Egyptian Hieroglyphic Alphabet...
The A's, B's and KH's
So although there are hundreds of signs, there is a standard Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabet that we can use. It's composed of 24 unilateral signs that represent the different "sounds" you produce when speaking the ancient Egyptian language. There are some sounds that we don't have in English, but are present in other languages (such as KH). They are still pronounceable though! However, keep in mind that the ancient Egyptian language has very few vowels. It's mostly composed of consonants. This alphabet has a similar proportion of vowels to consonants as English - which is an inaccurate representation of hieroglyphics. It's just done this way for our benefit. Here's a table with these signs, what they stand for, and what their shapes represent:
If you have the time and patience, I suggest checking out more hieroglyphs, they're so beautiful. I find it very interesting contemplating how they connect the sound with the symbol.
Still, this alphabet is a great start...
It's actually a lot of fun practicing writing with this alphabet, try it!
It's also very helpful to know this when looking at Egyptian art since it is incorporated into it a lot. And especially if you plan to visit the sites here in Egypt.
And of course, it's kind of cool drawing people's names for them... just remember to add a sign for male if the person is male, and the sign for female if the person is female.
And for a final touch, why not add these names inside a cartouche? This represents royalty :-)
The one thing that you won't do with this is decipher the Rosetta Stone, but you should definitely go see it... It's absolutely breath-taking!
Return from Egyptian Hieroglyphic Alphabet to Hieroglyphics
Return from Egyptian Hieroglyphic Alphabet to the Experience Ancient Egypt Home Page
|
