“Images” in Hieroglyphs

This is a zoomed in view of some hand-written hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 from a copy of The Book of the Dead! These hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 were written on papyrus 𓅓𓍑𓏏𓏛 and are so beautiful 𓄤! I always love seeing hand-written hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 because usually papyri 𓅓𓍑𓏏𓏛𓏦 were usually written in Hieratic!

Let’s read some hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪!

You might recognize this word as one that I use a lot: 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦! The word “twt 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦” (probably pronounced like “tut”) is the word for “image” in Middle Egyptian! Adding the 𓏦 to the end makes it plural, so “image 𓏏𓅱𓏏” becomes “images 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦.”

So why did I choose to highlight this particular word?! It’s because 𓏏𓅱𓏏 was one of the first Middle Egyptian words that I learned when I was first starting to read hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪! The reason being is that it is part of Tutankhamun‘s 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓏏𓅱𓏏𓋹𓋾𓉺𓇓 cartouche! Here is a breakdown of Tutankhamun‘s 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓏏𓅱𓏏𓋹𓋾𓉺𓇓 name 𓂋𓈖:

𓇋𓏠𓈖 – Amun
𓏏𓅱𓏏 – Tut (image)
𓋹 – Ankh (life/living)
𓋾 – Ruler
𓉺 – of/on
𓇓 – Upper Egypt

I remember being so proud as a little girl when I mastered reading the cartouche, and started recognizing the words in other inscriptions 𓏟𓏛𓏥! I think cartouches are a great place to start your hieroglyphic journey, because you begin to recognize the vocabulary elsewhere!