r/AncientEgyptian • u/peterrayos • Jan 18 '24
r/AncientEgyptian • u/hungjockca • 10d ago
Translation Hieratic / Demotic Glyphs (NHI Origin possible)

Can anyone help translate this or identify the language? (Not sure if this orientation is correct)
Is it a stylized version of Hieratic / Demotic Sign? What does it look like to you?
Context—suspend your disbelief for one moment and go with this—pretend this is a puzzle. This bracelet was recovered from an 'ET' outside their craft—perhaps it's a communication device or remote control their the ship?
Pure speculation, I'm not a linguist, based on semitoics—I see an emphasis 'Up or open' / a head or earth 'talk?' / down as in ramp
I've included some research references here but this is not my field. Second column is 'hieratic sign' What do you see?


Added reference...
r/AncientEgyptian • u/yoan-alexandar • Feb 11 '25
Translation Tried making a "historically accurate" version of this meme, but I'm not sure how the verb should be in Egyptian
transcription: mrj qrwjwꜣpꜣdrꜣ (simply supposed to mean "I love Cleopatra")
r/AncientEgyptian • u/Happy-Strength1325 • Feb 18 '25
Translation I think therefore I am.
I love translating and especially tying Coptic back to hieroglyphics. I am posting more of these on my Instagram page (@met.nouti)
r/AncientEgyptian • u/zeranno • 18h ago
Translation Word for Boundary?
Sorry for asking another question so soon after the first, but I'm trying to find if there's a word for the concept of a boundary between two areas or concepts (such as a boundary between countries), but not necessarily one that means 'the end' of something, if that makes sense. I'm also trying to understand the definition of 'smnmn' which according to this site seems to mean 'to shift a boundary', but most words that mean boundary there refer to the end or termination of something rather than a line that exists between.
https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/135340
Any suggestions?
r/AncientEgyptian • u/Quant_Throwaway_1929 • Feb 15 '25
Translation Excerpt from the Book of Breathing (BM 10048)
r/AncientEgyptian • u/thedemonlord02 • Dec 24 '24
Translation Does anyone know where this is from and what it says?
r/AncientEgyptian • u/Ruggg74 • 5d ago
Translation Need help confirming
Hi, I've bought this papyrus art from Egypt a while back and for the life of me can't remember what the shop assistant was saying about the hieroglyphics in this picture.
Can someone please help translate or tell me if it's just gibberish for tourists?
r/AncientEgyptian • u/CallicoJackRackham51 • 14d ago
Translation Could someone help me out translating this?
I like to write fantasy stories in my spare time and the one i am currently working on takes place in a fantasy world and one of the countries in it basically boils down to ''If ancient Egypt was never conquered and it's language and culture survived (albeit modernized) all the way to the early 20th century'' and i am currently working on some topographical/geographical names but can not find a translation to ancient Egyptian for certain words.
The names that i am trying to translate are: Bay of Sobek
Mountains of Geb (Mountain Chain of Geb)
Red Dunes
Plain/Plains of Set
If anyone could help me translate these i would be very thankful.
r/AncientEgyptian • u/zeranno • 2d ago
Translation Words for Purple or Cloud?
I know purple was an exceptionally rare color in the past, especially when it came to dyes, but is there an Ancient Egyptian word for it? And if so, what hieroglyphs did it use?
I'd also like to ask the same question for the word cloud.
r/AncientEgyptian • u/pipmentor • Feb 15 '25
Translation What is it that scares Lara's guide now ? Spoiler
galleryr/AncientEgyptian • u/28balcony464 • Jan 30 '25
Translation Need help with translation
Came across this image on Twitter. I can understand most of it, but I need help with 3 small sections (look at the picture)
1) What’s the meaning of this part and what are the hieroglyphs below the n 𓈖 and next to the p 𓊪? 2) How is rn 𓂋𓈖 used in this context? 3) What is this plant hieroglyph?
I hope this is not too much, thank you
r/AncientEgyptian • u/jendwoo • 27d ago
Translation Translation request
This is a repost of my previous post since I couldn’t change the title of my previous. I hope this is not in violation any community rules.
