EGYPTIAN READINGBOOKVOLUMEIEXERCISESANDMIDDLEEGYPTIANTEXTSSELECTEDANDEDITEDBYDr A. DEBUCKPROFESSOROFEGYPTOLOGYINTHEUNIVERSITYOF LEYDENLEYDENNEDERLANDSCHARCHAEOLOGISCH.PHILOLOGISCHINSTITUUTVOORHETNABIJEOOSTEN1948 Scann par Alain Zimmerlinwww.thotweb.com 2008 PREFACEThis volume intends to provide students who wish tofamiliarize themselves with the hieroglyphs,the grammar, and the literature of Middle Egyptian with suitable exercises and texts.According to my experience the lack of theformer is a serious difficultyfor beginners. As arule grammars do not quote more than afew examples and short sentences to illustrate thefactsandrules which they record, the number of these quotations being altogether insufficient to inculcatethe more vital rules of grammar. Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar with its wealth of examples andexercises is of course aconspicuous exception,. hisbook, however, is too exhaustiveandtooponderousa volumefor most beginners. We hope that the abundance of illustrative examples corresponding tothe various subjects of grammar, which are offered in thefirst part of this book will smooth thestudent's path andprove a useful supplement of the current Egyptian grammars and that the bookwill make the study of these grammars moreattractive. The numbersof mentionedin theheadingsof the sections refer to the of my short elementary Egyptische Grammatica (in Dutch) of whicha French translation is ready since long andwill be publishedas soon as circumstances allowit.'A transcription of pp. 7-37has been added in order to help the beginning student in his rathertedious searchfor signs in the sign-list andtogive himthe means of controllinghis finds. Afterwardshe is supposed to befamiliar with most signs and to be able tofind his way in the sign-list withsome ease. The references of the type (A1) refer to section andnumber of Gardiner's Sign-list orother lists whichfollow his system.As to the secondpart of the book we hope that this selection of Middle Egyptianpieces mayalsofill up a void. At present Erman's delightful little Aegyptische Chrestomathie of 1904is arareandnearly forgotten bookand as Sethe's Aegyptische Lesestiicke is alsoout of print anddifficult tobefound, nohandyreading-bookfor students seems to exist for the time being. The present chrestomathycontains, aswe hope, a fairly representativeselectionof historical, literary, andreligious texts composedin the classical Middle Egyptianlanguage. As to this collectionlittle needbesaid. Although presumablyothers will have other predilections, an attempt has been made to offer texts of varying contents sothat everybodymay findsomething to his taste. We alsointendedtogive botheasier andmoredifficultpieces. We mayremark here that the stOryof Sinuhehas beenexcludedintentionallyfromthe literarytexts, as this text is accessible to all students in Blackman's edition in the BibliothecaAegyptiaca.A second volume will provide the rest of the notes on purely textual matters of which afewpages have already been included in this book. That second volume will also contain a vocabularyand a series of philological explanations, rather detailed and complete in the initial pieces, moresuccinct andrare in the latter parts of the book.PREFAC.E .....TABLE OF CONTENTSEXERCISESTABLEOFCONTENTSPageVVIWords in purely alphabetic spelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... IWords written with two alphabetic signs followed byone or more determinati yesWords \vrittenwith three or more alphabetics i g n ~ followedby one or more determinativesWords written withalphabetic andbiliteral signs followed by one or more determinatives 3The commonest ideograms 6Purely ideographic writings 8Abbreviations . 8Transpositions . 8Mixed Spellings 8Group-writing . 8Substantives (gender, number). Genitive (direct, indirect). Apposition. 10Adjectives; used as epithets or substantives; qualified by a substantive; degrees ofcomparison. . . . 10The suffix-pronouns. 12The demonstratives. 12Theindependent pronouns. Syntaxof non-verbalsentences withsubstantival predicate 14The dependent pronouns. Syntaxof non-verbal sentences with adjectival predicate 14The dependent pronouns. Syntax of non-verbal sentences with adverbial predicate. 14Syntaxof non-verbal sentences with substantival predicate . . . ... .... 16The participles; used as epithets or substantives. Expression ofobject and subject.Negation ofthe participles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18The active participles as predicate in non-verbal sentences . . 20Complex constructions with the passive participle. The relative forms 20The srimtj:fi form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24The sgm:fforms. Syntaxofthe verbal sentence. 24The sgm.1lj; sgm'zn:f, sgmk3:f, sgm!Jr:f forms. . 