The Language of Ramesses

Late Egyptian Grammar

Francois Neveu, Maria Cannata

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781782978695
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Egyptian Ancient History
• Index: History

François Neveu's seminal work, here available in English for the first time, enables the reader to explore the Ramesside age through an understanding of Late Egyptian. This phase corresponds to the language spoken from the 17th to the 24th dynasty, which became a written language – used for private letters, administrative, legal and literary texts, as well as some official inscriptions – during the Amarna period (circa 1364 BC). The first part of the book covers the basics of the grammar and morphology, while the second part is devoted to the syntax, covering first the verbal system and then the nominal forms. In addition there are two appendices, one devoted to interrogative constructions and another to syllabic writing. The book incorporates the most recent work on the subject and the clarity with which Neveu presents linguistic and grammatical points, and the hundreds of examples used to illustrate the grammatical presentation, makes this the ideal tool for anyone interested in learning Late Egyptian grammar in order to read and understand texts from this period.The texts also introduce the reader to the daily life of the Deir el-Medina workers, the social movements that shook the community, the conspiracies at court, the embezzlement of some priests and other prominent community figures, major historical events, as well as the stories and novels studied and read by the society of the time.

PART ONE

MORPHOLOGY

P. Cairo J 65739, 1-14 (cf p. 11, 60, 111).

1. Nouns

In Late Egyptian there are two genders, masculine and feminine; as well as two numbers, singular and plural.

▪ Unlike classical Egyptian, Late Egyptian expresses the neuter by means of the masculine, the dual having practically disappeared from the current stage of the language.

1.1 Morphology

Theoretically, masculine nouns have no special endings, while feminine nouns take a .t ending. The plural is marked, for both genders, with a .w, with three short strokes, or both.

In practice, gender and number are indicated by the definite article, the demonstrative or the possessive. The endings, no longer pronounced, lost their significance and no longer need to be taken into account. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find masculine nouns with a .t ending, feminine ones without endings, as well as singular nouns marked with the endings of the plural (see infra §2).

▪ The feminine .t ending may have been retained in the pronunciation, and consequently writing, of Semitic loan words:

mrkbt ‘chariot,’¹ and of nouns in the pronominal state (status pronominalis)

psdt.f ‘his Ennead.’²

1.2 Syntax

Nouns can be defined or undefined. Defined nouns are preceded by a definite article, a demonstrative adjective or a possessive adjective. In addition, nouns that do not fall into the above categories, but are followed by a suffix pronoun,³ a proper name,⁴ or by nb,⁵ are treated...