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A Grammar of the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Vol. 1 Unis by James P Allen

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FORTY YEARS AGO, I researched, wrote, and subsequently published a PhD dissertation on the verbal system of the Pyramid Texts (Allen 1984). The present study is expanded to the entire range of Pyramid Texts grammar, including not only the verbal system but also orthography, phonology, word formation, and non-verbal statements. I have begun by concentrating solely on the texts of Unis (Dyn. V, ca. 2325 BC), not only because they are the earliest, most complete, and most accessible of all the Old Kingdom sources but also because in-depth analyses of single sources can eventually reveal diachronic changes that might otherwise go unobserved in a more comprehensive work. It is my hope to continue this series with individual studies of each source, once the hieroglyphic texts of each are fully and properly published (as they have been, for example, for the texts of Pepi I: Leclant 2001).

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The texts are transcribed here according to traditional conventions. Post-lexical affixes, but not grammatical gender/number endings, are set off by dots: e.g., 166.1 j.nsbt.n.sn “which they have licked,” feminine singular attributive form of nsbj “lick,” with prefix reflecting syllabic metathesis (*[ni-] > *[in-]) and suffixes denoting completion (n) and third-person plural pronominal subject (sn). Transcriptions reflect the hieroglyphic text, and phonemes not represented in hieroglyphs are generally not supplied, except for the first-person singular suffix pronoun (j): thus, for example, 219.49 as ms.n.t n.(j) rather than ms.n.t(j) n.( and 273–74.50 as j.f sbn rather than j(w).f sbn.(j).
As the focus of this study is grammar, the translations adhere as closely as possible to lexical rather than contextual interpretation. A number of terms are rendered with conventional vocalizations of the Egyptian original rather than with circumlocutions: these include Ʒḫj “akh” (the deceased’s spirit in its relationship with the living), Ʒḫt “Akhet” (the liminal zone between the netherworld and the day sky), and dƷt/dwƷt “Duat” (the netherworld). Conversely, proper names consisting of epithets are translated lexically rather than with conventional vocalizations: for example, wp-wƷwt “PathsParter” rather than Wepwawet, nḥbw-kƷw “Ka-Allocater” rather than Nehebkau, and ḫntj-jmntjw “foremost of Westerners” rather than Khentiamentiu. Unis’s Pyramid Texts consist of two basic genres, ritual and personal. The first is the libretto of spells pronounced by an officiant as accompaniment to various rituals, such as the presentation of offerings. In these, the deceased either is addressed directly (“Unis,” “Osiris Unis,” “you”) or is referred to by name or third-person pronouns.
Unis’s texts contain evidence that some if not all of these were personalized from an original with nswt “the king” or mn “insert name” in place of the king’s name. Since the original term usually cannot be determined, these spells are translated as preserved in the pyramid. The officiant, the king’s son, Horus, speaks in the first person: e.g., 38.2 wp.j n.k r.k “I part your mouth for you.” This is also assumed to be the case in ambivalent passages, particularly those in which the deceased, as passive participant in the ritual, was probably not envisioned as taking a proactive role: thus, for example, 57.2 m-n.k jrt ḥrw ḥtm.(j) ṯw jm.s “here for you is Horus’s eye: I provide you with it” rather than ḥtm ṯw jm.s “provide yourself with it.”

 

Author: James P. Allen

 

Format: PDF

 

Year: 2017

 

Pages: 392

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