By Rhio Barnhart. Published on Egyptological, In Brief, June 29th 2011.
In 2009 I signed up to study the ancient Egyptian Language online through the Glyphstudy group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GlyphStudy.
Hieroglyphs, British Museum
The Glyphstudy group is available, free of charge, to anyone interested in studying the grammar of ancient Egyptian. There are a number of groups under the Glyphstudy banner. Since not everyone will want to undertake a full grammar, there are a couple of less intensive texts available for those interested in a gentler introduction. For those students I would recommend the Glyphstudy group using the Janice Kamrin’s Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs, A Practical Guide. For those who want a full course, two full grammars are currently used. The text I chose is James Hoch’s Middle Egyptian Grammar.
Undertaking this study is ultimately very satisfying. However, regardless of the level of text selected, it is extremely challenging. The language existed for some 4,500 years and underwent considerable changes over its long history. “Middle” Egyptian is the version in use from ca. 2135 – 1300 B.C.E., or Dynasties 9-18. Although there were two principle scripts used for Middle Egyptian, hieroglyphic and hieratic, it is hieroglyphic script that is used in the initial study.
The student initially learns the 27 signs that comprise the “alphabet”. Besides depicting various objects, these signs also have a phonetic value. One learns the signs, the phonetic value as well as the corresponding traditional transliteration symbols. A parallel set of transliteration symbols, the Manuel de Codage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_de_Codage), using standard alphabet symbols is also learned for submitting excercises online. Hoch next covers Egyptian sentence structure. Word order in Egyptian is very fixed and one must have a good understanding of this to learn the way the language is put together. Next the student is introduced to nouns, adjectives and pronouns.
Hoch introduces verbs early on in chapter three, but gently. The Egyptian verbal system comprises the bulk of the 16 lessons and can be daunting. Barbara Mertz says that when one begins to study verbs, “the casualties begin”. Hoch keeps his grammar concise; the 16 lessons comprise only some 234 pages. There is a dictionary of vocabulary and a key to the excercises. Hoch wrote his text book to be used in his classes and his explanations are sometimes not as fully fleshed out as in other texts. The moderator of the group provides a study guide to supplement each lesson that can be downloaded and printed. They are superb and enormously helpful.
If one can afford it, it is extremely helpful to acquire the other two major grammars, Alan Gardiner’s Egyptian Grammar and James Allen’s Middle Egyptian, both of which are available for purchase online. Especially in the more advanced areas, these texts all complement each other and comparison becomes extremely valuable in establishing a comprehensive understanding.
There are many online resources to assist with the study of Egyptian.
It is difficult to retain all the points of grammar and learn vocabulary. It is also one of the most fascinating things you will ever do and will enrich your life in ways you cannot imagine. It helps with an in-depth understanding of this amazing ancient civilization and its history.
The Glyphstudy calendar is designed to be of manageable length and sufficient time is provided to learn difficult material. The Hoch group has taken about two years to complete. After completion you will have an excellent knowledge, equivalent to a college course, of the fundamentals of an extremely difficult ancient language.
Biography
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I recently joined ‘GlyphStudy’ – starting at the very basic level using the Collier/Manley book – this is the perfect start for those of us who are not academics but want to add another dimension to our AE studies; really enjoying the study and the feeling of being part of the world of Egyptology that one doesn’t get from books!
Jean – Glad you’re enjoying it. Glyphstudy is a wonderful community. One of the best aspects is that one need not be an “academic”. There is wide variation in the background of the members. Those who are knowledgeable are always ready to assist with answers.
RHB
I should also say that even though I feel I have learned a great deal, there is still so much more to be learned.
Karen,
I don’t think it ever stops! After completing a full grammar like Hoch or Allen, you realize you have just scratched the surface. One can find periodical or monograph length studies of almost any point in the grammar and dissertations are continually forthcoming with in-depth studies. The last lesson in Hoch covers a few points of late Egyptian. This then launches you into that study. I wish I had started this earlier. I turn 64 this month and don’t have the memory I used to, but I still keep at it. Retaining vocabulary is the hardest part, but I will probably never stop. “When the hieroglyphic duck seizes your toe, it never lets go.”
