The only body of narrative sentences your researcher has access to is a work by Wallace Budge, and all the examples in this entry are taken from it:
Budge, Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis. 1963 1983 [printing]. Egyptian language: easy lessons in Egyptian hieroglyphics with sign list. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Here is the puzzling word, in a fairly standard form:
¬ḥ¬ aHa stand
The idea concerns aHa: ‘stand’.
Could this word, however, have been used for rather more than just literally ‘standing’? Perhaps a new usage might have arisen from the common by-product of standing, which is ‘waiting’. Waiting implies an elapsing of time. This led to the idea that when in AE ‘stand’ is used, it might on occasions have been intended to convey the idea of the passage of time, that something was progressing over a period.
That is what this entry really has to say. Consequently all that follows are various illustrative sentences featuring ‘stand’ taken from the above book by Wallace Budge (EAWB), together with some reflections on them. The sentences are arranged in the order in which they occur in the book.
Now let us consider some of these ‘stand’ sentences. Here they are referred to as ‘passages’ as they may be of one or several lines in length. Sometimes a non-'stand' line has been included for completeness.
The coloured illustrations are extracts from the Hierolex (or Nedj Nedj) database. Here are some points about it.
➤ For the most part this database displays the glyphs sequentially, not as they appeared in the original writing.
➤ The glyphs names (pink bar at the top) are JMS’s arbitrary choice.
➤ The code numbers (deep purple bar) are Gardiner numbers.
➤ And the sound values (yellow bar) are as indicated by authorities such as Gardiner.
➤ The sign /¬/ is used for the sign that looks somewhat like an inverted comma /‛/ and is ‘a guttural sound unknown to English’ but one generally shown as a form of ‘a’.
PASSAGE 1: EAWB:39
Example 1: EAWB:39:2
His brother elder stood
Example 2: EAWB:39:3
behind the door of his
The passage continues:
... stable to stab his ... brother younger at his coming at ... eventide to make to enter his ... cattle into the stables.
The element in question (from Example 1) is:
Example 3: Extract from Example 1
stand
Egyptian
|
English
|
EngJSM
|
source
|
glyphs
|
(¬ḥ¬n: aHa-n)
|
"stood"
|
stand did
|
EAWB [39:2.4]
|
<bubbly arm legs water>
|
NOTE ON PRESENTATION OF THE TABLES
The above table presents a ‘summary line’. All tables in this entry follow this format. The columns are:
1. Egyptian: The official transcription; and a JMS easy-to-read respelling
2. English: The original English translation
3. EngJSM: A translation by JMS (it is JSM because it is the Main JS Englsih entry; there is a subordinate JS-English column, not shown in the summary)
4. Source: This shows the source document, together with page number, line or entry number, and instance (or word) within the entry.
5. Glyphs: The glyphs are shown by JMS-name rather than as pictures, which for the present is beyond the scope of the database within the summary line.
From the EAWB translation, and the general sense of the impending ambushing of the younger brother by the older brother, the older brother might have just ‘stood’ behind the door as a brief action; or the sense might instead have been that he had been standing there over a period and waiting. We can only speculate as to the original writer’s intention. It is contended by your researcher that this could be read either way in this instance.
-----------------------------
There are similar examples later in the book:
(sen āa āḥā er ḥāt tuk Xeri: sen ayA aHa er HAt tuk kheri)
|
"brother elder standeth in front of thee with"
|
brother elder / stand / before / thee / lower, underlying, having
|
EAWB [41:1]
|
<arrow: spikes SQUATTER pointy PLANE bubbly arm legs mouth lion: paw bun stroke bun coil cup block mouth pair PLANE>
|
(sen āa åuf āḥā en ḥa: sen ayA iwuf aHan Ha)
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"brother elder [as] he stood behind"
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brother elder / (It’s like this:) he / stand did / behind
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EAWB [42:3]
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<arrow: spikes SQUATTER pointy PLANE reed coil viper bubbly arm legs water pap eagle profile>
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(āḥā - ϴå erek må nefa Åsårtiu: aHa-ti er-ek mi nefa wesiretiyu)
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"Thou art standing like these divine Osiris beings."
