wꜥj

Egyptian

Etymology

Compare wꜥ (“one, alone”), either the source of the verb or a derivation of it.

Pronunciation

(reconstructed Old Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈwiʕjit/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /wɑːi/
  • Conventional anglicization: wai

Verb

 3ae inf.

1. (intransitive) to be(come) alone, to be(come) the sole or only one
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 41–45:

     jr.n.j ḫmtw hrw wꜥ.kw jb.j m snnw.j sḏr.kw m ẖnw n(j) kꜣp n(j) ḫt qnj.n.j šwyt

     I spent three days alone, my heart my only companion (literally, “my second”), lying inside a shelter of wood, having embraced the shadows.

Inflection

Conjugation of wꜥj (third weak / 3ae inf. / III. inf.) — base stem: wꜥ

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
wꜥt, wꜥj	wꜥw, wꜥ	wꜥt, wꜥwt, wꜥyt	wꜥ	wꜥ, wꜥy

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective2		periphrastic prospective2
wꜥ8	ḥr wꜥt, ḥr wꜥj	m wꜥt, m wꜥj	r wꜥt, r wꜥj

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	contingent
		aspect / mood	active
perfect	wꜥ.n	consecutive	wꜥ.jn
terminative	wꜥt, wꜥyt
perfective3	wꜥ	obligative1	wꜥ.ḫr
imperfective	wꜥ, wꜥy
prospective3	wꜥw, wꜥ, wꜥy	potentialis1	wꜥ.kꜣ
subjunctive	wꜥ, wꜥy

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms	participles
	active	active	passive
perfect	wꜥ.n	—	—
perfective	wꜥw1, wꜥy, wꜥ	wꜥ	wꜥy, wꜥ
imperfective	wꜥ, wꜥy, wꜥw5	wꜥ, wꜥj6, wꜥy6	wꜥ, wꜥw5
prospective	wꜥw1, wꜥy, wꜥ, wꜥtj7	wꜥwtj1 4, wꜥtj4, wꜥt4
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. Third-person masculine statives of this class often have a final -y instead of the expected stative ending.

References

• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 219.