PLURAL — ENTITY and other suffixes

SUFFIXES

Soon after your amateur researcher began transcribing Ancient Egyptian dictionary entries he adopted the following basic suffix interpretations:

agent: i

entity: u

relative (what is): t

AGENT

glyph	respelt	JS name	functrion/value
	i	reed	agent
	i	reeds	agent
	i	pair	agent

ENTITY

	u	coil	entity
	u	quail	entity

RELATIVE

-t

bun

relative: ‘what is’

DETERMINATIVES

Determinatives are a class of suffix that do not contribute to the sound of the words they follow, but rather are indicators of meaning. And there is little wonder that the Ancient Egyptians (AEs) used this device. At first sight determinatives appeared to be a needless encumbrance. 

English could use determinatives to assist with the following:

bass: It was fishy to have a bass painted on the band’s big bass drum.

close: It was close to the time for the speaker to close the argument.

detail: To detail a sheep is a detail in animal husbandry.

desert: Should rain desert the landscape long enough the terrain becomes a desert.

does: Does eat oats as does a goat eat grass.

intimate: The prosecutor might intimate he had an intimate link with the victim.

invalid: The argument against the invalid was invalid.

lead: Of all the heavy metals, lead was in the lead.

object: You can’t object if a transitive sentence has an object.

polish: The Polish performer lacked polish.

present: Please present the prizes to all the winners present.

produce: The produce of agriculture will produce revenue for the nation.

refuse: The refuse after the fireworks the garbagemen could not refuse to collect.

row: There was a row over rights three days in a row.

sewer: The sewer of clothes saw the sow was in the sewer.

sow: A pig can’t peg clothes nor can a sow sow seeds.

subject: To subject someone to indignities is a subject of concern.

tear: She shed a tear over a tear in the veil.

wind: Can’t hear the watch wind down or see the wind whistle at the windows.

wound: The nurse wound the dressing firmly around the wound.

If say, bekA meant ‘morning’,  why clutter up the sound glyphs with pictorial additions? The reason is that innumerable words that visually sound the same may have quite different meanings. Consequently in an inscription, the scribes used determinative to show which of the word meanings was intended. And this is the case with bekA:

bekA: to shine

Determinative: <sun: abacus-M>. The sun and rays suggest ‘shining’:

"beka"

bekA =

"to shine"

shine  :

WBDic [225.1:11]

<leg arms: up eagle sun: abacus-M>

bAkA: to swell

Determinative: <kneeless>. The pregnant woman suggests ‘swelling’:

"beka"

bAkA =

"to bulge out"

swell  :

WBDic [225.1:16]

<leg jabiru arms: up stroke kneeless>

bekA: weak

Determinative: <squatter: limp>. The lax seated man suggest ‘weakness’:

"beka"

begA =

"weak"

weak  :

WBDic [225.2:4.2]

<leg arms: up eagle coil squatter: limp>

AMBIGUITY

In each of the agent, entity and relative group of glyphs there is the presence of, or potential for, ambiguity.

<bun> /t/: either relative, or feminine indicator

While the glyph <bun> /t/ is the marker for the relative (‘what is), it is also used to indicate the feminine. Sometimes it is not possible to know with certainty which usage was intended. Often it scarcely matters.

mer-et: beloved

This could be ‘something loved’ or a’beloved (woman)’:

"mrt"

mer-et =

"beloved"

love what is [beloved]:

Col/Man [90:4.32]

<hoe mouth bun>

STROKES

Single stroke

A single stroke is often used whether by convention, or to indicate that the sign represent really means its pictorial value. It might also indicate, or at least tend to suggest, that that is where a word, or word-component, ends — although determinatives might follow.

Two strokes

for 

A pair of strokes <pair>, on a slant, is often used instead of a pair of reeds <reeds>. They have the sound /i/. While they generally indicate ‘agent’; sometimes they denote duality — that there were two of the thing concerned.

Three strokes

or

or 

Three strokes indicate plurality, and this sign was often not pronounced:

"sen"

sen =

"[they]"

they-all  them, their:

EAWB [95:8.1]

<bolt water PLURAL>

sen: part of an inscription on the back wall of the temple at Kom Ombo

"tjen"

tjen =

"[you-all]"

you-all  :

EAWB [95:7.2]

<tether water PLURAL>

tjen: part of an inscription on the back wall of the temple at Kom Ombo

However, the plural sign could also be pronounced, with the sound value /u/. And where a plural occurs in a word otherwise ending in -t, the word concerned would be pronounced ...ut.

ENTITY: /u/: <quail>, <coil> and plural

It would appear that the plural sign, often being pronounced /u/, was used in the same manner as <quail> and <coil> to indicate ‘entity’, as in the following examples:

"ršw"

resh-u =

"joy"

happy entity :

Gardiner [578.2:11.2]

<mouth pool nosey PLANE PLURAL>

"grgw"

gereg-u =

"lying"

fib entity :

Allen [470.1:26]

<axehead mouth seven: 7 sparrow PLURAL>

While often the plural marker might be interpreted either as a genuine plural indicator or as denoting ‘entity’, there are man occasions when its standing as an alternative to <quail> or <coil> seems undeniable. However, when it was separately pronounced is something that your amateur researcher is not yet confident to assert.

A SOMEWHAT ABORTIVE ATTEMPT TO MAKE SENSE OF PLURAL SIGNS

When a plural marker indicates plurality and when ‘entity’ might be something that only the context can really reveal. Consider an inscription such as this fragment below from Agkila Island, the relocated site of the temple of Philae after the raising of the waters of the Nile from the Aswan High Dam:

In particular consider this detail featuring several plural signs:

The first challenge in this detail is to identify the signs, and then to try to read the actual words. In this picture there are four different plural signs. An analysis is attempted

Left-hand column:

fish: bent	khA	khAk can mean ‘truncate’
cup	k
heartx3	ibu
egg: ears PLURAL	[khep(A) / Heseb / weHA gA [?]	< egg: ears> is a common determinative to do with the body, and here it follows ‘hearts’
pot	nu	of
heeler: flag  bun pair	khefeti [?] nu [?]	<heeler: flag> reads ‘khefeti’. Consequently  <bun pair>  [ti] below it probably belongs to it. ‘khefet-i’ means ‘opposite-agent’, i.e. ‘enemy’
horizon	AKHet	horizon: this could be part of some religious reference, especially if coupled with <flag>: ‘god’, ‘divine’, below it.
flag	netjer	[see comment in the row above]

Possible meaning

... truncate the hearts of the enemies of the god of the horizon [??]

Right-hand column — many doubtful elements:

sky [?]
ear: ox [?]	sedjem	hear [?]
duck [?] [or <jabiru?] PLURAL	sA / wu [?] / bA / wu [?]	sons? spirits?
line [?]
sun [?] stroke / star / PLURAL	re / sebA / duwA / wenut /  wu [?]
chisel	em	in connection with [?]
town town	[niyut]
<sky> [?]		IF <sky>, then could be part of <face stroke> and hence perhaps ‘upon’, ‘on account of’
face [?] stroke / detonator / spoon [?] PLURAL	Her / wedja / KHeru / Hepet	upon / evaluate/judge / offerings

Meaning

There are too many unknowns here for your amateur researcher to attempt a translation.

Comment

It would seem that most of the plural signs in this fragment might actually indicate plurality rather than the abstraction ‘entity’.

Be that as it may, it seems clear that the 'plural' sign can indicate 'entity' as well as plurality.