mjnj

Egyptian

FWOTD – 10 January 2018

Pronunciation

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

Verb

 4ae inf.

1. (intransitive) to moor (a boat)
   • 12th Dynasty, Tomb of Sarenput I, great biographical inscription, line 7:

     […] ḥr(j) dmjw m tꜣ-ztj nꜥꜥw mjnw ẖr st ḥr.f

     […] Supervisor of the Harbours in Ta-Seti, the one who sailed and the one who moored were under his inspection.

   • c. 1859 BCE – 1800 BCE, The Eloquent Peasant, version B2 (pAmherst 2 and pBerlin 3025) lines 101–103:

     jr sqdd ẖr.f nj sꜣḥ.n.f tꜣ nj mjn.n dpwt.f r dmj.s

     As for him who sails with it, he cannot set foot on land, and his boat cannot moor at its harbor.

2. (intransitive, euphemistic) to die
   • 12th Dynasty, Tomb of Djefaihapi (Asyut Tomb 1), great hall, east wall, north side of door, line 267:

     jw.j sḫꜣ.j spr.j r nṯr hrw pf n(j) mjnj gm.f wj

     I was thinking about the fact that I would reach (my) god on that day of dying (literally: mooring), when he would find me.

   • c. 1900 BCE, The Instructions of Kagemni (pPrisse/pBN 183) lines 2.7–2.8:

     ꜥḥꜥ.n ḥm n(j) nswt-bjtj ḥwnj mjn(.w) n.f

     Then the majesty of the Dual King Huni moored for him (i.e. died).

Usage notes

The written order of the radicals of this word transposes the n and the first j for aesthetic reasons.

Inflection

Conjugation of mjnj (fourth weak / 4ae inf. / IV. inf.) — base stem: mjn, geminated stem: mjnn

infinitival forms imperative infinitive negatival complement complementary infinitive1 singular plural mjn mjnw, mjnyw, mjn mjnt, mjnwt, mjnyt mjn mjn, mjny ‘pseudoverbal’ forms stative stem periphrastic imperfective2 periphrastic prospective2 mjn8 ḥr mjn m mjn r mjn suffix conjugation aspect / mood active contingent aspect / mood active perfect mjn.n consecutive mjn.jn terminative mjnt perfective3 mjn obligative1 mjn.ḫr imperfective mjn, mjny prospective3 mjnw, mjn, mjny potentialis1 mjn.kꜣ subjunctive mjn, mjny verbal adjectives aspect / mood relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms participles active active passive perfect mjn.n — — perfective mjnw1, mjny, mjn mjn mjny, mjn imperfective mjnn, mjnny, mjnnw5 mjnn, mjnnj6, mjnny6 mjnn, mjnnw5 prospective mjnw1, mjny, mjn, mjntj7 mjnwtj1 4, mjntj4, mjnt4 1 Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. 2 Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. 3 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. 4 Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. 5 Only in the masculine singular. 6 Only in the masculine. 7 Only in the feminine. 8 Third-person masculine statives of this class often have a final -y instead of the expected stative ending.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mjnj  

mjnj	mjnj
in the sense ‘to die’	in the sense ‘to die’

Derived terms

• mjnt
• mjnj zp

Descendants

• Bohairic Coptic: ⲁⲙⲟⲛⲓ (amoni)
• Sahidic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲟⲛⲉ (moone)

References

• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 242, 270, 279.