Egyptian Hieroglyphs: Lesson 1

General Overview

Reading Hieroglyphs

The ancient Egyptians created a highly flexible hieroglyphic system of writing. Hieroglyphs could be arranged in both columns and rows and could be read from the left or from the right, depending on how they were written. This allowed the ancient Egyptians to effortlessly integrate their writing with art, blurring the boundary between art and script. In the example below, the god Amun, imn, is written each of the possible combinations.

Left to Right

Right to Left

Left to Right

Right to Left

Although the task of reading hieroglyphs from the right direction may seem daunting at first, there is a simple trick that will allow you to easily identify the correct direction from which to begin:

Look for a hieroglyph with a face and read toward it.

When the figure is facing to the left, begin reading from the left. If they are facing right, begin from the right. When there are hieroglyphs are stacked on top of each other, the top sign should always be read before lower sign. Another feature of the Egyptian writing system that you might have noticed is “group writing.” Rather than placing hieroglyphs side-by-side, they were arranged in a way to reduce empty space: taller signs stand alone, while smaller signs are stacked on top of each other.

Transliteration and the Alphabet

Transliteration is the method of converting one script into another, also referred to as transcription. The hieroglyphs in the alphabet are called “uniliterals,” because they represent a single consonant. The ancient Egyptian language also contains biliterals and triliterals, which represent two and three consonants, respectively. The alphabet can be found in the chart below.

It will be helpful to memorize the alphabet not only because they occur often in texts, but also because Egyptologists arrange dictionaries in this order. So if you are unsure of the meaning of a word, but know how to transliterate it, knowing the alphabet will help you find the word faster than flipping frantically between the four different types of “H’s” to find the right one.

The Alphabet

Hieroglyph	Transliteration	Description
𓄿	3	Vulture
𓇋	i, j	Reed leaf
𓇋𓇋	y	Double Reed Leaf
𓂝	ʿ	Arm
𓅱 𓏲	w	Quail chick, rope curl
𓃀	b	Foot
𓊪	p	Stool
𓆑	f	Horned viper
𓅓　𓐝	m	Owl
𓈖　𓋔	n	Water, red crown
𓂋	r	Mouth
𓉔	h	House plan
𓎛	ḥ	Rope
𓐍	ḫ	Unknown
𓄡	ẖ	Animal belly and tail
𓊃	z	Door bolt
𓋴	s	Folded cloth
𓈙	š	Pool
𓈎	q	Hill
𓎡	k	Basket with handle
𓎼	g	Stand for vessel
𓏏	t	Bread loaf
𓍿	ṯ	Tethering rope
𓂧	d	Hand
𓆓	ḏ	Cobra

You might have noticed that there aren’t any vowels in the alphabet. They exist in the language, but the hieroglyphic script omitted them, which makes things difficult when it comes to pronunciation.

There’s a lot of current research into pronunciation (e.g. Allen’s Ancient Egyptian Phonology), but I was never particularly interested in it. If you are, then I suggest grabbing the book I listed, but it’s far beyond the scope of these lessons. For our purposes, I’ll simply describe the general conventions used in an introductory glyphs course.

Add an “e” in between the consonants.

Yup. That’s the basic approach when vocalizing transliterations. There’s some leeway when it comes to names and places (e.g. Amon vs Amun vs Amen), but in general, adding “e” in between consonants is just fine.

Pronunciation

Glyph	Translit.	Pronunciation
𓄿	3	“ah” as in “yacht”
𓇋	i, j	“ee” as in “feet”
𓇋𓇋	y	“ee” as in “feet”
𓂝	ʿ	“ah” as in “yacht”
𓅱 𓏲	w	“oo” as in “blue”
𓃀	b	“b” as in “bed”
𓊪	p	“p” as in “pet”
𓆑	f	“f” as in “fish”
𓅓　𓐝	m	“m” as in “map”
𓈖　𓋔	n	“n” as in “neat”
𓂋	r	“r” as in “ready”

Glyph	Translit.	Pronunciation
𓉔	h	“h” as in “hat”
𓎛	ḥ	“h” as in “hat”
𓐍	ḫ	“kh” as in Bach
𓄡	ẖ	“kyah” similar to the preceding sound
𓊃	z	“s” as in “sand”
𓋴	s	“s” as in “sand”
𓈙	š	“sh” as in “fish”
𓈎	q	“k” as in “kite”
𓎡	k	“k” as in “kite”
𓎼	g	“g” as in “girl”
𓏏	t	“t” as in “tape”
𓍿	ṯ	“tch” as in “chart”
𓂧	d	“d” as in “dog”
𓆓	ḏ	“dj” as in “sledge”

