The first comprehensive study of how the phonology and grammar of ancient Egyptian changed over four millennia of language history.

Provides never before known corrections to translating Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Middle Egyptian introduces the reader to the writing system of ancient Egypt and the language of hieroglyphic texts. It contains twenty-six lessons, exercises (with answers), a list of hieroglyphic signs, and a dictionary. It also includes a series of twenty-six essays on the most important aspects of ancient Egyptian history, society, religion, literature, and language. Grammar lessons and cultural essays allows users not only to read hieroglyphic texts but also to understand them, providing the foundation for understanding texts on monuments and reading great works of ancient Egyptian literature. This third edition is revised and reorganized, particularly in its approach to the verbal system, based on recent advances in understanding the language. Illustrations enhance the discussions, and an index of references has been added. These changes and additions provide a complete and up-to-date grammatical description of the classical language of ancient Egypt for specialists in linguistics and other fields.

This book offers a comprehensive, self-contained introduction to one of the oldest known recorded languages—Hieroglyphic Egyptian. Unlike other approaches, it is geared toward learning to read one of the masterpieces of Middle Egyptian literature, the story “Shipwrecked Sailor,” written around 2200 bce. The text’s eighteen lessons–organized around such topics as the body, flora, fauna, titles, administration, religion, sexuality, and warfare—cover all the basic grammar and syntax of Middle Egyptian. The book includes exercises for each chapter, sign lists, Egyptian/English and English/Egyptian dictionaries defining all the words and phrases used in the lessons, and a new edition of the tale “Shipwrecked Sailor” with facing commentary. Although the overall approach is literary, Hieroglyphic Egyptian can also be used as an introduction to reading other material, such as biographical inscriptions, religious texts, historical annals, and mathematical or medical papyri. The text is suitable for classroom use, as well as for those who want to learn independently.

The language of Ancient Egypt has been the object of careful investigation since its decipherment in the nineteenth century, but this is the first accessible account that uses the insight of modern linguistics. Antonio Loprieno discusses the hieroglyphic system and its cursive varieties, and the phonology, morphology and syntax of Ancient Egyptian, as well as looking at its genetic ties with other languages of the Near East. This book will be indispensable for both linguists and Egyptologists.

A convenient, portable paperback derived from the acclaimed Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages.