nꜣ

Egyptian

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /niʀ/ → /niʀ/ → /nə/ → /nə/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /niʀ/
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /niʀ/
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /nə/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /nə/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /nɑ/
  • Conventional anglicization: na

Pronoun

 anaphoric demonstrative pronoun

1. (Old and Late Egyptian) Used for vocative reference
2. (Middle Egyptian) the aforementioned ones, the said ones (see usage notes)
3. (Late Egyptian) the plural definite article; the
4. (Late Egyptian, with following noun) those of, these of

Usage notes

This demonstrative was originally a pronoun, and so did not directly modify nouns. In Middle Egyptian it becomes used as a demonstrative modifying plural nouns. When used in this way, it precedes the noun, with the genitival adjective n(j) in between, e.g. "said feet" is nꜣ n(j) rdw (literally "the aforementioned one of feet").

In Middle Egyptian, this pronoun is somewhat colloquial; in Late Egyptian its force has weakened to that of a definite article.

Inflection

Old Egyptian demonstratives

	determiners						pronouns1	adverbs
number	singular		dual		plural		unmarked
gender	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	unmarked
proximal to speaker	pn	tn, jtn	*jpnj	*jptnj	jpn	jptn	nn	—
distal	pf	tf	*jpfj	*jptfj	jpf	jptf	nf	—
proximal to spoken of	pj, pw, py, p	tj, tw, jtw	jpwj	*jptwj	jpw	jptw	nw	—
vocative	pꜣ	tꜣ	—	—	—	—	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ
Unmarked for number and gender, but treated syntactically as masculine plurals when used with participles and relative forms, and as feminine singulars when referred to by resumptive pronouns.

Middle Egyptian demonstratives

	determiners and pronouns			adverbs
number	singular		plural1
gender	masculine	feminine	unmarked
proximal	pn	tn	nn	ꜥn
distal	pf, pfꜣ	tf, tfꜣ	nf, nfꜣ	ꜥf
‘copula’; vocative	pw, pwy	tw, twy	nw	—
anaphoric	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ
Joined by n(j) to nouns they modify.

Late Egyptian demonstratives and articles

	masculine	feminine	plural		adverb
pronoun	pꜣw				dj
determiners and pronouns	pꜣj	tꜣj	nꜣj
possessive determiners (used with suffix pronouns)	pꜣy	tꜣy	nꜣy
relational pronouns (‘possessive prefixes’)	p-n, pꜣ	t-nt, tꜣ	nꜣyw, nꜣ
definite articles	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ1
indefinite articles	wꜥ1		nhꜣy1
Originally joined by n(j) to nouns they modify; later without it.

Descendants

• Demotic: nꜣ
  • Coptic: ⲛ- (n-), ⲛ̄- (n̄-) (Sahidic, Fayyumic, Akhmimic, Lycopolitan), ⲛⲉ- (ne-) (Sahidic, Fayyumic, Lycopolitan), ⲛⲓ- (ni-) (Bohairic, Fayyumic)

References

• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 54–56.
• Junge, Friedrich (2005) Late Egyptian Grammar: An Introduction, second English edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, page 53
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN
• Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN