134. Ring of metal; 1. metals. 2. paints: ant, often a row of three. yellow; xsbt, blue; ut, green. 3. gems: kam, jasper; bt, porcelain. 135. Coffer. boxes: han, a box; karu, a sarcophagus, shrine. 142. 143. oily substances: tt, oil; mrh, wax; sthbi. . ?; hati. oils: tt, oil; nms hati, extract or essence; abr,. .; mrhu, wax. vases and liquids: hk, drink; han, vase; buka, conserve or balsam ; anhu, ..; iua, to wash; hrhu, to anoint; mrhu, to wax; hknu... ; sf.t pitch, cedar oil; aka, fat?, &c. objects reckoned by baskets: ab, food, viand; usx, broad. 12., xlviii. 125. 49. G.89., rect.sare. B. M. G. 79., Tab. B. M. 157.* W. M. C. u. ii. 370., L. B. D. lxii. 145. e 12. e 19. k 45. Tex. 373.; L. B. D. xxxvii. 99. 31., xlix. 145. 66., lxii. 145. f. 24. g. 27. 1. 32. Tomb d'Atha nasi, register of names; rect. sarc. B.M.; S1. A bushel with xa, to measure; bt, corn, B M. Tab. 148., C. PHONETICS. THE next step, after separating the determinative from the general mass of ideographic hieroglyphics, was the formation of syllabic signs. The step from Symbolic to Determinative depends upon the progress of the mind-in bringing the external world into subjection by means of thought, of language, and of writing-from individual to general, from concrete to abstract ideas. The step by which the syllabic signs were formed is a still greater triumph over matter. It implies the intentional separation of the entire sound from the meaning of a word, of which the hieroglyphical sign is the representative. By this process the sign becomes the representative of a certain collection of sounds without any reference to the sense. Now, as the oldest Egyptian words are monosyllabic, so that the syllable and word are identical, it follows that almost all these signs represent syllables. This is the origin of Phonetics, and of the whole alphabetical system. Upon the principle thus established, we have been enabled to collect, from the whole circle of hieroglyphics hitherto found on the monuments and in the papyri, 103 Syllabic signs. They are arranged as a subdivision under the letters with which they begin. The first signs under each sound are the pure Phonetics, or those which seem to have pure alphabetic powers. Lepsius had reduced this alphabet to thirty-four signs, exclusive of those first introduced during the Greek and Roman periods. The number of these we have reduced to 27, by subtracting ten signs (h 4. k 3. m 2. m 3. m 4. n 3. t 5. u 3. x 3. x 4.) which we have placed among the Syllabics, and by the addition of three new signs (h 1. k 2. t 2.) to the Alphabetics. Four of these twenty-seven signs are not found used as pure Phonetics under the Old Empire; three (k 2. n 2. u 2.) being first employed in this manner under the 18-19th Dynasty, and one (r 2.) perhaps not before the 20th Dynasty. Thus, then, we have 23 signs, as the alphabet of the Old Empire, to repre |