Hierogyphics
HierogyphicsHIEROGLYPHICS
HIEROGLYPHS are pictures that were used to write the ancient
Egyptian language. In the beginning hieroglyphic signs were used to keep
records of the king's possessions. Scribes could easily make these records by
drawing a picture of a cow or a boat followed by a number. But as the
language became more complex more pictures were needed. Eventually the
language consisted of more then 750 individual signs.
AS in other languages, words in Egyptian were made up of sounds,
partly of consonants and partly of vowels. But, the writing of hieroglyphs
constantly ignored and omitted vowels. Thus the two signs which represent
"mt", could be read as met, mat, amta, emt or any other combinations of
vowels and "mt". Since the ancient language has never been heard, we are not
sure how this word would be pronounced. In order to avoid this, we need a
method of writing and pronouncing these glyphs consistently . The course
usually adopted is to use the English vowel "e" and in a some cases "a"
between the two glyphs. So we can pronounce as "met".
THE pronunciation of a word is the crucial element in using
hieroglyphics, how a word sounds is more important then how it is spelled.
For instance, the word that is spelled "cat" is actually pronounced "kat". The
name that is spelled "Cleopatra" is pronounced "Kliopadra". So, these word
would be written in hieroglyphs the way they sound. Because the words
"where" and "wear" sound alike they could be written using the same
hieroglyphic signs. The same could be said of the words "there" and "their".
HIEROGLYPHS are more then just a way of writing, they are also
pictures, and as such they are meant to be estheticly pleasing. The picture
signs can be written from right to left; from left to right; or vertically, reading
downwards. To determine which way to read a line of hieroglyphs, look for
pictures of men or animals. See which way the pictures are facing, the text is
read towards the faces. If they are facing to the left, the inscription is read
from the left to the right. If they are facing right, the inscription is read from
right to left.
THERE are three forms of writing that were used to write the ancient
Egyptian language.
Hieroglyphs:
From the greek meaning "sacred writing." this is the picture language
that was used most often to decorate temples and monuments. It could be
written with pen and ink on papyrus, painted or carved into stone. It was
carefully drawn, to make the signs as accurate as possible.
Hieratic:
This was the cursive form of writing, as script is to printed letters. It
was much quicker to write since the picture quality of the language was
reduced to a pattern of lines and squiggles.
Demotic:
This was a shorthand version of the Hieratic script which was used
during the Late Period. Demotic means "the...
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