hꜣj

See also: ḥꜣj and ḫꜣj

Egyptian

FWOTD – 6 January 2020

Etymology

Sometimes proposed to be from a form such as Proto-Afroasiatic *hVy/*hVw- (“to fall, to happen”), in which case it may be cognate with Arabic هوى (hawā, “to come down, to fall”) and Iraqw huu’ (“fall, drop”).

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈhiʀjit/ → /ˈhiʀjiʔ/ → /ˈheʔja/ → /ˈheʔjə/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈhiʀjit/ (infinitive)
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈhiʀjiʔ/ (infinitive)
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈheʔja/ (infinitive)
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈheʔjə/ (infinitive)

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /hɑi/
  • Conventional anglicization: hai

Verb

 3ae inf.

1. (intransitive) to descend
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 24–28:

     hꜣ.kw r wꜣḏ-wr m dpt nt št-mḏwtj mḥ m ꜣw.s ḥmw mḥ m sḫw.s št-mḏwtj sqd jm.s m stp n(j) kmt

     I had gone down to the sea in a boat of a hundred twenty cubits in length and forty cubits in breadth, with a hundred twenty sailors in it of the choice of Egypt.

   • c. 1800 BCE, The Eloquent Peasant, version R (pRamesseum A/pBerlin 10499, Recto) lines 1.2–1.3:

     m.t wj m hꜣt r kmt r jnt ꜥqw jm n ẖrdw.j

     • Translation by J. P. Allen

       Look, I am going down to Egypt to get provisions there for my children.

2. (intransitive) to fall, to drop
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 129–130:

     ꜥḥꜥ.n sbꜣ hꜣ

     Then a star fell.

3. (intransitive) to come, to walk (+ n or r: to (someone))
4. (transitive) to charge upon, to fall upon (an enemy)
   • c. 1859 BCE – 1840 BCE, The Story of Sinuhe, version B (pBerlin 3022 and pAmherst n-q) lines 52–53:

     nn twt n.f mꜣꜣ.t(w).f hꜣ.f r-pḏt(j)w ẖꜥm.f r-ḏꜣw

     • Translation by J. P. Allen

       There is none equal to him when he is seen charging archers and engaging opposition.

Inflection

Conjugation of hꜣj (third weak / 3ae inf. / III. inf.) — base stem: hꜣ, geminated stem: hꜣꜣ

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
hꜣt, hꜣj	hꜣw, hꜣ	hꜣt, hꜣwt, hꜣyt	hꜣ	hꜣ, hꜣy

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective2		periphrastic prospective2
hꜣ8, hꜣꜣ8	ḥr hꜣt, ḥr hꜣj	m hꜣt, m hꜣj	r hꜣt, r hꜣj

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	passive	contingent
			aspect / mood	active	passive
perfect	hꜣ.n	hꜣw, hꜣ, hꜣy	consecutive	hꜣ.jn	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
terminative	hꜣt, hꜣyt
perfective3	hꜣ	active + .tj1, .tw2	obligative1	hꜣ.ḫr	active + .tj1, .tw2
imperfective	hꜣ, hꜣy	active + .tj1, .tw2
prospective3	hꜣw, hꜣ, hꜣy	hꜣw, hꜣ, hꜣy	potentialis1	hꜣ.kꜣ	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
subjunctive	hꜣ, hꜣy	active + .tj1, .tw2

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms		participles
	active	passive	active	passive
perfect	hꜣ.n	active + .tj1, .tw2	—	—
perfective	hꜣw1, hꜣy, hꜣ	active + .tj1, .tw2	hꜣ	hꜣy, hꜣ
imperfective	hꜣꜣ, hꜣꜣy, hꜣꜣw5	active + .tj1, .tw2	hꜣꜣ, hꜣꜣj6, hꜣꜣy6	hꜣꜣ, hꜣꜣw5
prospective	hꜣw1, hꜣy, hꜣ, hꜣtj7	—	hꜣwtj1 4, hꜣtj4, hꜣt4
Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective. Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. Only in the masculine singular. Only in the masculine. Only in the feminine. Third-person masculine statives of this class often have a final -y instead of the expected stative ending.

Descendants

• Bohairic Coptic: ϩⲉⲓ (hei)
• Sahidic Coptic: ϩⲉ (he)

References

• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1928) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1], volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 472.3–475.4
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 156
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 180, 275.