tw

See also: TW, tw., .tw, t.w., ṯw, tꜣw, and ṯꜣw

Translingual

Symbol

tw

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Twi.

Egyptian

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

From earlier tj.

Determiner

 f sg proximal, later copular/vocative demonstrative determiner

1. (Old Egyptian) this
2. (Middle Egyptian) O (vocative reference)

Usage notes

This demonstrative was originally a determiner but could later be used alone, like a pronoun. When used as a determiner it follows the noun it describes.

Inflection

Old Egyptian demonstratives

	determiners						pronouns1	adverbs
	singular		dual		plural		unmarked
	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
proximal to speaker	pn	tn	*jpnj	jptnj, jptntj	jpn	jptn	nn	—
distal	pf	tf	*jpfj	*jptfj, *jptftj	jpf	jptf	nf	—
proximal to spoken of	pj, pw, p	tj, tw	jpwj	jptwj, jptwtj	jpw	jptw, jptwt	nw	—
vocative	pꜣ	tꜣ	—	—	—	—	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ

¹ Unmarked for number and gender, but treated syntactically as masculine plurals when used with participles and relative forms, and as feminine singulars when referred to by resumptive pronouns.

Middle Egyptian demonstratives

	determiners and pronouns			adverbs
	singular		plural1
	masculine	feminine
proximal	pn	tn	nn	ꜥn
distal	pf, pfꜣ	tf, tfꜣ	nf, nfꜣ	ꜥf
‘copula’ and vocative	pw, pwy	tw, twy	nw	—
anaphoric	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ

¹ Joined by n(j) to nouns they modify.

Late Egyptian demonstratives and articles

	masculine	feminine	plural		adverb
pronoun	pꜣw				dj
determiners and pronouns	pꜣj	tꜣj	nꜣj
possessive determiners1	pꜣy	tꜣy	nꜣy
relational pronouns (‘possessive prefixes’)	p-n, pꜣ	t-nt, tꜣ	nꜣyw, nꜣ
definite articles	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ2
indefinite articles	wꜥ2		nhꜣy2

¹ Used with suffix pronouns.
² Originally joined by n(j) to nouns they modify; later without it.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of tw  

tw

There is also an alternative form that cannot stand alone as a pronoun: twy.

Pronoun

impersonal enclitic (‘dependent’) pronoun

1. (Middle Egyptian) used as the impersonal subject of an adverbial predicate or verb form; one, someone or something unspecified
2. used as a substitute for noun phrases referring to the king [since the New Kingdom]

Usage notes

tw can be used as a subject without any introductory particle only with a verb in the periphrastic prospective (the pseudoverbal construction with r).

In the sense referring to the king, this pronoun is conventionally translated as capitalized “One”.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of tw  

tw	t	tj
		rare

Derived terms

• tw.tw

Related terms

• .tw

Etymology 2

Pronoun

 m sg 2. enclitic (‘dependent’) pronoun

1. Alternative spelling of ṯw

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 51, 54–55, 181.
• Edel, Elmar (1955-1964) Altägyptische Grammatik, volume 1, Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, § 182 et seq., page 83 et seq.
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN
• Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN

White Hmong

Etymology

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *tu̯eiX (“tail”). Cognate with Iu Mien dueiv; outside of Hmong-Mien, compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *[k]ɗuut (“tip, tail”), whence Khmer កន្ទូត (kɑntuut, “rump of fowl”), as well as Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *buntut (“rear end of chicken”), whence Malay buntut (“butt”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɨ˧/

Noun

tw (classifier: tus)

1. tail

Derived terms

• caj tw (“buttocks”)
• ko tw (“tail”)
• tw roob (“foot of a mountain”)

References

• Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary‎^[1], SEAP Publications, →ISBN, page 330.