Frequently Asked Questions
Including common misconceptions about the Ancient Egyptian Language
☥) Help why do I see squares everywhere □□□ ?
Because you do not have the Ancient Egyptian and Coptic Unicode loaded on your computer. Can you help direct me to get them? Of course download, Aegyptus (Ancient Egyptian Unicode), also Arial Coptic (Unicode). How do I know if they are loaded or not?
If you can read this : (𓇋𓈖𓊪𓅱𓁢) Aegyptus is loaded properly and this (Ⲁⲛⲟⲩⲡ) Coptic is loaded
If not, you need to unpack the unicode much like a font and install it. This task is a bit more complicated for Mac users, but there are plenty of tutorials online to help you get them to work right.
Mac uses first have to initiate the Emoji keyboard (Unicode symbol and character palette) first go to apple icon> System Preferences > Keyboard> Input sources > initiate U.S. palette, or a what ever palette you choose, ☑ Show input menu in Menu bar. Now close window. In the file tray at the top of your computer there should now be a 🇺🇸 U.S. or what ever flag for your pallet. Click on it and open the unicode pallet window by selecting Show Emoji & Symbols. Pull down the ⛭˅ in the left character and select customize list. Then make sure 🔽 European Alphabetic Scripts, ⲀCoptic and Ancient and 🔽 Historic Scripts, 𓀀Egyptian Hieroglyphics are ☑. Now you should be able to see the unicode. If you still don't try restarting your computer.
Installing Unicode for Mac Here
Installing Unicode for PC Here
☥) Help what is this weird code that has letters and numbers (ex. W11-G1-A2) ?
That is Gardiner's Sign List Code and is a list of common Egyptian hieroglyphs compiled by Sir Alan Gardiner. You can use it for writing out the hieroglyphics with programs such as Jsesh. Check out Gardiner's Sign List Code here
☥) Can you teach me Ancient Egyptian?
No, simply because I do not have the time to teach you a language that spanned thousands of years and Middle Egyptian alone was spoken for 700 years. I have been studying it myself for well over 10 years as well as its Etymology, Coptic and other branch languages. It takes at least 10 years of studying to get a pretty good handle on it. Just like any other second language you have to put time and effort into learning, practicing and using it. This is not to discourage you in anyway, but also not to sell you false expectations of learning an ancient language. Also sadly I do not have the time to teach people one on one, but that is why this site was created. I do not mind however pointing you in the right direction once in a while, but first, read through this FAQ page and through my site. That is why it is here to help guide you. Let me preface this however by saying that there is no easy answer, you cannot learn a language this complicated over-night. You have to put the ground work in yourself. Sadly, I cannot wave a magic wand and bestow all my knowledge to you instantly or the knowledge of the scribes. But I do update this site when I can. :)
☥) Why does your site spell /sS kmt/ "Sesh Kemet" when that is not accurate?
Good question, the simple answer is, this is how most people write it and recognize it, especially those who would be coming regularly to my site or looking for a teaching site like this, are people who do not know the language as well as a linguist. No it is not pronounced "Sesh Kemet", actually it would be pronounced: saḥ kumat (Old Kingdom (OK), sakhe kamā (Middle Kingdom (MK), sakh kēmi (Late Kingdom (LK), sakh/ⲥⲁⲭ khēmi/ⲭⲏⲙⲓ (Lower Egypt (Bohairic Coptic (B) , saḥ/ⲥⲁϩ kēmə/ⲕⲏⲙⲉ (Upper Egypt (Sahidic Coptic (S)
Is that the answer you wanted? It's a bit of a long winded answer isn't it? The true answer is even more long winded than this. And which should I choose Old, Middle, or Late Egyptian also what dialect Upper or Lower Egyptian? So in short yes I am well aware that's not how it's pronounced and this is a carry over from just simply adding an "e" place holder for the vowels when they first cracked the language. If you click on the Etymology page you will see the extent of my knowledge on the subject.
☥) Help ! I need some sort of starter guide?
Step 1: familiarize yourself with the base Egyptian alphabet the ABC's as it were.
Step 2 : familiarize yourself with biliterals
Step 3 : familiarize yourself with triliterals
Step 4 : Only after you have memorized these should you move forward to base phonology & phonetics so you gain some understanding of what the glyphs sounds are and the MDC that represents them.
Step 5 : At this point when you feel quite comfortable, I would start with very basic grammar. How do I do that? Well, reading and lots of it. You can read through the Dictionary section for some minor help and there are some wonderful books and guides on learning the language step by step at this Resource Link. If you are still lost try this link. One of the best authors and authorities on the language is James P. Allen and some great books to start with are
(Beginner books)
Egyptian hieroglyphs for complete beginners Amazon Link.
Egyptian Hieroglyphics: How to Read and Write Them Amazon Link.
Hieroglyphs without Mystery: An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Writing Amazon Link
(More Complicated Books)
Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs Amazon Link.
How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself Amazon Link.
(Etymology)
Amarigna & Tigrigna Qal Hieroglyphs for Beginners Link .
*NOTE The only way to learn a second language ( especially one that is technically considered a "dead language" at least in its ancient form) is to put in a lot of work. A lot of it will be on your own unless you pursue it further and go to school for it. There are plenty of groups out there, but very few are just dedicated to the language itself. There is also a lot of misinformation out there too. The best way to dispel it is to learn.
☥) Help can you translate XYZ into Ancient Egyptian, or can you translate something for me?
The short answer is no. I do not have the time to take commissions currently and translating can be very time consuming which can end up being very costly. If it is something very short maybe, but the answer most likely will still be no. You could always spend years learning the language yourself and translate it yourself. If It was a word you dreamed about hearing then absolutely not, becuase without the hieroglyphics which I doubt your dream had in it, it is pointless based off of sounds alone to try and figure it out.
☥) Is it really true that they have cracked the Language of Ancient Egypt and we can read it?
