wsḫ

Egyptian

Pronunciation

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /wɛsɛx/
- Conventional anglicization: wesekh

Etymology 1

Sometimes hypothesized to be from a form such as Proto-Afroasiatic *wsɣ; compare Arabic وَسُعَ (wasuʕa), وَسِعَ (wasiʕa, “to be wide”).^[1]

Verb

3-lit.

(intransitive) to be(come) broad, to be(come) wide
- c. 1900 BCE, The Instructions of Kagemni (pPrisse/pBN 183) lines 1.1–1.2:
  
  wn ẖn n grw wsḫ st nt hr m mdww
  The tent is open to the quiet man; the place of the man calm in speech is broad.^[2]
(intransitive, of movements) to be(come) extensive, wide-ranging
(intransitive) to be(come) abundant, extensive, rich (+ m: in)
(intransitive, of names) to be(come) renowned, widely known, famous
(intransitive, impersonal, with n) to have space for (someone)

Inflection

Conjugation of wsḫ (triliteral / 3-lit. / 3rad.) — base stem: wsḫ, geminated stem: wsḫḫ

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive¹	singular	plural
wsḫ	wsḫw, wsḫ	wsḫt	wsḫ	wsḫ

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective²		periphrastic prospective²
wsḫ	ḥr wsḫ	m wsḫ	r wsḫ

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	contingent
aspect / mood	active	aspect / mood	active
perfect	wsḫ.n	consecutive	wsḫ.jn
terminative	wsḫt	consecutive	wsḫ.jn
perfective³	wsḫ	obligative¹	wsḫ.ḫr
imperfective	wsḫ	obligative¹	wsḫ.ḫr
prospective³	wsḫ	potentialis¹	wsḫ.kꜣ
subjunctive	wsḫ	potentialis¹	wsḫ.kꜣ

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms	participles
aspect / mood	active	active	passive
perfect	wsḫ.n	—	—
perfective	wsḫ	wsḫ	wsḫ, wsḫw⁵, wsḫy⁵
imperfective	wsḫ, wsḫy, wsḫw⁵	wsḫ, wsḫj⁶, wsḫy⁶	wsḫ, wsḫw⁵
prospective	wsḫ, wsḫtj⁷	wsḫtj⁴, wsḫt⁴
Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. 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. Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. Only in the masculine singular. Only in the masculine. Only in the feminine.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of wsḫ

wsḫ

[Middle Kingdom]

[since the Middle Kingdom]

[Greco-Roman Period]

abbreviation

Derived terms

swsḫ
sḫw

Descendants

Demotic: wsh̭, wsš
- Coptic: ⲟⲩⲱϣⲥ̄ (ouōšs̄), ⲟⲩⲱⲥⳉ (ouōsx)

Adjective

perfective active participle of wsḫ; broad, wide
imperfective active participle of wsḫ; broad, wide

Inflection

Declension of wsḫ (perfective active participle)

	masculine	feminine
singular	wsḫ	wsḫt
dual	wsḫwj	wsḫtj
plural	wsḫw	wsḫwt¹, wsḫt²
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.

Declension of wsḫ (imperfective active participle)

	masculine	feminine
singular	wsḫ, wsḫj, wsḫy	wsḫt
dual	wsḫwj, wsḫjwj, wsḫywj	wsḫtj
plural	wsḫw, wsḫjw, wsḫyw	wsḫwt¹, wsḫt²
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.

Alternative forms

See under the verb above.

Noun

m

breadth, width

Inflection

Declension of wsḫ (masculine)

singular	wsḫ
dual	wsḫwj
plural	wsḫw

Alternative forms

See under the verb above.

Noun

m

broad collar or necklace [since the Middle Kingdom]

Inflection

Declension of wsḫ (masculine)

singular	wsḫ
dual	wsḫwj
plural	wsḫw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of wsḫ

wsḫ

abbreviation

Etymology 2

Noun

m

barge

Inflection

Declension of wsḫ (masculine)

singular	wsḫ
dual	wsḫwj
plural	wsḫw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of wsḫ

wsḫ

References

“wsḫ (lemma ID 49800)”, “wsḫ (lemma ID 49820)”, and “wsḫ (lemma ID 49840)”, 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 (1926) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[2], volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 364.11–365.12, 365.16–366.2
Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 69
James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 83, 125, 135.
Hoch, James (1997) Middle Egyptian Grammar, Mississauga: Benben Publications, →ISBN, page 112

^ Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 35
^ Alternatively, taking

as imperative (j)m: ‘…the place of the calm man is broad. Don’t speak!’ The first clause can also be interpreted in two different ways. If

represents the preposition n, then ‘The tent is open to the quiet man’; but if it represents the genitival adjective n(j), then ‘The tent of the quiet man is open’. The first interpretation is more appealing semantically, but the second is favored by parallelism with the following clause.

[1] Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 35

[2] Alternatively, taking

as imperative (j)m: ‘…the place of the calm man is broad. Don’t speak!’ The first clause can also be interpreted in two different ways. If

represents the preposition n, then ‘The tent is open to the quiet man’; but if it represents the genitival adjective n(j), then ‘The tent of the quiet man is open’. The first interpretation is more appealing semantically, but the second is favored by parallelism with the following clause.

[1]

[2]