Decipherment of ancient Egyptian scripts: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:48, 10 March 2024

Revision as of 20:29, 10 March 2024

Line 12:

==Egyptian scripts and their extinction==

[[File:C+B-Egypt-Fig2-LetterDevelopment.PNG|thumb|right|alt=Table of signs with seven columns|Table showing the evolution of [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyphic]] signs (left) through several stages of [[hieratic]] into [[demotic (Egyptian)|demotic]] (right)]]

For most of its history [[ancient Egypt]] had two major writing systems. [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Hieroglyphs]], a system of pictorial signs used mainly for formal texts, originated sometime around 3200{{nbsp}}BC. [[Hieratic]], a [[cursive]] system derived from hieroglyphs that was used mainly for writing on [[papyrus]], was nearly as old. Beginning in the seventh century{{nbsp}}BC, a third script derived from hieratic, known today as [[Demotic (Egyptian)|demotic]], emerged. It differed so greatly from its hieroglyphic ancestor that the relationship between the signs is difficult to recognise.{{refn|The scholars who deciphered Egyptian differed on what to call this script. Thomas Young termed it "enchorial", based on the phrase referring to the script in the Greek text of the Rosetta Stone: ''ενχωριοις'', meaning "of the country", "vernacular",{{sfn|Buchwald|Josefowicz|2020|p=6}} or "native".{{sfn|Parkinson|1999|p=30}} Jean-François Champollion used Herodotus'sa term forfrom itthe [[Histories (Herodotus)|works]] of the Greek historian [[Herodotus]]: ''δημοτική'' or "demotic",{{sfn|Buchwald|Josefowicz|2020|p=120}} a Greek word meaning "in common use".{{sfn|Robinson|2006|p=151}} Champollion's term eventually became the conventional name.{{sfn|Robinson|2006|p=151}}|group="Note"}} Demotic became the most common system for writing the [[Egyptian language]], and hieroglyphic and hieratic were thereafter mostly restricted to religious uses. In the fourth century{{nbsp}}BC, Egypt came to be ruled by the Greek [[Ptolemaic dynasty]], and [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] and demotic were used side-by-side in Egypt under Ptolemaic rule and then that of the [[Roman Empire]]. Hieroglyphs became increasingly obscure, used mainly by Egyptian priests.{{sfn|Allen|2014|pp=1, 6–8}}

All three scripts contained a mix of [[phonogram (linguistics)|phonetic signs]], representing sounds in the spoken language, and [[ideographic]] signs, representing ideas. Phonetic signs included uniliteral, biliteral and triliteral signs, standing respectively for one, two or three sounds. Ideographic signs included [[logogram]]s, representing whole words, and [[determinative]]s, which were used to specify the meaning of a word written with phonetic signs.{{sfn|Loprieno|1995|pp=12–13}}