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stand thou / in relation to thee / like / those / Osiris what is agent
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EAWB [100:9]
|
<bubbly arm legs cosh reed mouth cup mace-2 reed water viper eagle PAIR road piano eye eagle-like CROUCH PLURAL>
|
Then:
Passage 2: EAWB [149:7]
Example 4
(āḥā ´teṭ - set nef bu pu uā meṭet: aHa djed-set en-ef bu pu uwa medet)
|
"Stood up said she to him, 'No one hath spoken"
|
stand / speak she / to him / no / one / one / speech
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EAWB [149:7]
|
<bubbly arm legs cobra-J hand cloth bun water viper leg coil stool coil harpoon STROKE arm pestle: bar hand bun stroke SQUATTERMOUTH>
|
Stood up said she to him, 'No one hath spoken
... with me except thy young brother'.
The second line preceded by the three dots is the otherwise irrelevant continuation of the passage.
Example 5 : Extract from Example 4
stand
Perhaps she did ‘stand up’ and speak, or perhaps the sense was that ‘she was speaking’ (i.e. over a period).
In this extract, as in the previous one, there is a <legs> determinative
. This suggests motion, as is implied in the instantaneous action of standing. If ‘stand’ here were to connote an abstract concept such as the passage of time, perhaps a <plane>
might have been expected.
. This suggests motion, as is implied in the instantaneous action of standing. If ‘stand’ here were to connote an abstract concept such as the passage of time, perhaps a <plane>might have been expected.
------------------------------
Passage 3: EAWB [149:9]
The next example features two verbs possibly both in the past tense. The full sentence is:
Example 6
Stood up glanced at them
(āḥā en qemḥet en set: aHan gemeHeten-set)
|
"Stood up glanced at them"
|
stand did (his majesty), / espy what is did / them-all
|
EAWB [149:9]
|
<bubbly arm water ibis chisel bun rope eye: lash water bolt bun PLURAL>
|
The question is: was this one instant action of ‘standing up’ followed by another of ‘glancing’? Or was it a description of glancing + ‘stand/wait/’ over a period of time?
Example 7: Extract from Example 6
Stood up
(āḥā en: aHa-n)
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"Stood"
|
stand did
|
EAWB [149:9.1]
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<bubbly arm water>
|
In this instance there is no <legs> determinative.
A DIGRESSION, JUST FOR INTEREST
The possibly complex verb including a relative t (what is)
, a past-tense marker <water> en
, a past-tense marker <water> en 
Example 8
glanced at them
(qemḥet en set: gemeHe-t-en set)
|
"glanced"
|
espy what is did them-all
|
EAWB [149:9.3]
|
<water ibis chisel bun rope eye: lash water bolt bun PLURAL>
|
Here is how this verb appeared in EAWB’s book:
JMS: espy what is did them-all
EAWB has grouped the glyphs as three words,
◉ he has apparently arbitrarily translated the first in the past tense,
◉ he has included the ‘relative’ <bun> t before the <rope>
ḥ even though it is pronounced after, in an instance of ‘graphic transposition’. It would seem an odd choice as <bun> t would have comfortably fitted above the <eye: lash>
. The relative represented by <bun> t is rendered in the JMS translation as ‘what is’.
t before the <rope>ḥ even though it is pronounced after, in an instance of ‘graphic transposition’. It would seem an odd choice as <bun> t would have comfortably fitted above the <eye: lash>. The relative represented by <bun> t is rendered in the JMS translation as ‘what is’.
◉ he has translated the <water> sign as the preposition ‘at’ (one of a number of accepted meanings).
◉ he has shown the final sign-group as ‘them’, the third-person plural pronoun.
Your amateur researcher is, however, suggesting instead that the <water> sign:
:
◆ is the past-tense marker,
◆ and by implication that there is no need for the preposition ‘at’, any more than there is when we say ‘see them’.
[The choice of ‘espy’ as a translation item is not significant. It is just a ‘looking’ word selected to cover various meanings of ‘look at’, ‘catch sight of’, ‘cause to see’ and ‘glance at’. Any word similar to ‘espy’ might have been selected, even ‘glance’.)
-------------------------
Passage 4: EAWB [150:2]
The next example, also featuring the <legs> determinative, would appear to feature a genuinely literal use of ‘stand’:
, would appear to feature a genuinely literal use of ‘stand’:
Example 9
(un ån - s set ḥer āḥā: wen in-es set Her aha)
|
"Was she standing up."
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well then she / she / standing is
|
EAWB [150:2]
|
<hare water reed water bolt cloth bun face STROKE bubbly arm legs>
|
Example 10: Extract from Example 9
is standing
This instance features the ‘specific present’ using Her before the verb itself. This element is made up of <face stroke> ḥr. When preceding the verb in this way it may be translated as, for example: ‘is listening’, ‘is looking’, ‘is loving’, ‘is giving’ and so on. In the present case it is: ‘stand-ing is’ (is standing).
