Part 32 (1/2)

CHAPTER XIX

”The ancient Egyptian word for the personal p.r.o.noun 'I' was _anuk_,”

said the Tracer placidly. ”The phonetic for _a_ was the hieroglyph

[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]

a reed; for _n_ the water symbol

[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]

for _u_ the symbols

[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]

for _k_

[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]

Therefore this hieroglyphic inscription begins with the personal p.r.o.noun

[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]

or _I_. That is very easy, of course.

”Now, the most ancient of Egyptian inscriptions read vertically in columns; there are only two columns in this papyrus, so we'll try it vertically and pa.s.s downward to the next symbol, which is inclosed in a sort of frame or cartouch. That immediately signifies that royalty is mentioned; therefore, we have already translated as much as 'I, the king (or queen).' Do you see?”

”Yes,” said Burke, staring.

”Very well. Now this symbol, number two,

[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]

spells out the word '_Meris_,' in this way: M (p.r.o.nounced _me_) is phonetically symbolized by the characters

[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]

_r_ by

[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]

(a mouth) and the comma

[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]

and the hieroglyph

[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]

_i_ by two reeds