According to some sources, the Ancient Egyptian (AE) for ‘row’ (as in rowing a boat) is khen:
(hn: khen)
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"row"
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row
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Faulkner Concise [201:21]
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<coolie water boat>
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(hn: khen)
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"Row"
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row
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Nureldin [217:15.2]
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<coolie water boat>
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(hni: kheni)
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"row"
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row
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Gardiner [587.1:2.1]
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<coolie water boat>
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(hnj: kheni)
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"row"
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row
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Allen [465.2:5]
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<coolie water boat>
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Gardiner and Allen in the last two examples render it as kheni, (as some authors are wont to say) ‘for an unexplained reason’.
khen provides the start for the addition of affixes, and the elaboration of meaning.
Relative form: -et
If a relative suffix were to be added, to make khen-et, it would presumably mean ‘row — what is’, or ‘rowing’. A check of the the Nedj Nedj databases can be made to see if such a term might have been recorded.
Indeed, there are some results:
(hnt: khen-et)
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"excursion"
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row what is
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Allen [465.2:6]
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<COOLIE water bun boat>
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(hnt: khen-et)
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"water-procession"
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row what is
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Faulkner Concise [201:22.1]
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<coolie water bun boat>
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(hnt: khen-et)
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"water-procession"
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row what is
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Faulkner Concise [201:22.2]
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<coolie bun boat>
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In the first of these examples, Allen elaborates that the ‘excursion is ‘(in a rowboat)’.
Causative: se-
If someone were to be made to row, then se-khen would be expected, with the causative prefix se-.
But first let us note that in AE there are four forms of ‘h’ in use:
— h h-simple h
— ḥ h-underdot H
— ẖ h-underline kh
— ḫ h-underscoop KH
and note also how they are often rendered, and as they are transcribed in the databases.
Note that the underlining in h underline (for computer programming reasons) does not show up on the summary lines used in the tables, even though it assuredly is there, as the picture of the source for the first entry in the table immediately above indicates (see top-left corner of the illustration: hnt):
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Now, if we search for the ‘ẖ h-underline kh’ forms only, we can uncover examples that appear to be unrelated to the ‘oar’ theme currently being pursued:
(hnt: khenet)
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"hide"
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skin
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Faulkner Concise [201:18]
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<headless water bun skin: sidetail>
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(hnt: khenet)
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"burial chamber"
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Faulkner Concise [201:19]
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<headless water bun house>
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(hnt: khenet)
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"Statue"
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Nureldin [211:20.2]
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<COOLIE water bun stander: staff&file>
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Probable irrelevancies
Equally likely to be unrelated are the following khenet examples — especially as these are h-underscoop forms:
(sḫn: se-KHen)
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"resting-place"
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alight make
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Faulkner Concise [242:2]
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<cloth string water duck: fly>
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(sḫnỉ: se-KHen-i)
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"cause to land"
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alight make agent
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Allen [467.2:27]
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<cloth string water PAIR duck: fly>
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The Nedj Nedj Databases offered no ‘make to row’ se-khen examples, the nearest ‘h-underline’ examples being:
(shnn: se-khenen)
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"demolish"
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destroy do
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Gardiner [591.2:16.1]
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<cloth mace waterx2 wall: fall arm: stick>
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(shnn: se-khenen)
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"overthrow"
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destroy do
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Gardiner [620.1:30.4]
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<cloth mace waterx2 wall: fall>
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Place: me-
Upon the adding of the ‘place’ prefix me-, we encounter more examples related to ‘row’:
(mhnt: me-khen-et)
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"ferry-boat"
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row place what is [ferryboat]
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Faulkner Concise [115:17.1]
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<owl arm headless water bun boat>
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(mhnt: me-khen-et)
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"ferry-boat"
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row place what is [ferryboat]
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Faulkner Concise [115:17.21]
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<owl mace water bun boat>
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(mhnt: me-khen-et)
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"ferry boat"
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row place what is [ferryboat]
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Gardiner [587.1:2.3]
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<owl+arm headless water bun boat>
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(mhnt: me-khen-et)
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"ferry-boat"
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row place what is [ferryboat]
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Kamrin [252.2:01]
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<owl headless water bun boat>
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This first group includes both the ‘place’ prefix me- and the relative ‘what is’ -et suffix.
This results in the concept of ‘row - place - what is’, or ‘ferryboat’. Presumably the ferryboats were operated by rowing. So ‘what is a row place’ would reasonably be a ‘ferryboat’.
Agent: -u or -i
AE often also marked the agent of an action, the person or thing doing it, by -u or -i.
The following are examples of the latter form:
(mhnty: me-khen-et-i)
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"ferryman"
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row place what is agent [ferryboatman]
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Faulkner Concise [115:18.1]
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<owl arm headless water bun pair boat>
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(mhnty: me-khen-et-i)
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"ferryman"
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row place what is agent [ferryboatman]
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Faulkner Concise [115:18.23]
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<owl mace water cosh reed boat>
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(mhnty: me-khen-et-i)
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"ferryman"
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row place what is agent [ferryboatman]
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Faulkner Concise [115:18.24]
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<owl coolie water bun boat cosh reed hawk: perch>
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This yields ‘row’ with one prefix and two suffixes: ‘row - place - what is - agent’, or ‘ferryboatman’
That concludes the investigation of ‘oar’ and derived words and ideas.
Irrelevancy revisited
The enquiry also threw up a little more on the irrelevance featuring ‘alight’ above:
(msḫn: me-se-KHen)
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"resting place"
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alight place make
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Gardiner [570.1:17]
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<abacus-M cloth string water house>
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(msḫn: me-se-KHen)
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"abode"
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alight place make
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Faulkner Concise [117:18]
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<abacus-M cloth string water house>
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Here KHen (featuring ḫ-underscoop KH) is combined with two prefixes:
— me-: place
— se-: cause
to produce the concept of ‘alight make place’, or idiomatically ‘resting place’ and ‘abode’.
JEREMY STEELE
Friday 5 April 2013
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