More biliterals, building on Biliteral Signs. Several of these are pictures of birds and animals that are easy to mix up, so look closely.
Key idea
More two-consonant signs: the pintail duck 𓅭 zꜣ, the raised arms 𓂓 kꜣ, the eye 𓁹 jr, the fox skins 𓄟 ms, the club 𓍛 ḥm and the sickle 𓌳 mꜣ.
| Sign | Code | What it shows | Reads | Found in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 𓅭 | G39 | pintail duck | zꜣ | zꜣ “son”, zꜣt “daughter” |
| 𓅮 | G40 | pintail duck in flight | pꜣ | pꜣ “this” |
| 𓂓 | D28 | two arms raised | kꜣ | kꜣ “ka, life force” |
| 𓁹 | D4 | eye | jr | jrj “make, do” |
| 𓄟 | F31 | three fox skins | ms | msj “give birth”, in Ramesses |
| 𓍛 | U36 | fuller’s club | ḥm | ḥm “majesty; servant” |
| 𓌳 | U1 | sickle | mꜣ | mꜣꜣ “see” |
| 𓄣 | F34 | heart | jb | jb “heart” |
| 𓅡 | G29 | saddle-billed stork | bꜣ | bꜣ “ba” |
| 𓅜 | G25 | crested ibis | ꜣḫ | ꜣḫ “akh” |
| 𓈋 | N26 | mountain | ḏw | ḏw “mountain” |
| 𓆼 | M12 | lotus plant | ḫꜣ | ḫꜣ “thousand” |
The birds
- The pintail duck 𓅭 (standing, long tail) is zꜣ. In flight 𓅮 it is pꜣ.
- The swallow 𓅨 (forked tail) is wr; the sparrow 𓅪, its look-alike, is only a determinative of small or bad things.
- The stork 𓅡 (big bill, crest of feathers at the breast) is bꜣ; the crested ibis 𓅜 is ꜣḫ.
The eye 𓁹 is a good example of how sound signs work. It writes the sound jr in jrj “to make, do”, one of the most common verbs, and in names like wsjr Osiris. Only in some spellings, with a stroke, does it mean the eye itself (jrt).
Why it works
Why learn these sounds instead of the pictures’ meanings? Because the same picture turns up in dozens of words where its meaning has nothing to do with the word. The duck appears in “son” and “daughter” because the word for pintail duck sounded like the word for son, not because sons are ducks.
Common mistake
Mixing up the pintail duck and other birds, or reading the eye only as “eye”. The eye writes jr in many words, above all jrj “make”. Check: if a word has an eye sign and no stroke, read jr and see if a known word appears.
Worked example: Which bird?
What does the standing pintail duck 𓅭 write?
- G39: pintail duck, standing.
- Biliteral zꜣ, as in zꜣ “son”.
Answer: zꜣ
Worked example: Read a name
Read 𓄟𓋴 (fox skins and folded cloth).
- The fox skins write ms.
- The cloth writes s, here the end of the word.
Answer: ms + s, as in Ramesses and Thutmose