ꜣbḏw

Egyptian

FWOTD – 6 June 2018

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ʀVˈbaːcʼVw/ → /ʀVˈbaːtʼVw/ → /ʔəˈbaːtʼə/ → /ʔəˈβoːtʼ/

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

  where V represents an unknown short vowel.

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

  where V represents an unknown short vowel.

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

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /ɑbɛd͡ʒuː/
  • Conventional anglicization: abedju

Etymology 1

Uncertain. A development from ꜣbw (“elephant”) +‎ ḏw (“mountain”) in a direct genitive construction, thus ‘elephant of the mountain’ in reference to the local topography, has been suggested.

Proper noun

  m./f. topo.

1. the city of Abydos
2. (metonymically) the afterlife
   • 12th Dynasty, Stela of Amenemhat, British Museum, Egyptian Antiquities, E567:

     ḏd.t(w) n.f jjw(j) m ḥtp jn wrw nw ꜣbḏw

     May "welcome in peace" be said to him by the great of Abydos.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜣbḏw  

ꜣbḏw	ꜣbḏw	ꜣbḏw	ꜣbḏw	ꜣbḏwt	ꜣbḏwt	ꜣbḏw

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜣbḏw  

ꜣbḏw	ꜣbḏw	ꜣbḏw	ꜣbḏw	ꜣbdw	ꜣbtt
				[New Kingdom]	[Greco-Roman Period]

Derived terms

• nb-ꜣbḏw

Descendants

• → Ancient Greek: Ἄβῡδος (Ábūdos)
  • Greek: Άβυδος (Ávydos)
  • → Latin: Abȳdus, Abidos, Aboedos
• Old Coptic: ⲁⲃⲱⲧ (abōt), ⲁⲃⲟⲧ (abot)
• Sahidic Coptic: ⲉⲃⲱⲧ (ebōt)

Noun

 m

1. (hapax) Abydenes, the people of Abydos collectively [26th Dynasty]

Etymology 2

Noun

 m

1. a kind of fish, often used medicinally, and mythologically said to pilot the solar barque or, in later times, to be a form of the sun god [since the medical papyri]

Usage notes

The existing pictures of this fish are too conventionalized to establish its species with any certainty. It has been suggested to be quite similar to the Nile perch, but with a crescent caudal fin.

Inflection

Declension of ꜣbḏw (masculine)

singular	ꜣbḏw
dual	ꜣbḏwwj
plural	ꜣbḏww

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜣbḏw  

ꜣbḏw	ꜣbḏw	ꜣbd	ꜣbd	ꜣbt	ꜣbt	ꜣbḏw
		[New Kingdom]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]

References

• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1926) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1], volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 8.23–9.2
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 3
• Wilson, Penelope (1991) A Lexicographical Study of the Ptolemaic Texts in the Temple of Edfu, Liverpool: University of Liverpool, page 12
• Dawson, Warren R. (1933) “Studies in the Egyptian Medical Texts—II” in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 19, p. 137
• Wegner, Josef (2007) “From Elephant-Mountain to Anubis-Mountain? A Theory on the Origins and Development of the Name Abdju” in The Archaeology of Ancient Egypt: Essays in Honor of David O’Connor, volume 2, pages 459–476
• Vycichl, Werner (1983) Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Copte, Leuven: Peeters, →ISBN, page 39