You know from Reading Direction which end of a line to start at. But signs are not strung out one after another like letters. Scribes arranged them in neat groups that fill imaginary squares, called quadrats. Low, wide signs are stacked; small signs sit side by side.
Key idea
Read group by group from the front. Inside a group, read the top before the bottom, and the sign nearer the front before the one behind it.
In the spelling of ptḥ above, the stool 𓊪 and the bread loaf 𓏏 are both low and wide, so they share one square, stool on top. Then comes the tall wick 𓎛, alone in its square, and the seated god. Read: p, t, ḥ, then the silent determinative.
How the groups are built
- Tall, narrow signs (the reed 𓇋, the folded cloth 𓋴, the wick 𓎛) usually stand alone or beside another narrow sign.
- Low, wide signs (the mouth 𓂋, the water 𓈖, the loaf 𓏏) are stacked two or three high.
- Small signs fill gaps beside or under a bigger one.
Why it works
Why stack signs at all? A line of tall and flat signs in a row would leave ugly gaps. Egyptian craftsmen cared about the look of a text as much as its content, so they packed signs into balanced blocks. The order of reading never changes, only the arrangement.
Common mistake
Reading the bottom sign of a stack first, or reading a tall sign after the small signs beside it. In rn “name”, written 𓂋𓈖 with the mouth on top of the water, the reading is r then n, not n then r. Check: say the result aloud by the convention (“ren”) and see if it is a word you know.
Worked example: Reading a stack
In 𓂋𓂝 (mouth above arm), which sign comes first?
- Top before bottom: the mouth r, then the arm ꜥ.
Answer: rꜥ, as in “Ra”
Worked example: Side by side
In 𓊵𓏏𓊪 ḥtp “offering”, the sign 𓊵 (a loaf on a mat) sits on top, and the loaf t and the stool p sit side by side under it. In what order are the signs read?
- Top first: 𓊵, which writes ḥtp.
- Then the bottom row, front before back: t, then p. They only repeat sounds of ḥtp.
Answer: top sign, then t, then p: ḥtp