znj

Egyptian

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈziːnit/ → /ˈsiːniʔ/ → /ˈsiːna/ → /ˈsiːnə/

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

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /zɛni/
  • Conventional anglicization: zeni

Verb

 3ae inf.

1. (transitive or intransitive) to pass by, to go beyond
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 8–10:

     pḥ.n.n pḥwj wꜣwꜣt zn.n.n znmwt

     We have reached the end of Lower Nubia, and we have passed by Bigeh.

2. (transitive) to surpass, to exceed
   • c. 1900 BCE, The Instructions of Kagemni (pPrisse/pBN 183) lines 2.4–2.5:

     ḏr.n ḏd.n.f n.sn jr ntt nbt m zẖꜣ ḥr pꜣ šfdw sḏm st mj ḏd.j st (j)m zn ḥꜣw ḥr šꜣꜣt

     In the end he said to them: As for everything in the writing on this scroll, heed it as I say it; don’t exceed what has been set down.

3. (intransitive) to come to an end, to pass
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) line 124:

     ršwj sḏd dpt.n.f zn ḫt mr

     How joyful is he who recounts what he has experienced when a painful thing passes!

Inflection

Conjugation of znj (third weak / 3ae inf. / III. inf.) — base stem: zn

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
znt, znj	znw, zn	znt, znwt, znyt	zn	zn, zny

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective2		periphrastic prospective2
zn8	ḥr znt, ḥr znj	m znt, m znj	r znt, r znj

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	passive	contingent
			aspect / mood	active	passive
perfect	zn.n	znw, zn, zny	consecutive	zn.jn	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
terminative	znt, znyt
perfective3	zn	active + .tj1, .tw2	obligative1	zn.ḫr	active + .tj1, .tw2
imperfective	zn, zny	active + .tj1, .tw2
prospective3	znw, zn, zny	znw, zn, zny	potentialis1	zn.kꜣ	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
subjunctive	zn, zny	active + .tj1, .tw2

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms		participles
	active	passive	active	passive
perfect	zn.n	active + .tj1, .tw2	—	—
perfective	znw1, zny, zn	active + .tj1, .tw2	zn	zny, zn
imperfective	zn, zny, znw5	active + .tj1, .tw2	zn, znj6, zny6	zn, znw5
prospective	znw1, zny, zn, zntj7	—	znwtj1 4, zntj4, znt4
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.

Derived terms

• znj mnt
• znt

Descendants

• Demotic: sny
  • Bohairic Coptic: ⲥⲓⲛⲓ (sini)
  • Sahidic Coptic: ⲥⲓⲛⲉ (sine)

References

• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 282.