---------------------
Passage 5: EAWB [161:1]
In the next example we have the first of the really quaint usages of ‘stand’.
What would be the point of the ‘stand up’ instruction in this instance?
Example 11
Stand up, wait until the daybreak being
(āḥā ṭi er ḥe´t - ta un: aHa di er Hedj wen)
|
"Stand up, wait until the daybreak being"
|
stand / wait / to bright / be
|
EAWB [161:1]
|
<bubbly arm legs hand PAIR road mouth streetlight cobra-J sun strip: extras hare water>
|
In addition, in this passage we have ‘stand’ and ‘wait’ together. So perhaps this is the best indicator so far that aHa is not about literal ‘standing’ but rather about prolongation of time, as in waiting. In which case a reasonable translation might be ‘continue to wait’ or similar.
The sentence continues:
... the Disk, i. e., Ra, shining (or rising).
-----------------------------------
Passage 6: EAWB [161:7]
The Ancient Egyptians admittedly lived in a different time with a different culture, but what could ‘supports’ of the heart be? In those days ‘heart’ seems to have been used figuratively as it is today — but ‘supports’??
Example 13
Stable is thy heart by (or on) its supports.
(men åb - k er āḥāu - f: men ib-ek er aHawu-f)
|
"Stable is thy heart by (or on) its supports."
|
Firm / heart thy / in relation to / support / it-of
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EAWB [161:7]
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<comb water PLANE heart STROKE cup mouth bubbly arm quail PLANE-v PLURAL-v viper>
|
Example 14: Extract from Example 13
its supports
(āḥāu - f: aHa-wu-f)
|
"its supports"
|
support it-of
|
EAWB [161:7.4]
|
<bubbly arm quail PLANE-v PLURAL-v viper>
|
If aHa were to do with continuance of time in some way, then perhaps the sentence, and ‘supports’, might be rendered instead as:
firm / heart thy / in relation to / continuation / it-of
thy heart is continuing soundly
This is a speculative translation.
--------------------
Passage 7: EAWB [162:6]
In this next example EAWB has not offered a translation for the initial aHa.
This word is then followed by the fairly similar aHA, meaning ‘fight’.
Example 15
He hath fought for it.
(āḥā āḥa - nef ḥer - s: aHa aHAn-ef Her-es)
|
"He hath fought for it."
|
stand / fight did he / on account of it
|
EAWB [162:6]
|
<bubbly arm PLANE arms: shield eagle arm: stick water viper face mouth bolt>
|
Example 16: EAWB presentation of the Example 15 sentence
The illustration immediately below was scanned from the EAWB book, and is the original from which Example 15 was derived.
JMS: Continuing fight did he on account of it
JMS: aHa aHA-n-ef Her -es
If the persistence-over-time concept were to be valid, then the sentence might be translated idiomatically as ‘He was fighting over it’.
-----------------------
Other sentences
(āḥā ser em uā seṭi ses: aHa ser em wa sedi ses)
|
"Stood the prince alone, he drew the bolt."
|
stand / prince / alone / pull make / bolt
|
EAWB [173:2]
|
<bubbly arm legs stander: staff-only owl harpoon sparrow cloth hand PAIR arm: stick boltx2 branch>
|
-----------------------
Passage 8: EAWB [173:8]
The next example, while still allowing for the possibility of the ‘persistence’ concept, is a sentence with a doubtful translation.
EAWB offers this translation:
They were slain before the gods.
Example 17
(āḥā en sen seft em baḥ - ā neteru: aHa en sen sefet em baHe netjeru)
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"They were slain before the gods"
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thereupon / them-all / slaughter / in front of / arm [?] / [of] gods
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EAWB [173:8]
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<bubbly arm water bolt water PLURAL cloth viper bun dagger arm: stick owl sex: pour stroke PLANE arm stroke flagx3>
|
Two authorities offer an interpretation of the aHa portion, featuring 'thereupon':
(¬ḥ¬-n: aHa en)
|
"thereupon"
|
thereupon
|
Gardiner [626.2:21]
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<bubbly arm water>
|
(¬ḥ¬.n: aHa en)
|
"thereupon"
|
thereupon
|
Allen [456.1:13.1]
|
<bubbly arm water>
|
but are they right? aHa en could equally be transcribed as aHa-n, and be the past tense form of aHa, preserving the persistence idea.
