Category: Blog

Let’s read some Hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪!

I decided to make another post about the “Ripple of Water 𓈖” symbol since it has always been one of my favorites and my last post about it was over a year ago! 

The “Ripple of Water 𓈖” is a uniliteral phonogram that has a sound like “N”! This is the main usage of this symbol and it does not function like an ideogram or determinative which makes it super easy because you know you are looking at a phonogram symbol that is either part of a larger word or is just a word on its own!

In the picture 𓏏𓅱𓏏, I highlighted three 𓏼 different types of hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 – painted, carved, and then Cursive Hieroglyphs which is kind of like a short hand hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 that is used on papyrus! The hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 that are most familiar to people are the ones that are either painted or carved! I love seeing the variations in the symbols across various ancient Egyptian art forms! 

While a simple symbol, the “Ripple of Water 𓈖” has many uses in Middle Egyptian! On its own, 𓈖 can mean: 

• To
• For
• Of
• Through
• In
• Because
• Not/Cannot/No
• Unless
• They/We/Us/Our

That’s a lot of words! When reading inscriptions 𓏟𓏛𓏥, you can figure out the meaning based off of the context clues! The Ripple of Water 𓈖” is so versatile it sometimes feels like the word/symbol means what you need it to mean to make the sentence flow! 

“We, us, and our” can also be written as: 𓈖𓏥. “They” can be written as: 𓈖𓏮 or 𓈖𓏭. 

When the “Ripple of Water 𓈖” is three stacked on top of each other “𓈗,” it’s actually a different symbol with a different meaning! The symbol is aptly named “three ripples of water 𓈗.” It can function as a biliteral phonogram for the sound “mw,” and is both the ideogram and determinative for the word “water 𓈗.”

This is my personal photograph and original text. DO NOT repost. 

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Did you know that there are two different types of hieroglyphic scripts? There are Hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪, and then there are Cursive Hieroglyphs! 

Hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪, the script everyone is most familiar with, was the first 𓏃 script used by the ancient Egyptians 𓆎𓏏𓀀𓁐𓏪 to write their language! There are well over 700 𓏲𓏲𓏲𓏲𓏲𓏲𓏲 unique hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 and over 800 𓏲𓏲𓏲𓏲𓏲𓏲𓏲𓏲 symbols if you count the variants! Hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 were mainly used on temples 𓉟𓏏𓉐𓏥, stelae 𓎗𓅱𓆓𓉸𓏪, tombs 𓇋𓐫𓊃𓉐𓏥, obelisks 𓉶𓉶𓉶, other funerary equipment  𓈎𓂋𓋴𓏏𓏏𓊭 such as sarcophagi 𓎟𓋹𓈖𓐍𓊭𓏪 and other objects of all kinds! 

Then there are Cursive Hieroglyphs which are also known as Hieroglyphic Book Hand! This was usually used on handwritten papyri 𓅓𓍑𓏏𓏛𓏦 and was a less detailed version of the traditional hieroglyphic symbols. Cursive Hieroglyphs are easy to read because these symbols match their traditional hieroglyphic counterparts! The most difficult part can sometimes be deciphering the handwriting – a problem that we still see today even with modern written scripts!

In the images 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦, I have the same phrases of the same phrases written in Hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 and Cursive Hieroglyphs so you can visually see the comparison between the two 𓏻 forms of writing! A pattern I’ve noticed about Cursive Hieroglyphs is that the shorter variants of words and phrases is more commonly used as opposed to the traditional hieroglyphic script! 

The image 𓏏𓅱𓏏 above shows two 𓏻 variants of the phrase “Words Spoken By Osiris”

𓆓𓌃𓇋𓈖𓁹𓊨𓀭 (Hieroglyphs)

𓆓𓌃𓇋 𓁹𓊨𓊹 (Cursive Hieroglyphs)

The image 𓏏𓅱𓏏 above shows two 𓏻 variants of the word “To Be” or “To Exist.” 

𓃹𓈖 (Cursive Hieroglyphs)

𓃹𓈖𓈖 (Hieroglyphs)

Follow me @ancientegyptblog on Instagram and TikTok to learn all about ancient Egypt, hieroglyphs, Egyptian mythology, art, culture and more!