The short answer is yes, they have, and yes we really know what all those hieroglyphics say. Do not be fooled by people who say we have never cracked the language! This cannot be further from the truth. Please research the Rosetta Stone and how it was cracked and what languages they used to crack it. More on cracking the language with the Rosetta Stone Link here. Also look into the Coptic language it is the last evolutionary step of Ancient Egyptian and it is still spoken today.
☥) I heard there is no way to know how the Egyptian Language is pronounced, is that true?
This is utter nonsense. Do we know exactly how it was pronounced through all its stages? No, but we have a pretty good idea on how it was pronounced in Late Kingdom and even some Middle Kingdom and before. Coptic is the final evolutionary set of the language and is a hybrid of both Late Kingdom/ Demotic Egyptian and Greek. Coptic is still spoken to this day although the accent is somewhat debatable with all the different dialects. But that is a whole other subject unto itself. It's more a debate of inflection and accent. Coptic however is not Egyptian it's a hybrid after all. So we do have a fairly good idea how names and places were pronounced using things like the Rosetta Stone and any word that was carried over or written in another language used at the time. However that does not cover the whole language nor the language that was spoken for thousands of years and how it evolved over time. Do we know how to speak it well we know how to pronounce a good amount of words the rest would be educated guess based off info we have. For more info please visit How do you pronounce Ancient Egyptian? Hopefully one day we will find a teaching papyrus with multiple languages and finally put an end to all the fighting, but until then. Please refer to the Etymology page for more info as well. There is some scholars that did a deep dive into the Etymology of the language such as Antonio Loprieno, Jaroslav Černý, but be careful if you go further with studding the Etymology of the language, there is a lot of people online especially, who claim they know how to pronounce the language, but have ever studied any historically except scholars nor have a degree in the language. Some if you dig a little deeper, claim the Gods or the ancestors told them how to pronounce the langue. Always look into known scholars with degrees. This site is only dedicated to known educate published scholars, no personal opinions.
☥) How do you pronounce Ancient Egyptian?
That's a very good question and a very complicated one to answer simply. Let me try and break it down though. The truth is it takes years just like with any second language you learn, to be comfortable enough to understand the complexities of a "Dead Language" and of the reconstruction of the pronunciation. Coptic is the last evolutionary step in the Ancient Egyptian Language and is still spoken today. However being a combo of Late Kingdom/ Demotic Egyptian and Greek. Scholars still argue on the accent even to this day and there are a few books that can be found on the different accents. Certainly there is scholars who have dedicated their lives and studies to this very subject such as Antonio Loprieno, James P. Allen and Jaroslav Černý. Yes Coptic is still spoken, many priests in the Coptic church still sing in the language and do prayers in it. I will warn you now though, learning the Ancient Egyptian Language is not going to be easy. A lot of it is just putting in the time and effort studying, lots and lots of studying. There is also a lot of people who are uneducated and will lead you astray or even outright spread incorrect information on the Ancient Egyptian Language. Yes we have some concept of how the language is spoken. Don't go straight to how it's spoken until you have learned the base alphabet first then biliterals, triliterals and take a look at phonology & phonetics. After you feel you are comfortable and familiar enough with understanding the Glyphs and MDC then move on to the etymology of the language. Which is where you will learn how the language can be reconstruct. There is a lot of different Coptic dialects such as the main Upper (Sahidic) and Lower Egyptian (Bohairic) dialects. As you start to familiarize yourself with Coptic you will get a better understanding on how the vowels work in the language. Also check out I heard most of the time Egyptologists just added (e)'s in between constants to make it easier to pronounce for more info.
☥) Is it true Ancient Egyptian does not have vowels?
No, this is a very bad misconception, which seems to have be repeated by people who have never studied the language. I may have stemmed from the fact some online "scholars" have claimed this even though the base Middle Kingdom Egyptian alphabet contains :
[ Ꜣ , A , a 𓄿 | ꜥ , a , ā 𓂝 | b 𓃀 | d 𓂧 | ḏ, D 𓆓 | f 𓆑 | ḳ, g 𓎼 | ḥ, H 𓎛 | h 𓉔 | ı͗, ȧ, j ,i 𓇋 | k 𓎡 | m 𓅓 | n 𓈖 | p 𓊪 | q 𓈎 |
| r 𓂋 | s 𓋴 | š, sh 𓈚 | ṯ ,T 𓍿 | t 𓏏 | u, w 𓅱 | ẖ, X 𓄡 | ḫ, x 𓐍 | ii, jj ,y, 𓇋𓇋 | z, s 𓊃 ]
Late Kingdom additions [rw > l 𓃭] and [wA > ō 𓍯] used in names such as:
Cleopatra/ Κλεοπᾰ́τρᾱ (Greek) > /q-rw-i-wA-p-A-d-r-t-A/ 𓈎𓃭𓇋𓍯𓊪𓄿𓂧𓂋𓏏𓄿 (Egyptian MDC)> transliterated as /qlwpdrt/ pronounced Qlēōpahdra in Egyptian.
As you can see the /rw/ became l and the /wA/ became a long o sound. And so, it's clear that Egyptian had vowel sounds. So it is pretty easy to smash this odd concept. If this were true then how do we get such words as Ma'at (modern English), Mah'āt/mAat (MDC), Mu'at/Μά'ατ , Mahēīét/Μαγιέτ (Greek), Mēə/ⲙⲏⲉ , Mə/ⲙⲉ (Sahidic Coptic Upper Egyptian), Mēi/ⲙⲏⲓ (Bohairic Coptic Lower Egyptian). As you can see by Coptic the t was dropped and there most certainly are vowels. Perhaps the problem is with the /Ꜣ A a / and /ꜥ a ā/ they are actually a glottal stop (ʔ) and a voiced pharyngeal approximate (ʕ) Which technically are considered consonants. But this idea does contradict the existence of /i/ , /w/, and /y/, as well as the vowels in Coptic. Both the glottal stop and the voiced pharyngeal approximate become vowels in Coptic normally a or o or some other vowel. So as you see to say this just simple does not make any since. Please refer to the Etymology page for more info as well as I heard most of the time Egyptologists just added (e)'s in between constants to make it easier to pronounce.