EAWB renders the sentence:
Example 18: EAWB’s rendering of the same sentence
JMS: continue did them-all slaughter in front of [the] gods
JMS: aHa-n-sen sefet em bAHe netjeru
Slaughtering of them-all [was] in front of [the] gods
They were all being slaughtered in front of the gods
It may be inferred that EAWB has indicated that the translation of the aHa portion has nothing to do with ‘standing’ as he has provided instead ‘They were’.
But 'they were' it is not. Rather, if the persistence theory be allowed, then reasonable sense can be made of the sentence as has been indicated in the JMS analysis and following italics above.
The statement is an odd one, but mores were different in those far-off times.
------------------------
Passage 9: EAWB [181:1]
Example 19
[Was the statue of the king] (not illustrated)
... standing by the stele //
(āḥā ḥer pai utu åu paif: aHa Her payi utu)
|
"standing by the stele"
|
stand / at / this / text slab entity
|
EAWB [181:1]
|
<bubbly arm legs face STROKE duck: spread eagle PAIR spindle: spike coil pyramid house>
|
The above illustration reproduces the second line of the sentence of interest.
It might include an instance of the use of the literal meaning of aHa ‘stand’. Even so, however,a statue would be an object that would stand persistently, so its use might have served both literal and persistent purposes.
--------------------------
Passage 10: EAWB [181:4]
EAWB’s translation for the next example is also doubtful:
He was standing on the mountain opposite
... the lock of hair which [was] in the water.
Example 20
He was standing on the mountain opposite
(åu-f ḥer āḥā ḥer set er āq: iwuf her aHa Her set er aq)
|
"He was standing on the mountain opposite"
|
(It’s like this:) he / stand-ing is / upon / mountain / opposite
|
EAWB [181:4]
|
<reed coil viper BUBBLY arm legs face stroke hills bun stroke mouth arm slope HOCKEYx2 PLANE>
|
Meaning
If some of the earlier sentences were strange, this one is even more so:
He was standing on the mountain opposite
... the lock of hair which [was] in the water.
Standing on a mountain opposite a lock of hair in the water. Really? It seems unlikely to say the least.
From the following reference it is possible that ‘mountain’ might actually be ‘desert’:
(st: set)
|
"desert"
|
desert
|
Faulkner Concise [206:3]
|
<bolt bun hills>
|
This interpretation, however, does not add significantly to sentence plausibility.
Another possibility is that nedeb might mean ‘bad’:
(nbd: nebed)
|
"the Evil One"
|
bad
|
Faulkner Concise [130:13]
|
<water leg hand hair CROUCH>
|
As that would only yield ‘bad hair’ being in the water, the sentence is still far fetched.
Apart from the fact that the sentence does not contradict the persistence possibility, there is little to be gained from further puzzling over its message.
------------------
Passage 11: EAWB [186:7]
The next example produces new challenges in decipherment.
First, here is the database rendering of it:
Example 21
They opened the gates at once, entered
(āḥā en un - en - sen ḥer ā aq: aha en wen en sen Hera aq)
|
"They opened the gates at once, entered"
|
thereupon / open did they / immediately / enter did
|
EAWB [186:7]
|
<bubbly arm water hare trough: ripples water bolt water PLURAL face armx2 slope legs water>
|
Note that the <water> signat the end has been transferred up into the first line, to emphasis the tense-marker aspect of it.
at the end has been transferred up into the first line, to emphasis the tense-marker aspect of it.
The EAWB translation of the full two-line statement is as follows:
They opened the gates at once, entered
... his majesty into the city.
Here is EAWB’s presentation and analysis of the first line:
Example 22
EAWB āḥā en un - en - sen ḥer ā āq
EAWB: They opened the gates at once, entered
JMS: Continue did open did them-all immediately enter
They-all were opening [the gates?], immediately enter [did]
EAWB ignores the aHa that opens the sentence presumably because he could make no sense of ‘stand’ there.
But it has a part to play if the persistence possibility is admitted, as shown in the suggested idiomatic translation in italics above.
Second line of Passage 11
The second line of Passage 11 is also provided even though there is no ‘stand’ element in it. It helps make sense of the first line; and there as some points in it that are worth looking at.
Example 23
... his majesty into the city.
([en] ḥen-f er Xennu en nut: [en] Hem-ef er khenenu en nut)
|
"his majesty into the city."
|
[did] / majesty him-of / to / [the] city
|
EAWB [186:8]
|
<club STROKE viper mouth pot house water town bun>
|
This database version omits the initial <water> sign, which was transferred to the previous line as mentioned.
