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I shall exhibit some of the most important. They turn mostly upon genders, the formation of the plural, on some of the pronouns, and the verbs. And it is indeed surprising to see with what nicety and care the Egyptians seem to have marked all the possible combinations of the grammar, and to have preserved, in writing hieroglyphics, all the rules of syntax which their language required.

This, as you will readily conceive, is not the most attractive part of the hieroglyphics. I will give you a few specimens, which will enable you to see how these points were managed by the Egyptians. The figures that were made use of, have a reference to words in the Coptic language; some of these figures I will exhibit, and mention the words to which they refer. If you will favour me with a little of your attention, the whole will be, I hope, intelligible.

The marks of the genders are,-a square, either plain, [Tab. 6. fig. 1.] or striated, [fig. 2.] for the masculine, and half a circle, [fig. 3.] for the feminine. The square, in Coptic, is called Pe, and stands for the letter P. The half-circle is called Te, and stands for the considered as articles.

letter T. They both are Although, in the spoken

language, they are both put before the noun, yet, in writing, the feminine article, that is, the half circle, is generally noted after the noun.

For instance, the word she, or se, means daughter; and if we wish to add to it the article te, we should say tshe, or tse, that is, the daughter.

Again, the word sen, means sister; and with the addition of the article we have tsen, that is, the sister. In the same way mou signifies mother; and with the addition of the article we have tmou, the mother. But in writing hieroglyphics, we must put the half circle at the end, and write, not tsen, but sent,-not tmou, but mout,-not tshe, but shet.

The plural, as I hope you remember, is invariably expressed by a simple repetition of the units; [fig. 4.] to these units sometimes is added the figure of a horn, [fig. 5.] or of a quail, [fig. 6.] all of which stand for the syllable noue, or oue, which is the termination added to the plural. For instance, the word soten signifies king; and by the addition of noue we have sotenoue kings,—noyte, god; noytenoue, gods; and the like. Sometimes we also find this plural number marked by the undulating line, either in its simple form of one line, [fig. 7.] or in the double form of two lines, [fig. 8.] which is, in fact, an abbreviation of the syllable noue; for the undulating line, either in simple or double form, stands for the letter N.

In regard to the genders, it seems that the Egyptians expressed them by employing the pronouns of him, or of her; and these pronouns were represented by the figure of an undulating line over a serpent, [fig. 9.] or over a broken line, [fig. 10. In the first instance, [fig. 9.] the group represented the pronoun his, or of him, which, in Coptic, was nef, or nev, for these two letters, F and V, being perpetually confused, were expressed by the

same hieroglyphic. In the second instance, [fig. 10, the group stood for the pronoun hers, or of her, which in Coptic was called nes. Thus, for example, if to the word tmou, which, as we have just observed, signifies the mother, we add eph, which is an abbreviation of the genitive case of the pronoun neph, we shall have the word tmoueph, or tmouph, which means, the mother of him; and, on the other hand, by adding es, which is an abbreviation of the pronoun nes, we shall have tmoues, or tmous, to signify the mother of her. Now the same rule stands good in regard to writing hieroglyphics. If to the vulture, which is the symbolical character for mou, mother, we add the serpent, [fig. 11.] which stands for the letter F, and is therefore an abbreviation of the pronoun nef, we shall have the group expressing, phonetically, mouph, that is, mother of him, while, by adding the broken line, [fig. 12.] we change the masculine into the feminine gender, and read the group mous, that is, mother of her.

Again, the chenalopex, that is the goose, or the egg, are the phonetic hieroglyphics expressing the word child,-for both of them represent the letter S, which is an abbreviation of the word se, or tse, son, child. Therefore, if to the bird or the egg we add the figure of the serpent, [fig. 14.] or the broken line, [fig. 15.] we shall have, in the first instance, the group signifying son of him, or his son; and, in the second, son of her, or her son. Again, the word father is represented phoneti

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cally, [fig. 30.] by the half circle, which is a T; by the serpent, which is U, or ou; and by the perpendicular line, E. These make up the word toue, tuye, from the Egyptian verb taye, to beget. By adding, therefore, to these signs, either a second serpent, as in fig. 31. or a broken line, as in fig. 32. we shall have in one group [fig. 31. the phrase expressing father of him,-and in the other group, [fig. 32.] father of her.

But though all these three words, son, father, and mother, may be, and often are, represented by phonetic characters, employed as letters spelling each of these words, they may all be represented figuratively. For instance, instead of the bird and the line, [fig. 26.] or the egg and line, [fig. 27.] we may employ the figure of a child, to express a son,―of the vulture to express a mother,—and of the serpent, the father. And again, if to the signs, whether they be phonetic or figurative, of the father and of the mother, we attach another sign, expressing the gender, such as the half circle for the feminine, and the serpent, or a notched line, for the masculine; then the group will express the sex of the child, and will be read, with the serpent, or notched line, father of him, or mother of him; and with the half circle, father of her, or mother of her, because the half circle shews the feminine gender, as the serpent or notched line does the masculine.

Sometimes, indeed, we find the phonetic group of mother spelt by three signs, [fig. 13.] the vulture,

the hatchet, and the half circle; of which the first is an M; the second a U, or ou; and the half circle, a T; and then we have also the word mout, which Plutarch quotes as an Egyptian word, to signify mother.

This character, in fact, of the half circle, is always added to the bird, whenever, in a funeral inscription, they both are employed to express the sex of the deceased. Thus, for instance, if to the bird and the line, which is the group spelling se, or si, [fig. 26.] we add the half circle, [fig. 33.] we shall have tse, or set, to mean daughter; but if we add this same half circle to the group in fig. 34. which spells son or sen, and means brother, we shall then have sont, or tson, to express sister. And again, if to the group in fig. 33. we add the serpent, [fig. 35.] then the signification will be, daughter of him. Whilst by adding to the group fig. 34. the broken line, as in fig. 36. the whole group will signify, sister of her.

The genitive case, however, when unconnected with any pronoun, is mostly expressed by the undulating line being added to the group. This hieroglyphic, you remember, stands for the letter N, and on those occasions is taken as an abbreviation of the syllable nen, which is the invariable termination of the genitive case in the Coptic language. Thus, for instance, the word king, which in Coptic is soten, or soiten, is represented [fig. 37.] by a kind of plant, which is an S; by the half circle, which is a T; and by the line, either undulating or plain, both of which stand for

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