☥) I heard most of the time Egyptologists just added (e)'s in between consonants to make it easier to pronounce.
Yes, it is true. Most of the time people and even Egyptologists for years would just stick (e)'s in between constants to make it easier to pronounce. No, this is a not an accurate way to pronounce Ancient Egyptian, nor is it a really good practice or habit to get into if you are serious in learning the language. The Ancient Egyptian language's last evolutionary step is the Coptic Language and it is still spoken today. So, yes we do have some idea on how the language was pronounced. So why then do people just stick (e) in between consonants? Well mostly because the person does not study the language's Etymology, just writing it for fun online, or is coping an older scholars book. They probably have not dedicated the time to learning the etymology which can take years. The other problem is when they were first cracking the language some Egyptologists didn't know Coptic or use it to translate Egyptian. This of course is problematic in learning to pronounce it and sometimes the glyphs leave little to no trace of the vowels, but sometimes they do have the vowels intact. This misconception as well might have come in to play because (MDC) and even the glyphs themselves are just a pictorial representation of a word and idea. Such as /nfr/ 𓄤 , also written like 𓄤𓆑𓂋 (beauty, goodness ex.) It's a common word in Egyptian and on first glance it appears in the transliteration there are no vowels /nfr/. It's normally simply written as nefer and even shows up in names such as Nefertiti. Once again we see the (e) being added in between the consonants. However one has to study the etymology to understand that the vowels many times were not written in hieroglyphics, but showed up in Demotic and Coptic and sometimes Old Kingdom writings. Studying other languages that used the words is important as well. /nfr/ in Coptic had many different vowels, it depended on the dialect. In (S) Sahidic Coptic of Upper Egyptian, we get noufr /ⲛⲟⲩϥⲣ , and in (B) Bohairic Coptic of Lower Egyptian, nofār /ⲛⲟϥⲉⲣ . Those two are the closets to the original /nfr/ writing. There are other dialects you can study, but you can see the correct vowels depend on the dialect itself. In Greek we have the name Sekhnoufis/Σεχνοῦφις, noufis is the word /nfr/ used in a Greek name. When you study Greek you will find they were fond of adding /is/ or /us/ to the end of Egyptian names. If you strip it off normally you get a pretty accurate Ancient Egyptian pronunciation of the God's names. Such as Horus (English), Hôros /Ὧρος (Greek), Ḥōr/Ϩⲱⲣ (Coptic), Ḥr (Demotic), Ḥōr(u) /Hrw/ (MDC) (Middle Kingdom Egyptian). As you can see it can some times be very easy to reconstruct words especially names. The more languages you have to study the word from, the better the odds of it being completely accurate. Please refer to the Etymology page for more info and the God's pages for how to pronounce their names.
☥) How to learn Ancient Egyptian?
Start by leaning the base alphabet first, first then biliterals, triliterals and then take a look at phonology & phonetics. Study the MDC and its relationship the hieroglyphics. Then once you have a pretty good grasp on that start to learn the grammar. Some great books to read are anything by Jame's P. Allen, Dr Raymond Oliver Faulkner, James E. Hoch, Sir Alan H. Gardiner. For more resources on learning the language look at the Resource Link. Also please read Help ! I need some sort of starter guide?
☥) Was that real Ancient Egyptian spoken in the Mummy movie?
Sadly no, despite what you may read online the "Egyptian" spoken in the Mummy is not actual Egyptian. It was what I call faux Egyptian. It was made to sound like it though. There is some speculation they got an actual Egyptologist to work on it, although all one has to do is look at what they claim is being said and know Egyptian well enough, to know it's not a very accurate rendition. If you would like to hear prayers in Coptic link or the Lord's Prayer in Coptic link which is the Language's last evolutionary step mixed with Greek. You can also hear a love song on a reconstructed Egyptian harp link , although the (e) in between consonants was employed in the pronunciation, it is fairly close to how it would sound.
☥) Is the Coptic Language an accurate representation to how Ancient Egyptian is is pronounced?
The short answer is yes. The long answer, well not exactly, it's way more complicated than that. That's like asking is Aramaic exactly the same as modern Hebrew? The answer is no. Coptic is the final evolution of the language and is a hybrid of Late Kingdom Egyptian and Greek. A lot of words do carry over seemingly untouched or at least enough that we can make a connection to the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Coptic equivalent. The more you study the Ancient Egyptian and Coptic Languages you will notice the effeminate /t/ ending a lot of the times was dropped in Coptic, but not always. Sparking the long debate with the effeminate /t/ ending and if it was ever pronounced at all. That alone is something still debated. There are some wonderful books on the Etymology of the language located at Resource Link. Please also check out the Etymology page. Did all words from the Ancient Egyptian Language evolve into Coptic? No, not every single word transferred over to Coptic, which causes some problem when trying to reconstruct the language entirely. However this has not deterred me or others from trying to reconstruct the language.
☥) Are E. A. Wallis Budge's dictionary and translations really wrong?
This is one of the most widespread common misconceptions I have in contact with, and let me say this right now, he is not 100% wrong not even close and most modern dictionary for Ancient Egyptian have a good deal of the words he translated in them. Those who perpetrate this "misconceptions" either 1, do not know the language Ancient Egyptian at all or fluently and have been misinformed a kept spreading this mis information or 2 have an agenda. Both are never good to take advice from. My only agenda is to help you learn and that is it.
Let's take a quick look at who E. A. Wallis Budge was.
