Sledge or truck; tm, atm (thom, c.), to L. B. 69. a - f comp. stand of

Net shut up; s-xti (sxt, c.), to take, to D. 152. 359.

Gr. p. 215. We shall return to the subject of these remarkable Hieratico-Demotic numerals in the Fifth Book. Some of them are still used by the physicians and chemists throughout Europe.

The units are expressed by a stroke, but in groups; namely,

This grouping is connected, perhaps, with the mode of designating the units in pronunciation from 4 upwards, as we have intimated in the grammatical synopsis, in accordance with Lepsius's valuable essay on this subject.

As regards the Grammatical Signs, we have placed under the Ideographics (No. 542.) the hieroglyphical stop or end of a group; those of verbs (cross bar) and of the active verb (the legs stretched) under the Determinatives. The line | for marking the masculine noun is the Ideographic No. 596., which, as well as the line with the T sign (t 2.), we have classed among the Phonetics; they are the affixes of other signs, when they betoken nouns. The Egyptians expressed the plural by three straight strokes; the dual, in a corresponding manner, by two straight || or oblique strokes, or by a T (-) placed before the two oblique strokes, as

It only remains to add a few words upon the compounded Hieroglyphical Groups. We have pointed out this grouping to a certain extent in the Determinative No. 3., the sign of night and darkness. We here allude to the grouping together of several hieroglyphics, which conjointly express a compound, sometimes a derivative, word. This juxtaposition of signs corresponds exactly with the juxtaposition of unchanged words in the spoken language. We subjoin some of the most important of these groups.

Sut.n xb, King of all Egypt (of Upper and Lower
Egypt).

Mur maxi, Commander of soldiers.

THE grammatical, lexicographical, and hieroglyphical chapters of this work are principally intended to be a naturally connected representation of the historical facts and periods of development of the two great monuments of the primeval time. They may, moreover, in the present state of Egyptian philology, be used as a grammar, dictionary, and handbook of hieroglyphics, by those who wish to form an independent judgment on this subject, without wading through large and costly hieroglyphical works. Any matérials we could find in these, which appeared to be certain and authentic, we have collected to the best of our knowledge and judgment. We think, too, that the strictly historical order and character of our representations of those primeval facts will not be without its use for the scholar; for the aim and goal of all grammatical, lexicographical, and hieroglyphical or alphabetical research must be to understand each word or sign as a historical fact, as part of a history. Finally, the indefatigable and kind assistance of our learned friend, Mr. Samuel Birch, has enabled us to exhibit those facts more completely, and, we hope, more correctly, than

is the case in other works. We subjoin a few remarks as to the application of those chapters and lists, in learning to read and understand the hieroglyphics.

、

Whoever makes use of these lists in reading an inscription, or testing the accuracy of a translation, will naturally, in the first place, endeavour to ascertain or recollect whether the sign is Ideographic, Determinative, or Phonetic, and he will then easily find it with its full explanation. For understanding the grammatical forms, the order followed in the fourth section will be found useful. In conclusion, the unpractised reader will find in the first Appendix an exposition and explanation of the Coptic alphabet, as generally used in books on Egyptology for transcribing the hieroglyphical texts. We have most carefully abstained from all use of this alphabet in the body of the work; the Latin alphabet, with the addition of two Greek forms, is amply sufficient for the purpose of a correct transcript. The plan hitherto adopted of transcribing, or rather rendering, ancient Egyptian words into Coptic, is quite unphilological and unscientific. There is no harmony between the Coptic alphabet with its great variety of letters, and the fifteen simple sounds of the Egyptian; besides, the Coptic word scarcely ever corresponds literally with the Egyptian, least of all in the vowels. In regard to these it is impossible to adhere too closely to the critical principle of never putting in a vowel where none has hitherto been found in the hieroglyphic text. The E might be made use of as a scheva, for facilitating the pronunciation and dividing a syllable, remembering always the fact of there being no E in Egyptian: but, in order to preserve the strict correspondence of the number of signs between the original and the transcript, we have abstained from the use of it in this edition.

As regards the arrangement of the hieroglyphical signs, we believe we have made considerable improvement on the German edition, by placing each sign by the side of its explanation in the text, instead of representing them with their numbers in distinct plates.

We hope the time is not far distant when we shall be able to print hieroglyphics everywhere, as we do Chinese. The printing of Chinese characters with movable types in Europe is the invention of the Leipzic publishers (Breitkopf and Haertel); and another publisher of the same metropolis of the German book