Pronunciation Examples

Word	Transliteration	Pronunciation
𓄔𓅓	sḏm	sedjem
𓄔𓅓𓆑	sḏm.f	sedjemef
𓁹𓋴	ir.s	ires (ear-ess)
𓊹𓀭	nṯr	netcher
𓊹𓊹𓊹	nṯrw	netcheroo

Phonograms, Ideograms, and Determinatives

Hieroglyphs are visual representations of objects or ideas that were familiar to ancient Egyptians. The Egyptologist Alan Gardiner arranged all of the hieroglyphs into a sign list which included twenty-six categories. There are a few different ways hieroglyphs are used.

When hieroglyphs are used to represent these real world things, they are called ideograms. For example, the hieroglyph 𓁷𓏤 (ḥr) represents a face. When it is used as an ideogram, it carries the meaning of “face.” When it is not used as an ideogram, it is used for it’s phonetic value ḥr.

You might be wondering how you’d know whether a hieroglyph was being used as a ideogram or not.

Phonograms are hieroglyphs that represent a specific sound (phonetic value). Using phonograms, scribes could spell out words. For example, we could combine the hieroglyphs for mouth, 𓂋𓏤 (r), and a water ripple, 𓈖 (n), from the alphabet above, and create the word for name, 𓂋𓈖 (rn). Independently, each hieroglyph represents a different idea, “mouth” and “water.” Together, they form an entirely new concept, “name.”

A determinative is a hieroglyph that does not have a phonetic value so it is not transliterated. They are placed at the end of words and provide a general meaning of the word. For example, we may not know what the word 𓊪𓏏𓊪𓏏𓂻 (ptpt) might mean, but the leg determinative 𓂻 gives us a rough idea: movement. The type of movement could be walking, running, stomping, dancing, or something else. In this case, the the word means “trampling.”

Ideogram

Represents an idea or concept. Vertical dash follows the glyph when used as an ideogram.

Example:
𓁷𓏤 (ḥr) – face.
𓂋𓏤 (r) – mouth.

Phonogram

Represents a vocal sound (phonetic value).

Example:
𓁷 (ḥr) – Preposition “on”
𓂋 (r) – Preposition “to”

Determinative

Glyph at the end of some words that gives the general meaning of the word.

Example:
𓂻 in 𓊪𓏏𓊪𓏏𓂻
General meaning: movement.
Actual definiton of ptpt: to trample.

Memorization

This section will contain either a vocabulary list, sign list, or both. Although it would be great if you memorized the lists, it’s not required at this point. The more you interact with hieroglyphic texts, in these exercises or elsewhere, the more you’ll begin to notice some of the more common signs and words. After a while, you’ll begin to naturally remember them.

Or you’ll get tired of looking them up and memorize them on the spot. Flashcards are great for that!

Biliterals

𓁹	𓏇	𓏠	𓎟	𓁷	𓏞
ir	mi	mn	nb	ḥr	sš

triliterals

𓋹	𓄤	𓊹
*ʿnḫ*	nfr	*nṯr*

Exercises

Exercise 1.

Identify the direction the hieroglyphs should be read (right to left or left to right), and then in your head, identify the order in which each individual glyph should be read. If you need help, refer to the “Reading Hieroglyphs” section.

1. 𓅠𓈖𓆑𓇓𓅱𓅓𓉐𓏤

Transliteration and Translation

gm.n.f sw m pr

He found him in the house.

Answer

Left to Right

Transliteration and Translation

nswt bity nb t3wy nb hʿw nb-m3ʿt-rʿ

King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands, Lord of Diadems, Nebmaatre (Amenhotep III)

Answer

Right to left.

The last sequence of hieroglyphs might be confusing. Why 13, 11, and 12 and not 11-13? This is a common feature called “honorific transposition” and often found in names. When a certain god or goddess is being honored, their name is pushed to the front. In this case, Re is being honored, so his name is at the head. We’ll learn more about this feature in the next lesson.

3. 𓄔𓅓𓈖𓆑𓌃𓂧𓏏𓀁𓇋𓏠𓈖𓀭

Transliteration and Translation

sḏm.n.f mdt imn

He heard the speech of Amun.

Answer

Left to Right

Transliteration and Translation

ḥmt nswt tiy

Royal wife, Tiye

Answer

Left to right.

This one is kinda mean, unless you remembered that the sedge (see problem #1 above) is transliterated as nswt. Although you’ve been introduced to honorific transposition, I haven’t mentioned it applies to nswt, among others.

Return to Index – Continue to Lesson 2