28The passive sgmw:f and passives created bymeans, oftw. 32Compound verb-forms introduced byzw, c!:tc;theauxiliary p3w;the verbsi(n), k3, lp'contained in the forms sgm.z1l:f, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 34The infinitive; its forms and syntax; negation of the infinitive . . . . . . . ... 36The old perfecti ve (pseudo-participle); its forms and syntax;use as a clause of circumstance 39VIII TABLE OF CONTENTSPageThe infinitive (after f:zr) and the old perfective in the pseudo-verbal construction 4 IThe imperative; its negation; its reinforcement byadjuncts. 44The complementary infinitive; theldmtfform . . . . . . . . . . 45HISTORICALTEXTS.."'\ Canal inscriptionof Tuthmosis III (K. SETHE, Urkunden der z8. Dynastt'e (= Urk. IV), 814 Coronation decree of Tuthmosis I (Urk. IV, 80). . . . . . . .)( Inscription ofTuthmosis 11, recording a rebellion in Nubia (Urk. IV, 137))tThe Punt expedition of Queen Hatshepsut (Urk. IV, 341) . . .)( Departure ofthe Punt expedition (Urk. IV, 322). .)(Arrival ofthe expedition in Punt (Urk. IV, 323). . . .)(The Puntites receive the expedition (Urk. IV, 324) . . a camp for the expedition(Urk. IV, 325). . .XReception ofthe tribute of the Puntites (Urk. IV, 326).The products of Punt (Urk. IV, 328). . . . . . . . .XThe return voyage of the expedition (Urk. IV. 329) . .XThe 'poetical' stela ofTuthmosis III (P. LACAU, Steles duNouvdEmpire, nr 34010)XThe Gebel Barkal Stela ofTuthmosis III (G. A. REISNERand M. B. REISNER, Zeit-schrift fur iigyptische Spraclte, etc. Bd 69(1933), pp. 24-29. Tf.Ill-V. . . .XThe Armant Stela ofTuthmosis III (Sir ROBERT MOND, and O. H. MYERS, TemplesofArmant, pI. ellI, LXXXVIII, p. (82) . of Amenophis III recording 'a wild cattle hunt (Annates du Service, etc.XLIV(1945), p. 34, supplemented and corrected fromother sources). . . . . . .carab of Amenophis III recording his success in 10 years' lion-hunting (G. STEIN-DORFF, DieBlutezeit des P/za1'aonenreiches, p. 44, fig. 39, supplemented and correctedfromother sources). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ScarabofAmenophis III recording his marriage with Tiyand the boundaries of hisempire (G. STEINDORFF and K. C. SEELE, When Egypt ruledtheEast, p. 75, fig. (7)>\Scarab of Amenophis III recordingthe arrival ofthe princess Gilukhipa (Recueil deTravaux, etc. 15 (1893), p. 200, supplemented and corrected fromother sources) .of Amenophis III recording the construction of a pleasure-lake (Annales duService, etc. XLIV(1945) p. 37, supplemented andcorrected fromother sourcesj .)!Thebiographyof Khnumhotpe, prince of Beni Hasan (P. E. NEWBERRY, Beni Hasan,Part I, pI: XXV, XXVI, the last lines corrected by P. MONTET, Kemi III (1930-35)pp. 1 12 sqq., PI.' XI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .)(The laudatory autobiography of Kay (Hatnub, Gr. 24, R. ANTHES, Die ,Felseninschriften von Hatnub, 1928, Tf. 24). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .)OExpeditionto Hammamat; the official record (1. COUYATet P. MONTET, Les inscrip-tions hieroglyphiques et hieratlques du Ouadi HammamCtt, 1912, pI. XXXVII,nr192)pThesame expedition; the commander's record (Op. cit., pI. XXIX, nr 113). . . . .i:A wonder, which occurred during this expedition(Op. cit., pI. XXIX, nr (10) . . .f The second wonder which happened during this expedition (Op. cit.,pI. XXXVI,191)r Semneh Stela marking the southern boundary ofthe realmof Sesostris III (Agyp-tlsche Insclwiften aus den Koniglichen Museen zu Berlin, Bd I, p. 255, nr 14753) .66667374757677TABLEOF CONTENTSLITERARYTEXTSX Storyofthe miracles which happened inthe reign of Cheops (A. ERMAN, Die Miirchendes Papyrus Westcar = Mitteilungen aus den orientalisclzen Sammlungen, Heft V, Die Kia;en'des 13auern =Hieratische Papyrus aus den Koniglichen Muuen zu Berlin, BdIV) .XThe Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor [Wo GoutNISCHEFF], Lespapyrus heratiquesNo. I I 15, 11 [6Aet II 16B deI'Ermitageimperial Cl St.-Phersbourg, 1913, PI. 1-VIII)A story designed to make propaganda for the cult of Khonsu (The Bentresh-stela,Louvre C284, E. DE ROUGE, Journal Asiatique, cinquieme serie, t. VIII, (1856),plate between pp. 200 and 201= P. TRESSON, Re'vue biblique 42 (1933), pp.57-78, pI. I). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RELIGIOUSTEXTSIXPage7988100106XHymn to Osiris (Louvre C 286, A. MORET, Bulletin de I'Institut franrais d'archeologieorientale du Caire, t. XXX(1930) pp. 725-750, pI. I-Ill) . . . . . . . . ... 110Hymn to the Sun-god (B.M. 826, S. BIRCH, Transactions ofthe Society ofbiblcalarclzeeology, voI. 8(1883), pp.143-163 =British Museum, Aguide to the Egyptiangalleries (Sculpture), pI. XX =1. E. S. EDWARDS, British Muuum, HieroglyphcTextsfromEgyptian Stelae, etc. Part VIII (1939) pp. 22-25, pI. XXI) . . ... 113spell for the protection ofa baby(Hieratische Papyrus aus den KoniglichenMuseen zu Berlt'n, Bd. Ill, Zauberspruche fur Mutter undKind, p. XVII, P. 3027,I 9-11 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 115/