zt-ḥmt

Egyptian

Etymology

zt (“woman”) +‎ ḥmt (“woman”). This compound arose because the feminine ending -t in zt eventually became silent, making zt homophonous with z (“man”), so that it became necessary to add ḥmt to clarify.

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˌzutˈħiːmat/ → /ˌsuʔˈħiːmaʔ/ → /səˈħiːma/ → /səˈħiːmə/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˌzutˈħiːmat/
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˌsuʔˈħiːmaʔ/
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /səˈħiːma/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /səˈħiːmə/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /zɛt hɛmɛt/
  • Conventional anglicization: zet-hemet

Noun

 f

1. woman

Inflection

Declension of zt-ḥmt (feminine)

singular	zt-ḥmt
dual	ztj-ḥmtj
plural	zwt-ḥmwt

Descendants

• Demotic: s-ḥmt
  • Akhmimic Coptic: ⲥϩⲓⲙⲉ (shime)
  • Bohairic Coptic: ⲥϩⲓⲙⲓ (shimi)
  • Fayyumic Coptic: ⲥϩⲓⲙⲓ (shimi), ⲥⲓⲙⲓ (simi), ⲥⲓⲙⲉⲓ (simei)
  • Lycopolitan Coptic: ⲥϩⲓⲙⲉ (shime)
  • Old Coptic: ⲥⲓⲙⲉ (sime)
  • Sahidic Coptic: ⲥϩⲓⲙⲉ (shime), ⲥⲉⲓⲙⲉ (seime), ⲥϩⲉ (she)

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 344.