Lesson 14: More about adjectives

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Primary and secondary adjectives

So far we have learned about some oddities among adjectives. First, the adjective π“ŽŸ nb “each, every, all” cannot be used as a noun, and it cannot be the predicate of an adjectival sentence. Also, we told you that some adjectives do not form their feminine forms by adding -t to their masculine forms, but we’ve not actually seen such an adjective yet. These can be explained by the fact that there are actually three types of adjectives in Egyptian:

  1. primary, which means the word is only an adjective, is not derived from another word, and can only be used as a modifier, not as a noun or a predicate.
  2. secondary, which means the adjective is actually one form of a verb.
  3. derived, which means the adjective is formed from a noun or preposition by adding -j.

Egyptian has only one primary adjective, which is indeed π“ŽŸ nb. Note that nb doesn’t really “describe” a thing like “good” or “blue” would; instead, it quantifies which thing you’re talking about (namely, every one). All the other adjectives we’ve learned, such as 𓄀𓆑𓐰𓂋 nfr “good, beautiful, perfect”, are secondary adjectives.

We’ll learn more about this later, but to put it briefly, secondary adjectives are participles of verbs: there is a verb nfr “to be good, beautiful, perfect”, and a verb dΕ‘r “to be red”. The participle in English is usually the -ing form in phrases like “the laughing boy”, “the running man”, “the smiling fish”. So when you use a secondary adjective, either as a modifier or a predicate, you are saying that the thing in question is “doing” something:

π“‡‹π“ˆŽπ“°π“‚‹π“œπ“žπ“€€ jqr zαΊ–κœ’w
“The scribe is excellent.”
(lit. “the scribe is being excellent”)

𓄀𓆑𓐰𓂋𓂧𓐰π“Šͺπ“±π“π“Š›π“Œ‰π“†“π“³π“π“‡³ nfr dpt αΈ₯ḏt
“The white boat is beautiful.”
(lit. “the being-white boat is being beautiful.”)

Derived adjectives (nisbes)

The third category are the derived adjectives. These are derived from nouns, or prepositions, by adding -j: π“Š–π“°π“π“±π“€ njwt “town, settlement” gives the derived adjective π“Š–π“°π“π“±π“­ njwtj “local”, “from the area”. These are the adjectives we mentioned long ago which derive their feminine forms differently. The feminine form of a derived adjective is not found by adding -t to its masculine form as with other adjectives, but by replacing the -j with a -t. So the feminine of njwtj is not njwtjt but rather π“Š–π“°π“π“±π“ njwtt: z njwtj “local man”, zt njwtt “local woman”.

Derived adjectives are often called nisbes. In Arabic, there is a similar way of deriving adjectives, which Arabic grammarians call nisba, which means something like “derived” or “related”. Therefore, modern Egyptian grammarians have borrowed the term.

Nisbes are a very important part of Egyptian, leading to many useful words and titles, and we will be learning more about them later!

Feminine roots for nisbes

Although nisbes can only be directly derived from nouns and prepositions, you will find many nisbes look like -tj added to a verb; for example, pαΈ₯tj “strong”. Here’s how that happens:

The verb pαΈ₯ “reach, attack” > the adjective pαΈ₯ “reaching, attacking” > the noun pαΈ₯ or pαΈ₯t “that which is reaching or attacking” > the nisbe pαΈ₯tj “the description of something which is reaching or attacking”, which means “strong, forceful,” etc.

Why is the pαΈ₯t version chosen for the nisbe and not the pαΈ₯ version? Because when a noun is formed from an adjective/verb, it is usually feminine if it represents an abstract or “generic” or “neuter” thing. Since pαΈ₯tj is built from the “generic” case of “something that is attacking”, the feminine form is used. We’ll learn more about this when we talk about participles, just as we said for secondary adjectives.

False duals

Note also that njwtj was written π“Š–π“°π“π“±π“­ with the dual strokes. It is not a dual, but evidently by analogy with feminine duals ending –tj, it was written like that. This is often true of other nisbes as well. In some cases, they’re even written like an Old Egyptian dual: njwtj can be found as π“Š–π“°π“Š–! These sort of words are called false duals.

Comparison of adjectives

Egyptian doesn’t have affixes like -er, -est or words like more, most like English does, but it has expressions which convey the same meanings. When we first saw the prepositions m, n, and r, we warned you that they don’t always mean “in”, “for”, and “towards” in the English senses, and this is just such a situation. To express the comparative, like “X is better/more beautiful/greater/redder than Y”, we’ll use π“‚‹ r “towards, with respect to” instead of “than”.

π“ˆŸπ“°π“π“π“„€π“†‘π“°π“‚‹π“°π“π“‚‹π“ŠΉπ“‚‹π“°π“π“†— αΈ₯jmt nfrt r nαΉ―rt
“a woman more beautiful than a goddess”
(lit. “a woman beautiful with respect to a goddess”)

In adjectival sentences, you can use this as well, putting the comparison phrase after the subject. If the previous example were a complete sentence instead of a phrase, it would be:

π“„€π“†‘π“°π“‚‹π“ˆŸπ“°π“π“π“‚‹π“ŠΉπ“‚‹π“°π“π“†— nfr αΈ₯jmt r nαΉ―rt
“The woman is more beautiful than a goddess.”
(lit. “The woman is beautiful with respect to a goddess.”)

For the superlative (-est, most), Egyptian usually uses a genitive phrase (either direct or indirect), “the X of the Xs”: π“„€π“†‘π“°π“‚‹π“°π“π“ˆ–π“°π“π“„€π“†‘π“°π“‚‹π“°π“π“ͺ nfrt nt nfrwt “the most beautiful”, lit. “the beautiful one of the beautiful ones.” Hatshepsut’s funerary temple is called 𓂦𓐰𓂋𓂦𓐰𓂋π“ͺ ḏsr ḏsrw “the most holy (place)”, lit. “the holy one of the holy ones”. (This is exactly like the phrase “Holy of Holies” for the most sacred part of the tabernacle or temple in some Bible translations.)

