ꜥnḫ wḏꜣ snb

Egyptian

Etymology

Traditionally considered to be a series of nouns ꜥnḫ +‎ wḏꜣ +‎ snb, literally meaning ‘life, prosperity, health (to him)’. More recently the phrase has instead been analyzed as a series of verbs, each with the unwritten stative ending .w, thus literally meaning ‘(may he be) alive, sound, healthy’.

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /ɑːnx wɛd͡ʒɑ sɛnɛb/
  • Conventional anglicization: ankh wedja seneb

Interjection

1. an honorific phrase used after the names of kings, queens, princes, etc., after the words of a king, ruler, or prince, after references to the royal household, and, more rarely, after the names of ordinary people.

Derived terms

• m ꜥnḫ wḏꜣ snb
• rdj ꜥnḫ wḏꜣ snb
• ḥr tp ꜥnḫ wḏꜣ snb

 

References

• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, 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 221.