Budge was both an Egyptologist and a Philologist (someone who studies language both oral and written). He studied at Cambridge and focused on the Semitic branch languages (which includes both Coptic and Ancient Egyptian), Hebrew, Syriac, Ge'ez and Arabic as well as spacial studies in Assyrian. He worked with and studied under some of the top linguistics at the time. That alone being said puts him worlds ahead of most people studying this language today and definitely light years ahead of anyone who just sometimes writes a few Egyptian words they learned somewhere online or from the Kemetic Orthodoxy. It is incredibly foolish, uneducated and completely rude to say his works are inaccurate. Are they outdated? Well the simple answer is yes somewhat. But even that isn't a fair label.
Are there more accurate and less antiquated dictionaries? Yes, but completely disregarding Budge's contributions is just foolish. Once you start learning the alphabet and biliterals, triliterals you can see where Budge "messed up" so to speak. I use his dictionaries quite regularly, but I know the language and am familiar with why some people claim his works are inaccurate and worthless by todays standards. The problem I have with that statement is, most of the words in his dictionaries still exists in modern dictionaries by top Egyptologists and linguists untouched even today! Even the Kemetic Orthodoxy uses some of his pronunciations which are somewhat inaccurate using the (e) between consonants route and completely ignoring other more accurate renderings he has. Budge was also famous for writing D/ḏ/dj as Ṯ/Tch. Which isn't completely wrong as Coptic will show sometimes it was especially Late King-Demotic these could be switched.
So why did this lie get spread?
Well, the problem lies in the fact most who say this over heard it by a very uneducated person who has no concept of the language and certainly do not know it fluently. Please keep in mind the time Budge was alive in. Champollion had only cracked the Rosetta Stone in 1822 using Greek to understand the Pharaoh’s name in their Cartouches. From there they started a working alphabet and from that were able to crack it. The Copts have always claimed their language was related to Ancient Egyptian and Budge was one of the ones who compared and contrasted Coptic along with other related languages he knew and had studied. Budge was studying in the 1870's and at this time the (e) in between constants rout was in full swing. Please understand that the Rosetta Stonet is written in Late Kingdom Egyptian, which correspond to Demotic and the transformation into Coptic. Coptic is not per-say an accurate rendition of Middle Kingdom and certainly not Early Kingdom but it's a start. I have only really found a few strait up mistakes with his works. Sometimes his definition are a little antiquated or stilted, but out right wrong, very rarely. Let me also say this if you are trying to learn this language and only use one author or dictionary you will not get very far. You will have to read a lot more than just one point of view. I literally have most every major dictionary ever published. And I use most of them regularly including Budges. If you are not sure it is accurate cross reference it in another dictionary or grammar book, like Faulkner (Who is still considered the best), or James Hoch, Adolf Erman & Hermann Grapow, Alan Gardiner, James P. Allen, and many more, this is how you learn. For lists of dictionaries refer to the Resource Link page. ******** MORE INFO coming soon********
More on cracking the language with the Rosetta Stone Link
☥) Do people still worship the God's of Ancient Egypt?
Yes there is actually quite a large reinsurance of the religion and the worship of gods. This is mostly coming from the Pagan, Wiccan, OTO and New Age circles. Some choose to practice on their own, but others choose to join the Kemetic Orthodoxy (KO), which is the current-day practice of the traditional religion with a new age spin. Not everything they do is historical, although many enjoy it. For more info refer to the God's pages and ☥Religion sections.
☥) What does MDC and IPA stand for?
(MDC) Manuel de Codage (most commonly used online) , IPA International Phonetic Alphabet , for more abbreviations refer to the Site Key page.
☥) What does (V) mean?
It means that we suspect there is a vowel in a given position in the word, but not sure as to what vowel it was. It's used a place holder. [ex. baʲnVt]
☥) Historical facts vs. occult/religious experiences
I have seen this posted many times in pagan, occult and Kemetic groups. "I had this dream/vision/meditation/revelation and I heard or saw Ancient Egyptian in it, can you tell me what it means?" First off it should be noted I have no problem with religion or people being spiritual. I will not get into my personal briefs here, but I respect people who respect me. That being said there is a huge difference between having a dream where you hear or see Ancient Egyptian and what is historically documented by archaeologists, Egyptologists, etymologists, linguistics and historians. It's perfectly fine to be spiritual and try and commune with the noutjeru/gods, but if you ask someone who has studied the language of Ancient Egypt for years and knows it far better then you, tells you what you heard or saw is gibberish and not legit Ancient Egyptian, words, grammar and or glyphs. Respect them, not everything you experience is legit or real. Sometimes they are just reveries, dream or fantasies. There is nothing wrong with this. Yes you thought you heard something or saw something that is profound or divinely inspired. Think of how many Christians over thousands of years who claim the same thing and are completely crazy. Should we just disregard Hebrew strictly because a Christian had a vision that states the entire documented language is wrong? Then why should we do the same with Ancient Egyptian. I am well aware not many understand this language and even less understand it well enough to read or write it, but there is quite more knowledge on the language then you may think out and it's growing by the day. I suggest if you experience something like this ask questions of people who know what they are talking about and have studied the language long enough to give you an educated answer. Have them document and back up their answer for you. Listen to them and respect their answer even if it doesn't a line with your ideas or realty, it doesn't make it any less true. Facts will always out weigh opinions because they can be proven. This however doesn't mean your experience isn't valid, it is. It doesn't mean you never had a past life in Egypt or that the noutjeru have never spoken with you. Spiritualism can be difficult, because a good deal of it isn't tactile, its spiritual which is very hard to prove. Also there is a margin of error when dealing with the spirit world or past lives. Many things can muddy the water on clarity. This doesn't mean it is complete false or there isn't something to be learned from it. But perhaps look at it more as an experience and not historical or divinely inspired. I'm pretty sure the noutjeru know how to pronounce and write their own language. But if you are still convinced what you experienced is legit then you know, you could always take the time and learn the language yourself and prove it to yourself instead of relaying on others. But until you do you will just have to listen to people who actually study the historical language of Ancient Egypt.
