srḫ

See also: SRH and srh

Egyptian

Etymology

From s- (causative prefix) +‎ rḫ (“to know, to learn”). The noun is derived from the verb.

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /sɛrɛx/
  • Conventional anglicization: serekh

Verb

 caus. 2-lit.

1. (transitive) to make known, to show or publicly reveal (someone or something) (+ n: to (someone)) [since the Middle Kingdom]
2. (transitive) to denounce, to accuse (someone) (+ n: of, regarding; to fault for, to blame for)

Inflection

Conjugation of srḫ (causative biliteral / caus. 2-lit. / caus. 2rad.) — base stem: srḫ

infinitival forms imperative infinitive negatival complement complementary infinitive1 singular plural srḫt, srḫ srḫw, srḫ srḫt srḫ srḫ ‘pseudoverbal’ forms stative stem periphrastic imperfective2 periphrastic prospective2 srḫ ḥr srḫ m srḫ r srḫ suffix conjugation aspect / mood active passive contingent aspect / mood active passive perfect srḫ.n srḫw, srḫ consecutive srḫ.jn active + .tj1, .tw2 active + .tj1, .tw2 terminative srḫt perfective3 srḫ active + .tj1, .tw2 obligative1 srḫ.ḫr active + .tj1, .tw2 imperfective srḫ active + .tj1, .tw2 prospective3 srḫw, srḫ, srḫy srḫw, srḫ, srḫy potentialis1 srḫ.kꜣ active + .tj1, .tw2 active + .tj1, .tw2 subjunctive srḫ active + .tj1, .tw2 verbal adjectives aspect / mood relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms participles active passive active passive perfect srḫ.n active + .tj1, .tw2 — — perfective srḫ active + .tj1, .tw2 srḫ srḫ, srḫw5, srḫy5 imperfective srḫ, srḫy, srḫw5 active + .tj1, .tw2 srḫ, srḫj6, srḫy6 srḫ, srḫw5 prospective srḫ, srḫtj7 — srḫwtj1 4, srḫtj4, srḫt4 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 srḫ  

srḫ	srḫ	srḫ	srḫ	sḫr
			[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]
	sporadic	sporadic		sporadic

Noun

 m

1. notoriety, infamy, bad reputation (+ ḫr: before (someone)) [Middle and New Kingdoms and 26th Dynasty]
   • 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.

Usage notes

Usually found negated and with a suffix pronoun attached.

Inflection

Declension of srḫ (masculine)

singular	srḫ
dual	srḫwj
plural	srḫw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of srḫ  

srḫ	srḫ	srḫ

Noun

 m

1. palace façade, particularly as a seat for the Horus-falcon and as an enclosure containing the serekh name [since the 18th Dynasty]
2. (by extension) throne, seat of a king or god

Inflection

Declension of srḫ (masculine)

singular	srḫ
dual	srḫwj
plural	srḫw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of srḫ  

srḫ	srḫ	srḫ
	abbreviation

Descendants

• → English: serekh

References

• “srḫ (lemma ID 139590)”, “srḫ (lemma ID 139600)”, and “srḫ (lemma ID 139660)”, 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 199.1–199.8, 200.3–200.14
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 236
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 66, 189.