ssn

See also: SSN

Egyptian

Etymology

s- (causative prefix) +‎ sn (“to smell, to kiss”).

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /sɛsɛn/
  • Conventional anglicization: sesen

Verb

 caus. 2-lit.

1. (transitive or intransitive, of a person or a nose) to breathe [since the Pyramid Texts]
2. (transitive) to smell (a scent) [since the Pyramid Texts]
   • c. 1800 BCE, Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus (UC 32057), page 2, line 7:

     jw.j ḥr ssnt ꜣšr

     I smell roasting.

Usage notes

By the Late Period, snsn (“to smell, to inhale”) began to replace this word.

Inflection

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

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
ssnt, ssn	ssnw, ssn	ssnt	ssn	ssn

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

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	passive	contingent
			aspect / mood	active	passive
perfect	ssn.n	ssnw, ssn	consecutive	ssn.jn	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
terminative	ssnt
perfective3	ssn	active + .tj1, .tw2	obligative1	ssn.ḫr	active + .tj1, .tw2
imperfective	ssn	active + .tj1, .tw2
prospective3	ssnw, ssn, ssny	ssnw, ssn, ssny	potentialis1	ssn.kꜣ	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
subjunctive	ssn	active + .tj1, .tw2

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms		participles
	active	passive	active	passive
perfect	ssn.n	active + .tj1, .tw2	—	—
perfective	ssn	active + .tj1, .tw2	ssn	ssn, ssnw5, ssny5
imperfective	ssn, ssny, ssnw5	active + .tj1, .tw2	ssn, ssnj6, ssny6	ssn, ssnw5
prospective	ssn, ssntj7	—	ssnwtj1 4, ssntj4, ssnt4
Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. 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. Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. Only in the masculine singular. Only in the masculine. Only in the feminine.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ssn  

ssn	ssnj	ssnj	ssn	ssn	ssn
[since the Pyramid Texts; common since the Middle Kingdom]	[since the New Kingdom]	[since the New Kingdom]	[since the New Kingdom]	[since the New Kingdom]	[since the New Kingdom]

Derived terms

• ssnt

References

• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1930) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1], volume 4, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 277.9–277.16
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 245