Because you do not have the Ancient Egyptian and Coptic Unicode loaded on your computer. Can you help direct me to get them? Of course download, Aegyptus (Ancient Egyptian Unicode), also Arial Coptic (Unicode). How do I know if they are loaded or not?
If you can read this : (𓇋𓈖𓊪𓅱𓁢) Aegyptus is loaded properly and this (Ⲁⲛⲟⲩⲡ) Coptic is loaded
If not, you need to unpack the unicode much like a font and install it. This task is a bit more complicated for Mac users, but there are plenty of tutorials online to help you get them to work right.
Mac uses first have to initiate the Emoji keyboard (Unicode symbol and character palette) first go to apple icon> System Preferences > Keyboard> Input sources > initiate U.S. palette, or a what ever palette you choose, ☑ Show input menu in Menu bar. Now close window. In the file tray at the top of your computer there should now be a 🇺🇸 U.S. or what ever flag for your pallet. Click on it and open the unicode pallet window by selecting Show Emoji & Symbols. Pull down the ⛭˅ in the left character and select customize list. Then make sure 🔽 European Alphabetic Scripts, ⲀCoptic and Ancient and 🔽 Historic Scripts, 𓀀Egyptian Hieroglyphics are ☑. Now you should be able to see the unicode. If you still don't try restarting your computer.
Installing Unicode for Mac Here
Installing Unicode for PC Here
☥) Help what is this weird code that has letters and numbers (ex. W11-G1-A2) ?
That is Gardiner's Sign List Code and is a list of common Egyptian hieroglyphs compiled by Sir Alan Gardiner. You can use it for writing out the hieroglyphics with programs such as Jsesh. Check out Gardiner's Sign List Code here
☥) Can you teach me Ancient Egyptian?
No, simply because I do not have the time to teach you a language that spanned thousands of years and Middle Egyptian alone was spoken for 700 years. I have been studying it myself for well over 10 years as well as its Etymology, Coptic and other branch languages. It takes at least 10 years of studying to get a pretty good handle on it. Just like any other second language you have to put time and effort into learning, practicing and using it. This is not to discourage you in anyway, but also not to sell you false expectations of learning an ancient language. Also sadly I do not have the time to teach people one on one, but that is why this site was created. I do not mind however pointing you in the right direction once in a while, but first, read through this FAQ page and through my site. That is why it is here to help guide you. Let me preface this however by saying that there is no easy answer, you cannot learn a language this complicated over-night. You have to put the ground work in yourself. Sadly, I cannot wave a magic wand and bestow all my knowledge to you instantly or the knowledge of the scribes. But I do update this site when I can. :)
☥) Why does your site spell /sS kmt/ "Sesh Kemet" when that is not accurate?
Good question, the simple answer is, this is how most people write it and recognize it, especially those who would be coming regularly to my site or looking for a teaching site like this, are people who do not know the language as well as a linguist. No it is not pronounced "Sesh Kemet", actually it would be pronounced: saḥ kumat (Old Kingdom (OK), sakhe kamā (Middle Kingdom (MK), sakh kēmi (Late Kingdom (LK), sakh/ⲥⲁⲭ khēmi/ⲭⲏⲙⲓ (Lower Egypt (Bohairic Coptic (B) , saḥ/ⲥⲁϩ kēmə/ⲕⲏⲙⲉ (Upper Egypt (Sahidic Coptic (S)
Is that the answer you wanted? It's a bit of a long winded answer isn't it? The true answer is even more long winded than this. And which should I choose Old, Middle, or Late Egyptian also what dialect Upper or Lower Egyptian? So in short yes I am well aware that's not how it's pronounced and this is a carry over from just simply adding an "e" place holder for the vowels when they first cracked the language. If you click on the Etymology page you will see the extent of my knowledge on the subject.
☥) Help ! I need some sort of starter guide?
Step 1: familiarize yourself with the base Egyptian alphabet the ABC's as it were.
Step 2 : familiarize yourself with biliterals
Step 3 : familiarize yourself with triliterals
Step 4 : Only after you have memorized these should you move forward to base phonology & phonetics so you gain some understanding of what the glyphs sounds are and the MDC that represents them.
Step 5 : At this point when you feel quite comfortable, I would start with very basic grammar. How do I do that? Well, reading and lots of it. You can read through the Dictionary section for some minor help and there are some wonderful books and guides on learning the language step by step at this Resource Link. If you are still lost try this link. One of the best authors and authorities on the language is James P. Allen and some great books to start with are
(Beginner books)
Egyptian hieroglyphs for complete beginners Amazon Link.
Egyptian Hieroglyphics: How to Read and Write Them Amazon Link.
Hieroglyphs without Mystery: An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Writing Amazon Link
(More Complicated Books)
Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs Amazon Link.
How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself Amazon Link.
(Etymology)
Amarigna & Tigrigna Qal Hieroglyphs for Beginners Link .
*NOTE The only way to learn a second language ( especially one that is technically considered a "dead language" at least in its ancient form) is to put in a lot of work. A lot of it will be on your own unless you pursue it further and go to school for it. There are plenty of groups out there, but very few are just dedicated to the language itself. There is also a lot of misinformation out there too. The best way to dispel it is to learn.
☥) Help can you translate XYZ into Ancient Egyptian, or can you translate something for me?
The short answer is no. I do not have the time to take commissions currently and translating can be very time consuming which can end up being very costly. If it is something very short maybe, but the answer most likely will still be no. You could always spend years learning the language yourself and translate it yourself. If It was a word you dreamed about hearing then absolutely not, becuase without the hieroglyphics which I doubt your dream had in it, it is pointless based off of sounds alone to try and figure it out.
