Many stelae name not only their owner but his family: parents, wife, children, sometimes servants. The phrases are few and fixed, and they use grammar you now know: participles (Passive Participles) and relative forms (Relative Forms).
Key idea
Family phrases to know: zꜣ=f mrj=f "his beloved son", zꜣt=f mrt=f "his beloved daughter", ḥmt=f mrt=f "his beloved wife", nbt-pr "lady of the house", and ms.n or jr.n + a woman's name, "born of …".
Why it works
mrj=f is a passive participle with a suffix, "beloved of him", so zꜣ=f mrj=f is "his son, his beloved one". ms.n is a relative form of msj "give birth": "whom (she) bore". The mother's name follows as the subject: ms.n nbt-pr nfrt "whom the lady of the house Nefret bore", that is, "born of the lady of the house Nefret". jr.n, "whom (she) made", says the same thing. Egyptians traced people through their mothers on these monuments as a matter of course.
| Phrase | Built from | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| zꜣ=f mrj=f | noun + passive participle with =f | his beloved son |
| zꜣt=f mrt=f | the same, feminine | his beloved daughter |
| nbt-pr | nbt "lady" + pr "house" | lady of the house (a title of married women) |
| ms.n nbt-pr nfrt | relative form of msj + subject | born of the lady of the house Nefret |
| jr.n ḥnwt | relative form of jrj + subject | born of Henut |
| mꜣꜥ-ḫrw | "true of voice" | justified, said of the dead |
Worked example: A son and his mother
Translate zꜣ=f jtj jr.n nbt-pr ḥnwt.
- zꜣ=f "his son", then the son's name jtj "Iti".
- jr.n: a relative form, "whom … made", with the mother as subject.
- nbt-pr ḥnwt "the lady of the house Henut".
Answer: "His son Iti, born of the lady of the house Henut."
Worked example: Write it
Write "born of Meret" with ms.n.
- The relative form ms.n, then the mother's name mrt as its subject.
Answer: ms.n mrt
The names on this page, Ameny, Iti, Nefret, Henut and Meret, are common names of the period, chosen as examples; they do not refer to particular stelae. A real stela may list a dozen relatives, each with a title, a name and mꜣꜥ-ḫrw, arranged in rows under the main scene.
Common mistake
Reading jr.n NN as "NN made (it)", as if the woman made the stela. Here jr.n is a relative form describing the person just named: "whom NN made", meaning "born of NN". Check: is a woman's name right after jr.n or ms.n, following someone's name? Then read "born of".