“Eternity” in Hieroglyphs (Part 1)

Let’s read some hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪!

Today 𓏇𓇋𓈖𓇳 we are going to look at the word for “Eternity – 𓎛𓇳𓎛” in hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪! Eternity 𓎛𓇳𓎛 was a concept central to ancient Egyptian religion and culture. Did you know that the ancient Egyptians 𓆎𓏏𓀀𓁐𓏪 actually invented the concept of eternity 𓎛𓇳𓎛/infinity?

This way to write “eternity 𓎛𓇳𓎛” is technically a measure of cyclical time. The proper way to write the word for eternity would actually be “𓈖𓅘𓎛𓎛𓇳” or “𓎛𓎛𓇳,” with the sun disc acting as the determinative. This means that the sun disc symbol would not be pronounced! However, 𓎛𓇳𓎛 is more aesthetically pleasing, so that is how the word is written in most inscriptions 𓏟𓏛𓏥. Technically, 𓎛𓇳𓎛 would be pronounced like “nḥḥ” and is actually an abbreviation of “𓈖𓅘𓎛𓎛𓇳 / 𓎛𓎛𓇳.”

There are two 𓏻 very common ways to write “Eternity” – 𓎛𓇳𓎛 and 𓆖. The words for eternity (𓆖 & 𓎛𓇳𓎛) appear frequently in so many inscriptions 𓏟𓏛𓏥 – if you can recognize the words, you will be able to pick them out in any museum you visit! They do have slightly different meanings that I will highlight in a future post! Languages are so cool – the two words can mean the same thing when translated into English, but can be different in Middle Egyptian!

Let’s take a closer look at the hieroglyphic symbols! 

The “wick 𓎛” symbol is a uniliteral phonogram which means that it only represents one sound. The sound that it represents is “ḥ.” 

The “sun disc 𓇳” symbol is usually seen as an ideogram for “Ra.” The symbol “𓇳 – sun” can also be a determinative for sun, day, and time.

You can read Part 2 of this post here!

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