☥) Is it really true that they have cracked the Language of Ancient Egypt and we can read it?
The short answer is yes, they have, and yes we really know what all those hieroglyphics say. Do not be fooled by people who say we have never cracked the language! This cannot be further from the truth. Please research the Rosetta Stone and how it was cracked and what languages they used to crack it. More on cracking the language with the Rosetta Stone Link here. Also look into the Coptic language it is the last evolutionary step of Ancient Egyptian and it is still spoken today.
☥) I heard there is no way to know how the Egyptian Language is pronounced, is that true?
This is utter nonsense. Do we know exactly how it was pronounced through all its stages? No, but we have a pretty good idea on how it was pronounced in Late Kingdom and even some Middle Kingdom and before. Coptic is the final evolutionary set of the language and is a hybrid of both Late Kingdom/ Demotic Egyptian and Greek. Coptic is still spoken to this day although the accent is somewhat debatable with all the different dialects. But that is a whole other subject unto itself. It's more a debate of inflection and accent. Coptic however is not Egyptian it's a hybrid after all. So we do have a fairly good idea how names and places were pronounced using things like the Rosetta Stone and any word that was carried over or written in another language used at the time. However that does not cover the whole language nor the language that was spoken for thousands of years and how it evolved over time. Do we know how to speak it well we know how to pronounce a good amount of words the rest would be educated guess based off info we have. For more info please visit How do you pronounce Ancient Egyptian? Hopefully one day we will find a teaching papyrus with multiple languages and finally put an end to all the fighting, but until then. Please refer to the Etymology page for more info as well. There is some scholars that did a deep dive into the Etymology of the language such as Antonio Loprieno, Jaroslav Černý, but be careful if you go further with studding the Etymology of the language, there is a lot of people online especially, who claim they know how to pronounce the language, but have ever studied any historically except scholars nor have a degree in the language. Some if you dig a little deeper, claim the Gods or the ancestors told them how to pronounce the langue. Always look into known scholars with degrees. This site is only dedicated to known educate published scholars, no personal opinions.
☥) How do you pronounce Ancient Egyptian?
That's a very good question and a very complicated one to answer simply. Let me try and break it down though. The truth is it takes years just like with any second language you learn, to be comfortable enough to understand the complexities of a "Dead Language" and of the reconstruction of the pronunciation. Coptic is the last evolutionary step in the Ancient Egyptian Language and is still spoken today. However being a combo of Late Kingdom/ Demotic Egyptian and Greek. Scholars still argue on the accent even to this day and there are a few books that can be found on the different accents. Certainly there is scholars who have dedicated their lives and studies to this very subject such as Antonio Loprieno, James P. Allen and Jaroslav Černý. Yes Coptic is still spoken, many priests in the Coptic church still sing in the language and do prayers in it. I will warn you now though, learning the Ancient Egyptian Language is not going to be easy. A lot of it is just putting in the time and effort studying, lots and lots of studying. There is also a lot of people who are uneducated and will lead you astray or even outright spread incorrect information on the Ancient Egyptian Language. Yes we have some concept of how the language is spoken. Don't go straight to how it's spoken until you have learned the base alphabet first then biliterals, triliterals and take a look at phonology & phonetics. After you feel you are comfortable and familiar enough with understanding the Glyphs and MDC then move on to the etymology of the language. Which is where you will learn how the language can be reconstruct. There is a lot of different Coptic dialects such as the main Upper (Sahidic) and Lower Egyptian (Bohairic) dialects. As you start to familiarize yourself with Coptic you will get a better understanding on how the vowels work in the language. Also check out I heard most of the time Egyptologists just added (e)'s in between constants to make it easier to pronounce for more info.
☥) Is it true Ancient Egyptian does not have vowels?
No, this is a very bad misconception, which seems to have be repeated by people who have never studied the language. I may have stemmed from the fact some online "scholars" have claimed this even though the base Middle Kingdom Egyptian alphabet contains :
[ Ꜣ , A , a 𓄿 | ꜥ , a , ā 𓂝 | b 𓃀 | d 𓂧 | ḏ, D 𓆓 | f 𓆑 | ḳ, g 𓎼 | ḥ, H 𓎛 | h 𓉔 | ı͗, ȧ, j ,i 𓇋 | k 𓎡 | m 𓅓 | n 𓈖 | p 𓊪 | q 𓈎 |
| r 𓂋 | s 𓋴 | š, sh 𓈚 | ṯ ,T 𓍿 | t 𓏏 | u, w 𓅱 | ẖ, X 𓄡 | ḫ, x 𓐍 | ii, jj ,y, 𓇋𓇋 | z, s 𓊃 ]
Late Kingdom additions [rw > l 𓃭] and [wA > ō 𓍯] used in names such as:
Cleopatra/ Κλεοπᾰ́τρᾱ (Greek) > /q-rw-i-wA-p-A-d-r-t-A/ 𓈎𓃭𓇋𓍯𓊪𓄿𓂧𓂋𓏏𓄿 (Egyptian MDC)> transliterated as /qlwpdrt/ pronounced Qlēōpahdra in Egyptian.
As you can see the /rw/ became l and the /wA/ became a long o sound. And so, it's clear that Egyptian had vowel sounds. So it is pretty easy to smash this odd concept. If this were true then how do we get such words as Ma'at (modern English), Mah'āt/mAat (MDC), Mu'at/Μά'ατ , Mahēīét/Μαγιέτ (Greek), Mēə/ⲙⲏⲉ , Mə/ⲙⲉ (Sahidic Coptic Upper Egyptian), Mēi/ⲙⲏⲓ (Bohairic Coptic Lower Egyptian). As you can see by Coptic the t was dropped and there most certainly are vowels. Perhaps the problem is with the /Ꜣ A a / and /ꜥ a ā/ they are actually a glottal stop (ʔ) and a voiced pharyngeal approximate (ʕ) Which technically are considered consonants. But this idea does contradict the existence of /i/ , /w/, and /y/, as well as the vowels in Coptic. Both the glottal stop and the voiced pharyngeal approximate become vowels in Coptic normally a or o or some other vowel. So as you see to say this just simple does not make any since. Please refer to the Etymology page for more info as well as I heard most of the time Egyptologists just added (e)'s in between constants to make it easier to pronounce.