The preposition 𓇋𓏢𓅓 jm(j) “among” can also be used for the superlative when using a different noun instead of repeating the adjective: π“…¨π“΄π“π“°π“‚‹π“‡‹π“Άπ“…“π“ŠΉπ“‚‹π“°π“π“†—π“ͺ wrt jmj nαΉ―rwt “the greatest goddess”, lit. “the great one among goddesses”.

nfr αΈ₯r construction

In Egyptian, while an adjective can modify a noun, a noun can follow an adjective and modify it as well. An example of this is 𓄀𓆑𓐰𓂋𓁷𓐰𓏀 nfr αΈ₯r, “good of face”. Here the noun “qualifies” or “limits” the adjective. If you refer to π“ˆŸπ“°π“π“π“„€π“†‘π“°π“‚‹π“°π“π“·π“°π“€ αΈ₯jmt nfrt αΈ₯r, you are saying “a woman who is good of face”. You’re not saying she is or is not good in any other way, but what you’re talking about is specifically that she has a good face. We have the same construction in English, it’s just a bit archaic nowadays: “he is fair of face and strong of body”. This is referred to as a nfr αΈ₯r construction. (Incidentally, “good of face” is an expression in Egyptian meaning “kind”. It is not generally used to mean “having a pretty face” in the literal sense. Someone who is nfr αΈ₯r towards you is kindly towards you.)

Note that there is no gender or number agreement between the adjective and the qualifying noun, only between the adjective and any noun it modifies. Thus in αΈ₯jmt nfrt αΈ₯r, the adjective nfrt is feminine to agree with its noun αΈ₯jmt, but there is no issue with the masculine noun αΈ₯r qualifying the feminine nfrt.

A very common and important usage of the nfr αΈ₯r construction is π“ŒΆπ“‚π“°π“›π“Š€π“…±π“€ m꜒꜀-αΈ«rw “true of voice”. It is so common that it’s often abbreviated with just the 𓐙 platform and π“Š€ oar: π“™π“°π“Š€οΈ‚ It is an epithet given to deceased people, meaning that they (hopefully!) passed their judgment and were admitted into the Field of Reeds for a happy eternity. Although it’s most literally “true of voice”, you will see other translations, often “justified” or sometimes “vindicated”. When a person has been found true of voice, they become a complete and “effective” being, an π“…œπ“΄π“ ꜒ḫ “akh” (often left untranslated).

Summary: More about adjectives

  1. Egyptian has three types of adjectives. The primary adjective nb “every” is called that because it does not derive from some other word, and it cannot be used as a noun or a predicate, only a modifier.
  2. Secondary adjectives like nfr “good”, jqr “excellent”, etc. are actually the participle forms of verbs: z nfr “good man” is most literally “a man who is being good.”
  3. Derived adjectives or nisbes are formed from nouns or prepositions by adding -j, like njwtj “local” from njwt “town”. In the feminine, the -t does not add to the -j but replaces it: zt njwtt “local woman”.
  4. Some words, particularly nisbes, which have an ending like the dual endings are written with the dual strokes or dual determinatives, even though they don’t mean anything dual. These are known as false duals.
  5. The comparative of an adjective is expressed by using the preposition r “with respect to”: αΈ₯jmt nfrt r nαΉ―rt “a woman more beautiful than a goddess”, lit. “a woman beautiful with respect to a goddess”.
  6. The superlative is formed with a genitive phrase such as ḏsr ḏsrw “the most holy”, lit. “the holy one of the holy ones”, or the preposition jmj “among”, as in wrt jmj nαΉ―rwt “the greatest goddess”, lit. “the great one among goddesses”.
  7. The nfr αΈ₯r construction is formed by following an adjective with a noun to qualify or limit its application in that particular context: nfr αΈ₯r means “good of face“.
  8. A very important use of the nfr αΈ₯r construction is the phrase π“ŒΆπ“‚π“°π“›π“Š€π“…±π“€ m꜒꜀-αΈ«rw, also written π“™π“°π“Š€οΈ‚, meaning “true of voice”. It expresses the (hopeful) fact that a deceased person has made it to eternal happiness.

Vocabulary

  • π“…œπ“΄π“ ꜒ḫ β€œakh”, “effective spirit”, one who has made it to paradise
  • 𓋁𓃀𓏏𓐰𓏭 j꜒btj (nisbe) “eastern”
  • 𓇋𓏢𓅓𓏭 jm.j “among” var. 𓇋𓏢𓅓
  • 𓋀𓏏𓐰𓏭 jmntj (nisbe) “western”
    • π“‹€π“π“±π“π“°π“ˆ‰ jmn.tt “the west”, figuratively “the afterlife”
  • π“Šͺπ“Ž›π“„–π“°π“‚» pαΈ₯ “reach, attack”
    • 𓄇𓏏𓐱𓏭𓐰𓂑 pαΈ₯tj (nisbe) “strong”
  • π“ŒΆπ“‚π“°π“› m꜒꜀ “true, just, real, orderly”
  • π“ŒΆπ“‚π“°π“›π“Š€π“…±π“€ m꜒꜀-αΈ«rw “true of voice”, “justified” var. π“™π“°π“Š€οΈ‚
  • π“Š–π“°π“π“±π“­ njwtj (nisbe) “local”
  • π“Š€π“…±π“€ αΈ«rw “voice”
  • 𓂦𓐰𓂋 ḏsr “(be) sacred” var. 𓂦

Exercises

(forthcoming)

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