Cheers,
RHB
Pat,
You are right about the constant application and practice. There are myriad details of grammar and vocabulary. It is difficult to remember everything. Every bit of study you do builds your knowledge. Keep at it.
One should have at hand some guides regardless of the level of your course.
Some recommendations –
As a quick reference, I downloaded and printed off Mark Jan Nederhof’s NewGardiner index:
http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~mjn/egyptian/fonts/NewGardiner.pdf.
There are also two extended sign lists online.
Mine, based on the Aegyptus font:
http://music.ucdavis.edu/RHBHome/Aegyptus_character_list.html
as well as the old CCER Hieroglyphica list which has been resurrected at:
http://hieroglyphes.pagesperso-orange.fr/CCER-Hieroglyphica.htm
The Hieroglyphica list may be a bit easier to use.
Another very handy strategy is to use the Vygus dictionary, available free at http://www.pyramidtextsonline.com/documents/VygusDictionaryJune2011.pdf. At the beginning he gives an index of signs with the page numbers – in red – where the sign is the first in a word. Extremely helpful.
If you happen to own the Faulkner dictionary, there is a sign index, low and high-res versions at
http://www.rostau.org.uk/AEgyptian-L/reference/faulkner_index.html
RHB
thank you so much for this, you are very kind. Pat
Mark-Jan’s excellent New Gardiner font is what we are presently using for signs on Egyptological – there is a full sign list on Hieropaedia. The plugin dynamically builds an image (.png) from the font – well actually the more recent versions cache common symbols to speed things up.
Nice to know your pages are still online Rhio. I want to make Aegyptus available to authors and commentors here as well, but I am having trouble because it uses 5-byte character codes which PHP/GD doesn’t handle properly. When I crack that, we can have full Aegyptus online whether people have downloaded the font or not.
Thanks for the useful links.
Kate
lots of good, practical suggestions here.
I’m a 2nd year student on the online University of Manchester Certificate in Egyptology course. Part of the syllabus involves hieroglyphics which I’m finding very interesting (I write shorthand, which is based on phonetics, so my introduction to hieroglyphics was eased somewhat). I’ve decided to join the week-long hieroglyphics course at University of Liverpool in August (Ancient Worlds Summer School, SACE) and have also attended a day school in Southampton run by Hilary Wilson, which was excellent.
Hieroglyphics is a subject which I think is going to require constant application/practice to keep it fresh in one’s mind. But its fascinating and I heartily recommend it!
Pat Kennedy
Working on the hieroglyphs plugin has taught me a lot. Those of us who learn French or Spanish at school think we have learned a foreign language but they are still within the Indo-European family of languages. Without getting into the tecnical argument as to where ancient Egyptian sits in the families of languages, there is no doubt that hieroglyphs are very different to modern European languages which I suspect is a part of why study can be difficult and a structured course helpful.
I am just glad that most hieroglyphics study tends not to worry too much about pronunuciation – my aural abilities are dire as I cannot hear the differences between some sounds which other people feel are distinctive!
Kate –
My understanding is that the traditional classroom study involved trying to pronounce words. There is an sizable void of knowledge here. As the language evolved various sounds were dropped and there may very well have been unwritten inflections that influenced the grammar. Many opportunities for research!
There is an Italian chap who has done an experimental reconstruction of spoken ancient Egyptian and posted readings and some animations. A number of scholars have been impressed with his efforts.
Take a look at:
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/omezzabo/
http://www.pyramidtextsonline.com/tools.html
RHB
Even if you ARE interested in a more in-depth study, Egypt Voyager’s hieroglyph lessons are a really ex excellent beginning. Jacques Kinnear has distilled a great deal of very basic information into a concise explanation. You will learn a great deal AND be able to recognize some basic words, names, etc.
I was in the 2005 Allen group on GlyphStudy. I completed it!! It was a fabulous experience!! I really learned so much. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
If you are not looking for an in-depth experience, try the web site Egypt Voyager for nine great, easy lessons that will absolutely make any future museum visits more fun than you thought possible!!