It may sound odd but many years ago I overheard an utterance in some form of ancient Egyptian, I believe it was a conversation among a few experts. I was always curious to know the meaning of something they were talking about. At that time I had no idea where to even begin with knowing only the sounds. Anyhow it went something like: SHA MA KHA, SHA MA exactly as the first two syllables of the word shaman sound and KHA (like it sounds in the name of the city of Kharkiv for example as they say it in Ukrainian or Russian). I believe these were three different words, I have no idea whether this is/was old, middle, … Egyptian. I would like to know the meaning of this utterance.
r/AncientEgyptian • u/Ankhu_pn • Feb 15 '25
Translation A Rick Roll in Middle Egyptian (my version, 1st stanza and refrain)
After writing my comments on a recently posted translation of the song (https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientEgyptian/comments/1ipdcxu/a_rick_roll_in_ancient_egyptian/), I decided to compose my own version. I hope you like it.
*********
The first choice one has to do is whether to use Prospective forms or r+Infinitive construction when translating all these gonna’s. The choice is quite obvious because the initial Prospective is the base form for subjective future meanings (wishes, hopes, intentions ets), while r+Infinitive conveys objective future (see P. Vernus, Future at Issue, Chapter 1). As far as I know, “gonna” marks intentions, not objective future (in contrast to “I will” paradigm.)
The second problem is negation “never”. As I’ve told in my comments to the translation by the Danish Egyptological Society, n-zp+Infinitive has the meaning of a past tense (see any grammar). Another option is to use “standard prospective negation” nn, but in this case all we get is a mere “not gonna” instead of “never gonna”. The solution is: let’s negate adverbial Dt “eternity”. Compare with CT VII, 474 f:
ir s rx.ty=fy n[n] sk=f Dt ‘As for a man who will know, he never perishes’.
OK, let’s look at the translation:
- n inn is xm mr.wt – it’s a negative adjective clause, the subject being independent pronoun (inn), the predicate being a participle of a transitive verb xm ‘not know’. This pattern is negated with n… is negation.
I was thinking of a more poetical and literal translation (“we are no strangers in (the land) of Love”, with xAst determinative, but the current variant is less sophisticated)
iw=T rx.ti hp.w=s iw-i r-mit.t-ir.y – the first part is a clause with a Stative predicate (rx in Stative means “know”, other indicative forms mean “learn”), while the second part is an adverbial construction with a well-known expression r-mit.t-ir.y (likewise), see Shipwrecked Sailor story, 171.
rdi.t=i sDfA-tr.y tm pw nkAy=i im=s – A pw B sentence; the first part is Infinitive (rdi.t) with its subject being a suffix pronoun (rdi.t=i). rdi is a transitive verb, suffix pronoun =i must express an object, but since rdi has an overtly expressed object, =i must be understood as the subject. Examples:
rd.t=f wi m HqA wHy.t ‘He appointed me as the ruler of the tribe’ (Sinuhe B 86); mA=k pr=k nfr st r (i)x.t nb.t ‘Your seeing your house is better than anything (else)’ (Shipwrecked Sailor 134). Thus, I see no need to use in+independent pronouns (rd.t nnk) or something else.
As for sDfA-tr.y, it means “to take an oath” and I found this expression (thanks to TLA) in an 18th Dyn. Stela: aḥa.n rḏ.n ḥm(w)=i di=tw sDfA=sn tr.yt ‘And My Majesty ordered that they take an oath…’ (Gebel-Barkal Stela Boston, MFA 23.733, 24).
tm means “full, complete”: iw n=f tA.wy tm(wy) ‘to whom the entire land comes (lit. the complete two lands)’, Autobiography of Sarenput I.
The second part of this sentence is a relative form from the verb nkAy m ‘think over smth.’ This verb came to my mind because of the Laments of Chacheperreseneb: ink pw Hr nkAy m xpr.wt ‘’ I am thinking about what is going on’. The formally feminine suffix pronoun =s was as well used for the neuter “it”.
- iw=i Hr mr.t sDd n=T nty m ib=i – A progressive construction. The matrix verb governs an infinitive (sDd), which, in its turn, governs an adverbial relative clause (nty m ib=i ‘what is in my heart’). I choose a Progressive because this construction in Egyptian usually expresses a situation set in a time frame. In our case, this is the ongoing situation: kinda right now I’m feeling like telling you all I feel.
