nwt

See also: NWT, N.W.T., and N. W. T.

Egyptian

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈnuːʔat/ → /ˈnuːʔaʔ/ → /ˈnuːʔa/ → /ˈneːʔə/

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

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /nuːt/
  • Conventional anglicization: nut

Noun

 f

1. town, city

Usage notes

There is some disagreement about how to read this word and its ideogram ; the German tradition (cf. the Wörterbuch) tends to read nt or nwt, while Loprieno reads nʔt with an unwritten but phonemic glottal stop, and the Anglo-American tradition (cf. Gardiner, Allen, Faulkner) reads njwt. Gardiner supports the latter reading with reference to n(jw)tjw^? (“those belonging to the lower heaven”) from the Pyramid Texts, derived from nj(w)t (“lower heaven”). The German readings are supported by a writing of for the name of the goddess Tefnut (tfnwt or tfnt) in the Amduat IV 48, as well as by the use of the word in place of nt in writings of ḥnt (“pelican”). The reading of nwt is apparently supported by Diodorus Siculus, who claims that Thebes was named after Osiris’s mother, presumably the goddess Nut (nwt). Loprieno’s reading with a glottal stop is supported by the Hebrew rendering נֹא (nōʾ) of the name of Thebes as well as its Akkadian transcription 𒉌𒀪 (né-eʾ, ni-iʾ). Other evidence includes the very late variant writing n(j)wtkꜣrṯ for Ancient Greek Ναύκρατις (Naúkratis) and the (late) Greek rendering of the word as νη (nē) in the name of the pharaoh Psusennes.

Inflection

Declension of nwt (feminine)

singular	nwt
dual	nwtj
plural	nwwt

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of nwt  

nwt	nwt	nwt	nwt	nwt	nwt	nwt	mwt
[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[Old and Middle Kingdom, Greco-Roman Period]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[19th-20th Dynasty]			[Greco-Roman Period]
		rare			scattered	scattered	scattered

Descendants

• Old Coptic: ⲛⲉ (ne)

Proper noun

 f

1. Thebes [since the New Kingdom]
2. the City, personified as a deity

Derived terms

• pꜣ-sbꜣ-ḫꜥ-n-nwt

Descendants

• Coptic: ⲛⲏ (nē)
• → Hebrew: נֹא (nōʾ)
• → Middle Babylonian: [script needed] (nu-)
• → Neo-Assyrian: 𒉌𒀪 (né-eʾ, ni-iʾ)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /nuːt/
  • Conventional anglicization: nut

Noun

 f

1. (uncountable) sky

Synonyms

• ḥrt
• pt

Proper noun

 f

1. the goddess Nut (literally “Sky”)

Descendants

• → English: Nut

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /nuːt/
  • Conventional anglicization: nut

Noun

 f

1. adze

Inflection

Declension of nwt (feminine)

singular	nwt
dual	nwtj
plural	nwwt

References

• Gardiner, Alan (1957) Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, third edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN
• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1926–1961) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 148.
• Hoch, James (1997) Middle Egyptian Grammar, Mississauga: Benben Publications, →ISBN, page 126
• Diodorus Siculus (c. 35 BCE) Bibliotheca historica, Book I, Chapter 15.1