Below is EAWB’s presentation of this second line, together with his transliteration and translation beneath the relevant segments of it.
Example 24
EAWB: en ḥen-f er Xennu en nut
EAWB: his majesty into the city
Below is JMS’s interpretation of the above EAWB arrangement
JMS: [did] majesty him-of within of [the] city
his majesty within the city
Difficulties in the second line are mainly:
—the first <water> glyph (transferred from the start of the second line to the end of the first line), which was ignored by EAWB, has been assumed by JMS, your amateur Egyptologist, to be a past tense marker for aq 'enter', to make ‘enter did’, or ‘entered’;
(transferred from the start of the second line to the end of the first line), which was ignored by EAWB, has been assumed by JMS, your amateur Egyptologist, to be a past tense marker for aq 'enter', to make ‘enter did’, or ‘entered’;
—in the expression transcribed by EAWB as er Xennu there are no glyphs for the Xen- [khen-] portion of the word.
Some hints from the database in an attempt to make sense of er Xennu are the following:
(pr-nw: per nu)
|
"national shrine of Lower Egypt"
|
Faulkner Concise [89:12.2]
|
<house pot house>
|
|
(m-r ¬hnw(ty): emer akhenuti)
|
"overseer of the chamber"
|
overseer of inner apartment
|
Col/Man [47:1.1]
|
<owl mouth stroke arm HEADLESS pot house>
|
(er Xennu: er khenenu)
|
"into"
|
within
|
EAWB [186:8.3]
|
<mouth pot house>
|
(Xennu: khenenu)
|
"within"
|
within
|
EAWB [231:5.4]
|
<headless water pot quail house>
|
Unlikely possibilities . . .
Could Xennu / khenenu ...
Table line 1: be pr-nw: per nu? The glyphs seem close; but per nu is a location;
Table line 2: be part of m-r ¬hnw(ty): emer akhenuti? but that is a role;
Possible
Table line 3 is compared with line 4: it is the same, except that in line 4 there are additional glyphs <headless water>. It would seem that perhaps EAWB might have inadvertently omitted these.
------------------------
Passage 11: EAWB [209:6]
In this final sentence EAWB once again leaves the initial aHa untranslated, presumably not being able to reconcile the concept of ‘standing’ with the meaning of the sentence. And here once more, if persistence should be a realistic interpretation of the role of aHa, then what has been proposed below seems a possibility.
Example 25
He sent to them, saying,
(āḥā en hab - nef en sen em 'teṭ: aHa en heben-ef en-sen em djed)
|
"He sent to them, saying,"
|
continue did / enter did he / to / them-all / in connection with / speak
|
EAWB [209:6]
|
<bubbly arm water spiral leg legs water viper water bolt water PLURAL chisel cobra-J hand>
|
Once again it is useful to include EAWB’s own presentation of this line, together with his analysis of it:
Example 26
EAWB: āḥā en hab - nef en sen em ´teṭ
EAWB: ...... He sent to them, saying,
JMS: continue did enter did he to them-all in connection with speak
[As] he was entering he was saying to them-all
For completeness, the sentence continues on the next line:
... Do not shut [your gates], do not fight.
CONCLUSION
The JMS hypothesis that aHa ‘stand’ might at times have a role other than to convey the literal meaning of ‘stand’ seems at least a possibility from the above.
Perhaps by now Egyptologist scholars have been able to provide better translations than those offered by Wallace Budge to account for its use in a way other than persistence over time. If so I hope someone might discover this blog and let your beginning researcher know.
JEREMY STEELE
Wednesday 22 May 2013
====================
POSTSCRIPT
No sooner had the foregoing been posted, and work resumed on examining the EAWB sentences, than the following sentence was encountered:
The key aHa portion is:
featuring the <sun STROKE> determinative, suggesting time.
This 'duration' entry lends weight to the ‘passage of time’ or ‘persistence’ concept presented in the 'Aha! Standing and waiting' essay.
JEREMY STEELE
Wednesday 22 May 2013
====================
POSTSCRIPT
No sooner had the foregoing been posted, and work resumed on examining the EAWB sentences, than the following sentence was encountered:
What is [my] duration in life?
| (å´seset pu āḥā em ānX: isheset pu aha em ankh) | "What is [my] duration in life? (i. e., How long shall I live?)" | what / be / duration / in connection with / life | EAWB [199:3] | <reed twist: up bolt bun SQUATTERMOUTH stool quail bubbly arm sun STROKE owl ankh bun sun> |
duration
Wednesday 22 May 2013
====================