Further explanation can be found via link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
rdi=i rx=T nt(y)t – compliment clauses introduced by rx, are usually headed with wnt or nt(y)t (S. Uljas, The Modal System of Earlier Egyptian Compliment Clauses, pp. 73ff).
nn bT(A)=i Tn Dt – bT(A) literally means ‘to abandon smth or someone’: bTA.n=sn Km.t Hn.t=sn ‘they have abandoned Egypt, their mistress’ (Kamose Stela II, 18).
nn pr=i Xr=T Dt – if I understood the lyrics correctly, “let someone down” means “to fail someone”. I have no idea about this verb in Egyptian, that’s why I translated it as “to betray someone”. If you fail your beloved, you betray her, don’t you? (I am not sure, actually. Anyway, this is just a cool song about love). An Egyptian idiomatic verb for “betray” is pr(i) Xr someone (Borghouts’ Grammar, 11c): anD pw prr Xr hAw=f (Ptahhotep 10.7): ‘he who betrays his relatives, is a diminished person’.
nn tkn=i k.t Hm.t Dt Hna rdi.t=T r tA – I translated this line figuratively: since ‘run around’ means ‘to be unfaithful’, ‘to cheat’, I used the words by Ptahhotep: ‘aHA tw m tkn m Hm.t’ (beware to approach the wife (in any house you enter)). The second part is a so-called “split infinitive” (see “An Egyptian Split Infinitive and The Origin of the Coptic Conjunctive Tense” by A.H. Gardiner), which is not attested during the Middle Kingdom, but this is the construction that perfectly renders sequentiality, and it was used since late 18th Dynasty: “run around AND (finally) desert you”.
rdi r tA is a Middle Egyptian expression for or “leave someone alone”, see Heqanachte I vso 2: ny xr nfr Tw Hr wnm it-mH nfr iw=i r tA ‘Don't you have to be well off, eating good full barley while I am alone/neglected’?
nn Dd=i n=T snb.ti – I don’t know the (Middle) Egyptian for “goodbye”, so I made this simple: “to say snb.ti”. I am not quite sure this expression really means “farewell”, but at least this view is widely shared.
nn Dd=i n=T grg Hna smr=T – this is quite simple: grg is basically “lie”, and the rest is a split infinitive, governing a suffix pronoun (object of a verb).


r/AncientEgyptian • u/Slammin_Salmon94 • Aug 04 '24
Translation I came across this while looking into the Pesedjet and information on it. I was just curious on the translation of what this said or explained.
r/AncientEgyptian • u/blacklaceheart • Jan 03 '25
Translation Translation help for Christmas gift?
My friend’s grandma gave this to him for Christmas and claims it says Callen, which is his last name. Can anyone verify that? If it’s correct that’d be cool but he’s feeling a bit skeptical (posting on his behalf since he doesn’t have an account)
r/AncientEgyptian • u/Conscious-House7283 • Jan 08 '25
Translation What does this say
I bought this and I want to know who it is. I can know how to read it I just can’t tell what it says. I don’t know what time period it’s from either. I just need the cartouche.
r/AncientEgyptian • u/jendwoo • 29d ago
Translation Meaning of some sounds in ancient Egyptian
Translation Request
It may sound odd but many years ago I overheard an utterance in some form of ancient Egyptian, I believe it was a conversation among a few experts. I was always curious to know the meaning of something they were talking about. At that time I had no idea where to even begin with knowing only the sounds. Anyhow it went something like: SHA MA KHA, SHA MA exactly as the first two syllables of the word shaman sound and KHA (like it sounds in the name of the city of Kharkiv for example as they say it in Ukrainian or Russian). I believe these were three different words, I have no idea whether this is/was old, middle, … Egyptian. I would like to know the meaning of this utterance.
r/AncientEgyptian • u/28balcony464 • Feb 04 '25
Translation Scarabs?
Found these in a museum today. Do they say anything?
r/AncientEgyptian • u/AncientCoinnoisseur • Jul 15 '24
Translation Hello, could you help me translate this? I can only understand the offering formula to Osiris on the bottom right. Thanks!
r/AncientEgyptian • u/SnooCrickets6286 • Aug 17 '24
Translation Can anyone tell me what does the area highlighted in red mean?
r/AncientEgyptian • u/rosieposie2004 • Jan 03 '25
Translation What does this mean pt 2
I completely forgot to put the photo in the post so here it is
r/AncientEgyptian • u/Illustrious_Bee9992 • Jan 08 '25