rḫyt

See also: rhyt

Egyptian

FWOTD – 15 June 2019

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /lVˈχiːwat/ → /lVˈχiːjaʔ/ → /ləˈχeːʔə/ → /ləˈχeːʔ/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /lVˈχiːwat/

  where V represents an unknown short vowel.

• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /lVˈχiːjaʔ/

  where V represents an unknown short vowel.

• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ləˈχeːʔə/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ləˈχeːʔ/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /rɛxiːt/
  • Conventional anglicization: rekhyt

Noun

 f

1. the common people, as opposed to the upper strata of society
   • c. 1550 BCE – 1295 BCE, Great Hymn to Osiris (Stela of Amenmose, Louvre C 286) line 19:

     swḏ n.f rmt rḫyt pꜥt ḥnmmt tꜣ-mrj ḥꜣ(w)-nbw(t)

     Humankind was bequeathed to him, the commoners and patricians, the sunfolk of the Beloved Land (Egypt) and the Aegean islanders.

2. royal subjects collectively
   • c. 1928–1924 BCE, Stele of Wepwawetaa (Leiden V4/AP 63), lines 9–10:

     …

     jnk grw mm srw […] ssbq.n nswt ḫnt tꜣwj mḥ-jb.f ḫnt rḫwt.f

     I was a silent one among the officials, […] whom the king honored in front of the Two Lands (Egypt), his confidant at the fore of his subjects

3. (by extension) humanity

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of rḫyt  

rḫwt	rḫwt	rḫyt	rḫyt	rḫyt	rḫyt	rḫwt

Descendants

• Old Coptic: ⲗϧⲏ (lxē)

References

• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1928) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1], volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 447.9–448.2
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN