ḥrt

See also: hrt, Hrt, HRT, ḫrt, and ẖrt

Egyptian

Etymology 1

ḥr (“upon, atop”) +‎ -t (feminine nisba ending), thus ‘(the one) being atop’. Some early writings of the sense ‘sky’ use determinatives that perhaps instead suggest a connection with the verb ḥrj (“to be distant”).

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /hɛrɛt/
  • Conventional anglicization: heret

Adjective

 f

1. feminine singular of ḥrj

Inflection

Declension of ḥrt (nisba adjective)

	masculine	feminine
singular	ḥrj	ḥrt
dual	ḥrjwj, ḥrwj	ḥrtj
plural	ḥrjw, ḥrw	ḥrwt1, ḥrt2
Archaic in Middle Egyptian when modifying a noun. From Middle Egyptian, this feminine singular form was generally used for the plural. In Late Egyptian, the masculine singular form was used with all nouns.

Derived terms

• jn-ḥrt
• ḥrt-pr

 

Noun

 f

1. sky [since the Pyramid Texts]

   Synonyms: pt, nwt

2. sky as the dwelling-place of gods and the dead king
3. (figuratively, with following genitive) temple, earthly dwelling-place (of a god) [Greco-Roman Period]
4. temple roof [Greco-Roman Period]
5. upper side, upper surface [Medical papyri]

Usage notes

In the Late Period this word is often found in the dual with unchanged meaning.

Inflection

Declension of ḥrt (feminine)

singular	ḥrt
dual	ḥrtj
plural	ḥrwt

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ḥrt  

ḥrt	ḥrt	ḥrt	ḥrt	ḥrt	ḥrj	ḥrj
[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[since the end of the New Kingdom]	[since the end of the New Kingdom]

Derived terms

• m ḥrt
• n ḥrt
• ḥrtj

 

Noun

 f

1. (female) supervisor, boss (+ genitive: of (wet nurses, harem women, a household, etc.)) [since the Middle Kingdom]
2. epithet for the queen [18th Dynasty]
3. epithet for the goddess Isis [Greco-Roman Period]

Inflection

Declension of ḥrt (feminine)

singular	ḥrt
dual	ḥrtj
plural	ḥrwt

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ḥrt  

ḥrt

[since the Middle Kingdom]

Derived terms

• ḥrt-pr

 

Noun

 f

1. inundation of the Nile [Greco-Roman Period]
2. water in general [Greco-Roman Period]

Inflection

Declension of ḥrt (feminine)

singular	ḥrt
dual	ḥrtj
plural	ḥrwt

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ḥrt  

ḥrt	ḥrt

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /hɛrɛt/
  • Conventional anglicization: heret

Noun

 f

1. rock-cut tomb [since the Middle Kingdom]

   Synonyms: jz, ḥꜣt, mꜥḥꜥt

2. particularly, one of the rock-cut royal tombs of the New Kingdom, such as those at the Valley of the Kings [since the New Kingdom]
3. necropolis (of a particular city) [since the Middle Kingdom]
4. afterworld, realm of the dead [Theban royal tombs]

Inflection

Declension of ḥrt (feminine)

singular	ḥrt
dual	ḥrtj
plural	ḥrwt

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ḥrt  

ḥrt	ḥrt	ḥrt	ḥrt	ḥrtt	ḥrtt	ḥrt	ḥrj
	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[19th Dynasty]	[Late Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]

Etymology 3

ḥr (“Horus”) +‎ -t (feminine suffix).

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /hɛrɛt/
  • Conventional anglicization: horet

Proper noun

 f

1. female Horus, Horus-goddess, Horet
2. epithet for Isis or Hathor
3. conventional term introducing the serekh name of female pharaohs

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ḥrt  

ḥrt	ḥrt	ḥrt	ḥrt
		as a term introducing the serekh name	as a term introducing the serekh name

Derived terms

• ḥrt-nbw
• ḥrt-nḏt-jt.s

 

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /hɛrɛt/
  • Conventional anglicization: heret

Noun

 f

1. (rare) road, path, specifically one by land as opposed to water [since the Pyramid Texts]

Inflection

Declension of ḥrt (feminine)

singular	ḥrt
dual	ḥrtj
plural	ḥrwt

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ḥrt  

ḥrt	ḥrt	ḥrj
[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[Greco-Roman Period]

Descendants

Traditionally linked as a descendant, but rejected as such by Černý:

• >? Coptic: ϩⲓⲏ (hiē), (plural) ϩⲓⲟⲟⲩⲉ (hiooue)

References

• “ḥr.t (lemma ID 107670)”, “ḥr.t (lemma ID 107680)”, “ḥr.t (lemma ID 107630)”, “ḥr.jt (lemma ID 108380)”, “ḥr.t (lemma ID 107650)”, “ḥr.t (lemma ID 107640)”, “Ḥr.wt (lemma ID 107610)”, and “ḥr.t (lemma ID 107660)”, in Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae‎^[1], Corpus issue 18, Web app version 2.1.5, Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning by order of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils by order of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, 2004–26 July 2023
• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1929) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[2], volume 3, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 124.10–125.3, 142.3–142.7, 143.9–143.10, 143.13–143.19, 144.2–144.6, 144.8–144.18
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 175
• Leitz, Christian, Budde, Dagmar, Dils, Peter, Goldbrunner, Lothar, Mendel, Daniela (2002) Christian Leitz, editor, Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen, volumes 5: ḥ–ḫ, Leuven: Peeters, pages 297–298
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 35.