“Life, Stability, and Strength” in Hieroglyphs

Let’s read some hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪!

Today 𓏇𓇋𓈖𓇳 we are going to be looking at a popular inscription 𓏟𓏛𓏥! This inscription 𓏟𓏛𓏥 is on an ostracon, which is basically either a broken piece of limestone 𓇋𓈖𓈙𓌉 (in this case), pottery 𓏠𓈖𓇋𓏋, a rock 𓇋𓈖𓂋𓈙, etc. that was used for drawing/writing practice 𓋴𓅓𓄧𓏜. You can definitely tell that this was practice 𓋴𓅓𓄧𓏜 because you can still see the red 𓂧𓈙𓂋𓅟 grid lines on the limestone 𓇋𓈖𓈙𓌉! The grid lines were really important because it allowed the artist to draw out the hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 evenly, so everything was the same size!

I have definitely spoken about this phrase before, but let’s take a closer look! 

𓋹 – Life 

𓊽 – Stability 

𓌀 – Strength 

The “sandal strap 𓋹” more commonly known as the “Ankh,” is a triliteral phonogram that has the sound “ˁnḫ” which would sound like “ankh.” Should it can be an ideogram for “sandal strap” and “mirror,” the “sandal strap 𓋹” is much more commonly seen as the word for “Life.” 

The “reed column 𓊽” more commonly known as the “Djed Pillar” is a biliteral phonogram that has the sound “ḏd” which sounds like “Djed.” It also functions as an ideogram for “Stability,” like in the inscription above. The Djed Pillar 𓊽 is thought to represent the spine of Osiris 𓁹𓊨𓀭. 

The “animal headed staff 𓌀” is a triliteral phonogram that represents the sounds “w3s,” which would probably be pronounced like “was.” The symbol functions as an ideogram for the word “staff,” but most of the time, you will see it represent the word “Strength.” 

This common phrase “𓋹𓊽𓌀” is seen everywhere, and a lot of the times appears as “𓏙𓋹𓊽𓌀 – Given Life, Stability and Strength” or “𓏙𓋹𓊽𓌀𓆖 – Given Life, Stability and Strength for Eternity.” This phrase was so popular because it held a lot of meaning in ancient Egyptian culture/religion! This phrase is almost like a blessing, ensuring that the person being spoken about in the inscription 𓏟𓏛𓏥 is all of these qualities! This phrase can be used with both the living 𓋹𓈖𓐍 and the dead 𓅓𓏏𓏱!