☥) I heard most of the time Egyptologists just added (e)'s in between consonants to make it easier to pronounce.
Yes, it is true. Most of the time people and even Egyptologists for years would just stick (e)'s in between constants to make it easier to pronounce. No, this is a not an accurate way to pronounce Ancient Egyptian, nor is it a really good practice or habit to get into if you are serious in learning the language. The Ancient Egyptian language's last evolutionary step is the Coptic Language and it is still spoken today. So, yes we do have some idea on how the language was pronounced. So why then do people just stick (e) in between consonants? Well mostly because the person does not study the language's Etymology, just writing it for fun online, or is coping an older scholars book. They probably have not dedicated the time to learning the etymology which can take years. The other problem is when they were first cracking the language some Egyptologists didn't know Coptic or use it to translate Egyptian. This of course is problematic in learning to pronounce it and sometimes the glyphs leave little to no trace of the vowels, but sometimes they do have the vowels intact. This misconception as well might have come in to play because (MDC) and even the glyphs themselves are just a pictorial representation of a word and idea. Such as /nfr/ 𓄤 , also written like 𓄤𓆑𓂋 (beauty, goodness ex.) It's a common word in Egyptian and on first glance it appears in the transliteration there are no vowels /nfr/. It's normally simply written as nefer and even shows up in names such as Nefertiti. Once again we see the (e) being added in between the consonants. However one has to study the etymology to understand that the vowels many times were not written in hieroglyphics, but showed up in Demotic and Coptic and sometimes Old Kingdom writings. Studying other languages that used the words is important as well. /nfr/ in Coptic had many different vowels, it depended on the dialect. In (S) Sahidic Coptic of Upper Egyptian, we get noufr /ⲛⲟⲩϥⲣ , and in (B) Bohairic Coptic of Lower Egyptian, nofār /ⲛⲟϥⲉⲣ . Those two are the closets to the original /nfr/ writing. There are other dialects you can study, but you can see the correct vowels depend on the dialect itself. In Greek we have the name Sekhnoufis/Σεχνοῦφις, noufis is the word /nfr/ used in a Greek name. When you study Greek you will find they were fond of adding /is/ or /us/ to the end of Egyptian names. If you strip it off normally you get a pretty accurate Ancient Egyptian pronunciation of the God's names. Such as Horus (English), Hôros /Ὧρος (Greek), Ḥōr/Ϩⲱⲣ (Coptic), Ḥr (Demotic), Ḥōr(u) /Hrw/ (MDC) (Middle Kingdom Egyptian). As you can see it can some times be very easy to reconstruct words especially names. The more languages you have to study the word from, the better the odds of it being completely accurate. Please refer to the Etymology page for more info and the God's pages for how to pronounce their names.
☥) How to learn Ancient Egyptian?
Start by leaning the base alphabet first, first then biliterals, triliterals and then take a look at phonology & phonetics. Study the MDC and its relationship the hieroglyphics. Then once you have a pretty good grasp on that start to learn the grammar. Some great books to read are anything by Jame's P. Allen, Dr Raymond Oliver Faulkner, James E. Hoch, Sir Alan H. Gardiner. For more resources on learning the language look at the Resource Link. Also please read Help ! I need some sort of starter guide?
☥) Was that real Ancient Egyptian spoken in the Mummy movie?
Sadly no, despite what you may read online the "Egyptian" spoken in the Mummy is not actual Egyptian. It was what I call faux Egyptian. It was made to sound like it though. There is some speculation they got an actual Egyptologist to work on it, although all one has to do is look at what they claim is being said and know Egyptian well enough, to know it's not a very accurate rendition. If you would like to hear prayers in Coptic link or the Lord's Prayer in Coptic link which is the Language's last evolutionary step mixed with Greek. You can also hear a love song on a reconstructed Egyptian harp link , although the (e) in between consonants was employed in the pronunciation, it is fairly close to how it would sound.
☥) Is the Coptic Language an accurate representation to how Ancient Egyptian is is pronounced?
The short answer is yes. The long answer, well not exactly, it's way more complicated than that. That's like asking is Aramaic exactly the same as modern Hebrew? The answer is no. Coptic is the final evolution of the language and is a hybrid of Late Kingdom Egyptian and Greek. A lot of words do carry over seemingly untouched or at least enough that we can make a connection to the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Coptic equivalent. The more you study the Ancient Egyptian and Coptic Languages you will notice the effeminate /t/ ending a lot of the times was dropped in Coptic, but not always. Sparking the long debate with the effeminate /t/ ending and if it was ever pronounced at all. That alone is something still debated. There are some wonderful books on the Etymology of the language located at Resource Link. Please also check out the Etymology page. Did all words from the Ancient Egyptian Language evolve into Coptic? No, not every single word transferred over to Coptic, which causes some problem when trying to reconstruct the language entirely. However this has not deterred me or others from trying to reconstruct the language.
☥) Are E. A. Wallis Budge's dictionary and translations really wrong?
This is one of the most widespread common misconceptions I have in contact with, and let me say this right now, he is not 100% wrong not even close and most modern dictionary for Ancient Egyptian have a good deal of the words he translated in them. Those who perpetrate this "misconceptions" either 1, do not know the language Ancient Egyptian at all or fluently and have been misinformed a kept spreading this mis information or 2 have an agenda. Both are never good to take advice from. My only agenda is to help you learn and that is it.
