wdfj

Egyptian

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈwitʼfit/ → /ˈwitʼfiʔ/ → /ˈwetʼfa/ → /ˈwetʼfə/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈwitʼfit/
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈwitʼfiʔ/
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈwetʼfa/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈwetʼfə/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /wɛdɛfi/
  • Conventional anglicization: wedefi

Verb

 4ae inf.

1. (intransitive) to be(come) late, to delay (+ m: to delay in (doing something))
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 67–73:

     jw wp.n.f r(ꜣ).f r.j jw.j ḥr ẖt.j m bꜣḥ.f ḏd.f n.j (j)n-mj jn tw zpwj snwj nḏs (j)n-mj jn tw jr wdf.k m ḏd n.j jn tw r jw pn rḏj.j rḫ.k tw jw.k m ss⟨f⟩ ḫpr.t(j) m ntj nj mꜣ.t(w).f

     He opened his mouth at me while I was on my belly before him, saying to me:
     ―Who brought you, who brought you, little man? Who brought you? If you delay in telling me who brought you to this island, I will make you know yourself as ashes, transformed into that which cannot be seen.

Inflection

Conjugation of wdfj (fourth weak / 4ae inf. / IV. inf.) — base stem: wdf

infinitival forms imperative infinitive negatival complement complementary infinitive1 singular plural wdft, wdfj wdfw, wdfyw, wdf wdft, wdfwt, wdfyt wdf wdf, wdfy ‘pseudoverbal’ forms stative stem periphrastic imperfective2 periphrastic prospective2 wdf8 ḥr wdft, ḥr wdfj m wdft, ḥr wdfj r wdft, ḥr wdfj suffix conjugation aspect / mood active contingent aspect / mood active perfect wdf.n consecutive wdf.jn terminative wdft perfective3 wdf obligative1 wdf.ḫr imperfective wdf, wdfy prospective3 wdfw, wdf, wdfy potentialis1 wdf.kꜣ subjunctive wdf, wdfy verbal adjectives aspect / mood relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms participles active active passive perfect wdf.n — — perfective wdfw1, wdfy, wdf wdf wdfy, wdf imperfective wdf, wdfy, wdfw5 wdf, wdfj6, wdfy6 wdf, wdfw5 prospective wdfw1, wdfy, wdf, wdftj7 wdfwtj1 4, wdftj4, wdft4 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. 8 Third-person masculine statives of this class often have a final -y instead of the expected stative ending.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of wdfj  

wdf

Derived terms

• swdfj

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 313.