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Reading Hieroglyphs

Montu in Hieroglyphs

Letsโ€™s read some hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช! ย 

Today we are going to learn how to read the name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– of the god ๐“Šน Montuย ๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“€ญ!ย Montuย ๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“€ญย was a war god and was worshipped widely during the 11th Dynasty/Middle Kingdom.ย 

A closeup of the name “Montu” in hieroglyphs from a stela at the MET

The โ€œ๐“  game board and piecesโ€ is a phonogram sign. It is a biliteral sign, which means that it represents two consonants. The โ€œ ๐“ โ€ is associated with the sound โ€œmnโ€ which could be pronounced like โ€œmen,โ€ โ€œmun,โ€ โ€œmon,โ€ etc. 

The โ€œripple of water ๐“ˆ–โ€ is also a phonogram sign, except it is uniliteral sign, which means that it just represents one consonant. The โ€œ๐“ˆ–โ€ is associated with the sound of โ€œn!โ€ 

The โ€œ๐“ฟ hobble/tieโ€ is also a uniliteral phonogram sign. The โ€œ๐“ฟโ€ is associated with the sounds of โ€œแนฏโ€ or โ€œt.โ€ 

The โ€œQuail Chick ๐“…ฑโ€ is a super popular symbol! It is a uniliteral symbol that is representative of the sound w/u, and it is also an ideogram for the word โ€œchick ๐“…ฑ๐“บ.โ€

The final symbol in the name, โ€œ๐“€ญ seated god,โ€ is one that is not pronounced! This is a determinative symbol, which means that it is a symbol used to show the general meaning of the word! It is basically used as punctuation at the end of the word to show you that it is over!