We’re ready for a few more enhancements to adjectival sentences (first encountered way back in Lesson 9). We’re going to see how you can express that something is even more of whatever quality you describe, and different ways to convey the subject (or lack thereof).
“Doubly” sentences
We have seen that the predicate of an adjectival sentence uses the masculine singular form even if the subject is feminine or plural: nfr zt “the woman is beautiful”. However, there is a situation in which the masculine singular form is not used, but rather the masculine dual form.
By Middle Egyptian, the use of a dual form for adjectives was dying out, when adjectives were used to modify nouns. But as a predicate, the dual remained useful. It means that the predicate is “doubly” so.
๐ค๐๐ฐ๐๐ ฑ๐ด๐ญ๐น๐๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ จ๐ด๐๐ฐ๐ nfrwj แธฅwt-nแนฏr nbt wrt
Literally, this would be read “Every great temple is doubly beautiful.” The best way to translate this sort of sentence is usually as an exclamation, with the words “so” or “how”: “Every great temple is so beautiful!” or “How beautiful every great temple is!”
If you see an adjectival sentence where the predicate adjective has a -w that is not part of its masculine singular, but not a -j, it must be because -j is weak and was omitted:
๐๐๐ฐ๐๐
ฑ๐๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ช jqrw(j) แธฅjmwt
“How skillful are the women!”
Even though the women are plural, your choices for a predicate adjective are the singular form jqr (“The women are skillful”), or the dual form jqrwj (“How skillful are the women!”). The plural form is never used for the predicate adjective. Therefore, jqrw just as written would not be correct, so the -w implies there must also have been a -j.
“Very”
The word ๐ จ๐ด๐๐ฐ๐ wrt can be used after the predicate to act much like the word “very”. Note that if it were used after the subject, it would be a modifier on the subject. Also note that when wrt means “very”, it is always in the feminine form, even though the predicate is in the masculine form, and even though the subject might be as well!
๐๐ฐ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐
จ๐ด๐๐ฐ๐๐น๐๐ฐ๐๐ nแธซt wrt nแนฏrt
“the goddess is very strong” but
๐๐ฐ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐น๐๐ฐ๐๐๐
จ๐ด๐๐ฐ๐ nแธซt nแนฏrt wrt
“the great goddess is strong”
And with a masculine subject, wrt would not be correct modifying the subject; it would be wr, but when modifying the predicate, it remains wrt.
๐๐ฐ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐
จ๐ด๐๐ฐ๐๐น๐๐ฐ๐ nแธซt wrt nแนฏr
“the god is very mighty” but
๐๐ฐ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐น๐๐ฐ๐๐
จ๐ฐ๐ nแธซt nแนฏr wr
“the great god is mighty”
Null subjects
In English if you say “it’s going good for me” you must, grammatically, include as a subject the pronoun “it”, which doesn’t refer to anything in this case. But in Egyptian, this “null” subject is not needed.
You construct the adjectival sentence in the usual way: adjectival predicate (which may include “doubly”), followed by (nonexistent) subject, followed by prepositional phrases modifying the sentence, and in this case, that modification is a phrase with n:
๐๐๐๐ฐ๐
ช๐
ฑ๐ด๐ญ๐๐ฐ๐ bjn.wj n.j
“How bad it is for me!”
(lit. “Doubly bad for me!” with no need to say what is doubly bad)
Apposition
Finally, it’s common for the subject of the adjectival sentence to be a pronoun in apposition with a noun:
๐ค๐๐ฐ๐๐
ฑ๐ด๐ญ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ nfrwj sj แธฅjmt.j
“How beautiful my wife is!”
(lit. “Doubly beautiful she is, [that is,] my wife!”)
Summary: More on adjectival sentences
- The old masculine dual form can be used instead to give an adjectival sentence exclamatory force.
- The word ๐ จ๐ด๐๐ฐ๐ wrt “very” can be added between the predicate and the subject.
