold, daring, courageous, spirited
(intransitive, of the heart/mind) to be(come) overbold, impudent, audacious
(intransitive, of the face) The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:
1. to be(come) defiant-looking or spirited
2. to be(come) grim

Usage notes

Often found in parallel with bꜣ, spd, and wꜣš, among other verbs.

Inflection

Conjugation of sḫm (triliteral / 3-lit. / 3rad.) — base stem: sḫm, geminated stem: sḫmm

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive¹	singular	plural
sḫm	sḫmw, sḫm	sḫmt	sḫm	sḫm

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

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	contingent
aspect / mood	active	aspect / mood	active
perfect	sḫm.n	consecutive	sḫm.jn
terminative	sḫmt	consecutive	sḫm.jn
perfective³	sḫm	obligative¹	sḫm.ḫr
imperfective	sḫm	obligative¹	sḫm.ḫr
prospective³	sḫm	potentialis¹	sḫm.kꜣ
subjunctive	sḫm	potentialis¹	sḫm.kꜣ

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms	participles
aspect / mood	active	active	passive
perfect	sḫm.n	—	—
perfective	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm, sḫmw⁵, sḫmy⁵
imperfective	sḫm, sḫmy, sḫmw⁵	sḫm, sḫmj⁶, sḫmy⁶	sḫm, sḫmw⁵
prospective	sḫm, sḫmtj⁷	sḫmtj⁴, sḫmt⁴

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 sḫm

sḫm

[chiefly Pyramid Texts]

[chiefly Pyramid Texts to Middle Kingdom]

[since the Old Kingdom]

[since the Middle Kingdom]

usual form

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of sḫm

sḫm

[since the 18th Dynasty]

[Greco-Roman Period]

Derived terms

Noun

m

power, capability, especially capability to overpower [since the Pyramid Texts]
Synonym: sḫmt
violence

Usage notes

Often found in parallel with bꜣ and kꜣ as a quality that is ‘with’, ‘by’, ‘behind’ someone, etc. May also be found in parallel with words such as wsr and qn.

Inflection

Declension of *sḫm* (masculine)
singular	sḫm
dual	sḫmwj
plural	sḫmw

Alternative forms

See under the verb above.

Derived terms

Noun

m

being of divine power, Power; chiefly used as an epithet for various gods, exceptionally also for kings [since the Pyramid Texts]
- c. 1550 BCE – 1295 BCE, Great Hymn to Osiris (Stela of Amenmose, Louvre C 286) lines 7–8:
  
  sꜥḥ ꜣḫ ḫnt sꜥḥw wꜣḥ jꜣwt smn ḥqꜣt sḫm nfr n(j) psḏt jmꜣ ḥr mrr mꜣ n.f rdj snḏ.f m tꜣw nb(w) n mr(w)t dm.sn rn.f r ḥꜣt […]
  Effective dignitary, foremost of dignitaries, enduring of office, established of reign, the fair power of the Ennead, gracious of face, the sight of whom is beloved, the awe of whom is set in all lands in order that they pronounce his name first, […]
(with following genitive, or else plural) earthly image or incarnation (of a god), cult image, including statues, paintings, standards, people, etc. [since the Middle Kingdom]
(in the plural) gods in general [Greco-Roman Period]

Inflection

Declension of *sḫm* (masculine)
singular	sḫm
dual	sḫmwj
plural	sḫmw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of sḫm

sḫm

[Pyramid Texts]

[since the Pyramid Texts]

[Old Kingdom and 18th Dynasty]

[since the New Kingdom]

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of sḫm

sḫm

[Greco-Roman Period]

Derived terms

Descendants

Bohairic Coptic: ϣⲓϣⲉⲙ (šišem)
Lycopolitan Coptic: ϣⲓⲥⲙⲉ (šisme)

Noun

m

sekhem scepter [Pyramid Texts and Middle Kingdom]

Inflection

Declension of *sḫm* (masculine)
singular	sḫm
dual	sḫmwj
plural	sḫmw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of sḫm

sḫm

[Pyramid Texts]

[Middle Kingdom]

[since the Middle Kingdom]

abbreviation

Noun

m

sistrum [since the Middle Kingdom]
Synonym: zššt

― jrj sḫm ― to play the sistrum (+ n: for (someone))

Usage notes

The terms sḫm and zššt seem to have at times referred to two different kinds of sistrum; while the hieroglyph

could always be used in writings for both (though as a logogram only for sḫm), the hieroglyph

was originally only used in writings of zššt, while by the Greco-Roman Period it came to instead be used exclusively with sḫm.

Inflection

Declension of *sḫm* (masculine)
singular	sḫm
dual	sḫmwj
plural	sḫmw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of sḫm

sḫm

sšm

[Greco-Roman Period]

Derived terms

ḥwt-sḫm

Noun

m

(hapax) sword [Greco-Roman Period]

References

“sḫm (lemma ID 851679)”, “sḫm (lemma ID 142180)”, “sḫm (lemma ID 142140)”, “sḫm.w (lemma ID 142400)”, “sḫm (lemma ID 142130)”, “sḫm (lemma ID 142190)”, and “sḫm (lemma ID 142150)”, 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 (1930) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[2], volume 4, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 243.3–249.16, 251.18–252.7
Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 241
James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 377.

^ Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 59
^ Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 63

[1] Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 59

[2] Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 63

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