Did you know that the word for “cow 𓄤𓆑𓂋𓏏𓃒” and “beautiful woman 𓄤𓆑𓂋𓏏𓁐” are the same in hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪/the Middle Egyptian language? Well now you do! This is one of my absolute favorite “fun facts” about hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 and it has been since I was a little girl!
The root of both of these words is “𓄤𓆑𓂋” which would probably be pronounced like “nefer.” This word could mean perfect, beautiful, or good in Middle Egyptian! Adding the “𓏏” to the end of the word makes it feminine, and then the determinative symbol distinguishes the meaning! So “𓄤𓆑𓂋𓏏” could also mean a beautiful woman or beautiful/perfect!
Both “cow 𓄤𓆑𓂋𓏏𓃒” and “beautiful woman 𓄤𓆑𓂋𓏏𓁐” would have probably been pronounced like “neferet” due to the addition of the uniliteral phonogram of “𓏏” which would have been pronounced like a “t.” In order to make words pronounceable in modern times, a lot of Egyptologists/linguists will add a soft “e” sound in between the consonants!
I love learning little things like this about the culture of ancient Egypt! It’s incredible what a language can tell us!
You can also watch the video on TikTok!
This is my personal video and original text. DO NOT repost.