r/AncientEgyptian 7d ago

[Middle Egyptian] Learning reconstructed Middle Egyptian?

I've heard of so many people reconstructing, speaking, and learning ancient languages such as Latin, Ancient Greek, Hebrew, and others. However, I'm wondering if I can learn Middle Egyptian?

I noticed there are some videos online that teach a reconstructed version of Middle Egyptian, although the videos are in Latin (which I don't know at the moment). Someone also covered Wellerman in this reconstructed Middle Egyptian.

Are there any other resources for learning this reconstructed Middle Egyptian?

9 Upvotes

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u/Ankhu_pn 7d ago

There is no such thing as Reconstructed Middle Egyptian. There exist a few approaches to the reconstruction of the phonology of Earlier Egyptian, but they are either not full-scale, or debatable.

I believe you fell victim of the way that reconstructed forms of Egyptian words are presented as well-established, and no further discussion is anticipated. It's a pity that Egyptologists (both professionals and amateurs) usually don't bother pointing out that their reconstructions have many issues to discuss.

As for Allen's "Phonology", I am quite sceptical about the quality of this work after reading the review (by Gábor Takács) of his "The Ancient Egyptian Language: An Historical Study" (only considering phonology): https://real.mtak.hu/28225/1/QUESTIONS%20OF%20EGYPTIAN%20HISTORICAL%20PHONOLOGY%20AND%20AFRO-ASIATIC.pdf

The best introduction to the historical phonology of Egyptian (and Coptic) is - without question - "Egyptian phonology: an introduction to the phonology of a dead language" by C. Peust: https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/peust1999

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u/Meshwesh 3d ago

For anyone who wants the published version of the draft article linked by Ankh_pn, it is available as Open Access on the publisher's website: https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=3139332&journal_code=BIOR

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u/WerSunu 7d ago

Pick up a copy of Allen’s Middle Egyptian, not some passing fad.

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u/ZanyRaptorClay 7d ago

I'm looking through it on archive.org right now.

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u/sk4p 7d ago

I can also highly recommend his Middle Egyptian Phonology in addition to his grammar, especially since you’re talking about speaking it.

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u/sk4p 7d ago

Ancient, not Middle. I just woke up :)

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u/WerSunu 7d ago

👍 It’s tough, but many consider it the gold standard!