- When the subject is “it” used in the abstract way, like “it’s good for me” about no particular thing, it is simply not written: nfr n.j “(it) is good for me”.
- The subject is often a personal pronoun followed by a noun in apposition: nfr sj แธฅjmt “The woman is beautiful”, lit. “Beautiful is she, the woman”.
Vocabulary
- ๐๐ฟ๐ ฑ๐ข j๊ข.w “praise”
- ๐๐ jnj “bring, fetch, use”
- ๐น๐ฐ๐ jrj “do, make”
- ๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ฐ๐๐ ช jzf.t “evil, wrong, chaos”; the opposite of m๊ข๊คt
- ๐จ๐ฐ๐น jsjr Osiris (god) (also ๐น๐ฐ๐จ, ๐น๐ฐ๐จ๐ฑ๐ญ)
- Also transliterated wsjr.
- ๐ข๐ฐ๐๐ ฑ๐ด๐ณ ๊คแธฅ๊ค.w “period of time, lifetime”
- ๐ ง๐๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๊คq.w “income, bread, rations, supplies”
- ๐ฏ๐๐ฐ๐ w๊ข.t “road, way, path”
- ๐ จ๐ฐ๐๐๐ wrแธ “(be) tired, weary”
- ๐ค๐๐ฐ๐ bj.t “honey”
- ๐๐๐๐ฐ๐ ช bjn “bad, evil”
- ๐๐๐ pr-แธฅแธ “treasurehouse, treasury”
- ๐๐ฐ๐๐ป prj “emerge, issue forth, go up”
- ๐ช๐๐ฐ๐๐ฎ psj “cook, bake, heat up (food)” (note odd spelling)
- ๐
m “in”
- ๐๐ถ๐ jm (adv.) “therein, there, within”, var. ๐๐
- ๐ด๐ฐ๐น๐ฟ๐ฟ m๊ข๊ข “see, sight”
- ๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐๐ m๊ข๊ค.t “truth, justice, the right order of things”
- ๐๐๐ mjj โlike, likewiseโ
- ๐๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ด๐ ฑ๐๐๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ms.w-nswt “royal children”
- ๐๐ง๐
ฑ๐ mdw “words, speech”
- ๐น๐ mdw-nแนฏr “hieroglyphs” (“god’s words”)
- ๐ n “for, to (the benefit of)”
- ๐๐ฐ๐ญ nj “thereto”, “for it”
- ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ฐ๐ค๐๐ฐ๐ฅ n.t-๊ค “custom, practice, ritual” (lit. “what belongs to the hand”)
- ๐๐๐ด๐ njs “call upon”, “reckon (math)”
- ๐๐๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ nn-nswt “Herakleopolis Magna”
- ๐๐ฐ๐๐ rแธซ “experience, learn, know”
- ๐๐ฐ๐๐ ฑ๐๐๐ฐ๐ฅ rลกwt “joy”
- ๐๐ฐ๐ rdj “give”
- ๐ต๐ฐ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ แธฅtp “offering”, “peace”
- ๐๐ฐ๐ แธซ๊คj “appear”
- ๐๐ฐ๐ช๐๐ฐ๐ แธซpลก “strong arm”
- ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ แบr.j (adv.) “under (it)”
- ๐ด๐๐ฐ๐ณ sf “yesterday”
- ๐๐ ฑ๐ ช ลกwj “(be) empty, free of”
- ๐๐ ๐ป ลกmj “go, walk, traverse”
- ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ข q๊คแธฅ “elbow, shoulder”
- ๐ผ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฐ grแธฅ “night”
- ๐ง๐ฐ๐ผ๐น dgj “look, behold”
- ๐๐ณ๐ท๐๐ฐ๐พ๐ธ แธt “forever”
We’ve met some of the prepositions before and included them in the vocabulary of previous lesson; those have not repeated here. This lesson introduced many words in its examples; hopefully your personal dictionary is growing nicely!
Exercises
(forthcoming)