stp-zꜣ

Egyptian

Etymology

stp +‎ zꜣ.

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /sɛtɛp zɑ/
  • Conventional anglicization: setep-za

Verb

 compound

1. (intransitive) to protect [with r or ḥr or ḥꜣ ‘a person, or, more rarely, a temple’] [since the Pyramid Texts]

Usage notes

Originally, the subject intervened between stp and zꜣ, but in later times it often appeared twice, once after stp and once after zꜣ. By the Greco-Roman Period, it had shifted to appearing only after zꜣ.

Since the Middle Kingdom, the object is sometimes attached to zꜣ as a direct genitive or a suffix pronoun instead of following a preposition.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of stp-zꜣ  

stp-zꜣ	stp-zꜣ	stp-zꜣ	stp-zꜣ	stp-zꜣ
			[since the Middle Kingdom]	[Greco-Roman Period]

Noun

 m

1. a title used for a bodyguard of the king during his travels, literally protector [Old Kingdom]
   • 6th Dynasty, Giza, Western Cemetery, Shaft G 2188 Y, Block of sunk relief inscription mentioning the dog Abutiu (35-10-22/Cairo JE 67573), lines 1–2:

     ṯzm wnn stp-zꜣ r ḥm.f ꜥbwtjw rn.f

     The hound that was the protector of His Majesty. His name is Abutiu.

2. used as a component of various other titles; see the Derived Terms section below [Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and 26th Dynasty]

Inflection

Declension of stp-zꜣ (masculine)

singular	stp-zꜣ
dual	stpwj-zꜣ
plural	stpw-zꜣ

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of stp-zꜣ  

stp-zꜣ	stp-zꜣ

Derived terms

• stp-zꜣ-jmj-ꜣbd
• stp-zꜣ-jmj-ꜥḥ
• stp-zꜣ-jmj-pr-nswt
• stp-zꜣ-ẖrj-tp-st-nswt

Noun

 m

1. the palace or court together with its inhabitants [since the Old Kingdom]
2. the palace as a building [since the Old Kingdom]
3. a temple or part of a temple in which a god is enthroned or in which a god’s image is set up [Greco-Roman Period]
4. (Late Egyptian) the judgement hall in the afterlife

Usage notes

This term is sometimes followed by the honorific phrase ꜥnḫ wḏꜣ snb.

Inflection

Declension of stp-zꜣ (masculine)

singular	stp-zꜣ
dual	stpwj-zꜣ
plural	stpw-zꜣ

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of stp-zꜣ  

stp-zꜣ	stp-zꜣ
	[Greco-Roman Period]

See also the Alternative Forms section under the verb above, as this noun can be written like the verb.

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 221.
• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1930) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1], volume 4, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 339.16–341.11