Let's take a quick look at who E. A. Wallis Budge was.
Budge was both an Egyptologist and a Philologist (someone who studies language both oral and written). He studied at Cambridge and focused on the Semitic branch languages (which includes both Coptic and Ancient Egyptian), Hebrew, Syriac, Ge'ez and Arabic as well as spacial studies in Assyrian. He worked with and studied under some of the top linguistics at the time. That alone being said puts him worlds ahead of most people studying this language today and definitely light years ahead of anyone who just sometimes writes a few Egyptian words they learned somewhere online or from the Kemetic Orthodoxy. It is incredibly foolish, uneducated and completely rude to say his works are inaccurate. Are they outdated? Well the simple answer is yes somewhat. But even that isn't a fair label.
Are there more accurate and less antiquated dictionaries? Yes, but completely disregarding Budge's contributions is just foolish. Once you start learning the alphabet and biliterals, triliterals you can see where Budge "messed up" so to speak. I use his dictionaries quite regularly, but I know the language and am familiar with why some people claim his works are inaccurate and worthless by todays standards. The problem I have with that statement is, most of the words in his dictionaries still exists in modern dictionaries by top Egyptologists and linguists untouched even today! Even the Kemetic Orthodoxy uses some of his pronunciations which are somewhat inaccurate using the (e) between consonants route and completely ignoring other more accurate renderings he has. Budge was also famous for writing D/ḏ/dj as Ṯ/Tch. Which isn't completely wrong as Coptic will show sometimes it was especially Late King-Demotic these could be switched.
So why did this lie get spread?
Well, the problem lies in the fact most who say this over heard it by a very uneducated person who has no concept of the language and certainly do not know it fluently. Please keep in mind the time Budge was alive in. Champollion had only cracked the Rosetta Stone in 1822 using Greek to understand the Pharaoh’s name in their Cartouches. From there they started a working alphabet and from that were able to crack it. The Copts have always claimed their language was related to Ancient Egyptian and Budge was one of the ones who compared and contrasted Coptic along with other related languages he knew and had studied. Budge was studying in the 1870's and at this time the (e) in between constants rout was in full swing. Please understand that the Rosetta Stonet is written in Late Kingdom Egyptian, which correspond to Demotic and the transformation into Coptic. Coptic is not per-say an accurate rendition of Middle Kingdom and certainly not Early Kingdom but it's a start. I have only really found a few strait up mistakes with his works. Sometimes his definition are a little antiquated or stilted, but out right wrong, very rarely. Let me also say this if you are trying to learn this language and only use one author or dictionary you will not get very far. You will have to read a lot more than just one point of view. I literally have most every major dictionary ever published. And I use most of them regularly including Budges. If you are not sure it is accurate cross reference it in another dictionary or grammar book, like Faulkner (Who is still considered the best), or James Hoch, Adolf Erman & Hermann Grapow, Alan Gardiner, James P. Allen, and many more, this is how you learn. For lists of dictionaries refer to the Resource Link page. ******** MORE INFO coming soon********
More on cracking the language with the Rosetta Stone Link
☥) Do people still worship the God's of Ancient Egypt?
Yes there is actually quite a large reinsurance of the religion and the worship of gods. This is mostly coming from the Pagan, Wiccan, OTO and New Age circles. Some choose to practice on their own, but others choose to join the Kemetic Orthodoxy (KO), which is the current-day practice of the traditional religion with a new age spin. Not everything they do is historical, although many enjoy it. For more info refer to the God's pages and ☥Religion sections.
☥) What does MDC and IPA stand for?
(MDC) Manuel de Codage (most commonly used online) , IPA International Phonetic Alphabet , for more abbreviations refer to the Site Key page.
☥) What does (V) mean?
It means that we suspect there is a vowel in a given position in the word, but not sure as to what vowel it was. It's used a place holder. [ex. baʲnVt]
☥) Historical facts vs. occult/religious experiences
I have seen this posted many times in pagan, occult and Kemetic groups. "I had this dream/vision/meditation/revelation and I heard or saw Ancient Egyptian in it, can you tell me what it means?" First off it should be noted I have no problem with religion or people being spiritual. I will not get into my personal briefs here, but I respect people who respect me. That being said there is a huge difference between having a dream where you hear or see Ancient Egyptian and what is historically documented by archaeologists, Egyptologists, etymologists, linguistics and historians. It's perfectly fine to be spiritual and try and commune with the noutjeru/gods, but if you ask someone who has studied the language of Ancient Egypt for years and knows it far better then you, tells you what you heard or saw is gibberish and not legit Ancient Egyptian, words, grammar and or glyphs. Respect them, not everything you experience is legit or real. Sometimes they are just reveries, dream or fantasies. There is nothing wrong with this. Yes you thought you heard something or saw something that is profound or divinely inspired. Think of how many Christians over thousands of years who claim the same thing and are completely crazy. Should we just disregard Hebrew strictly because a Christian had a vision that states the entire documented language is wrong? Then why should we do the same with Ancient Egyptian. I am well aware not many understand this language and even less understand it well enough to read or write it, but there is quite more knowledge on the language then you may think out and it's growing by the day. I suggest if you experience something like this ask questions of people who know what they are talking about and have studied the language long enough to give you an educated answer. Have them document and back up their answer for you. Listen to them and respect their answer even if it doesn't a line with your ideas or realty, it doesn't make it any less true. Facts will always out weigh opinions because they can be proven. This however doesn't mean your experience isn't valid, it is. It doesn't mean you never had a past life in Egypt or that the noutjeru have never spoken with you. Spiritualism can be difficult, because a good deal of it isn't tactile, its spiritual which is very hard to prove. Also there is a margin of error when dealing with the spirit world or past lives. Many things can muddy the water on clarity. This doesn't mean it is complete false or there isn't something to be learned from it. But perhaps look at it more as an experience and not historical or divinely inspired. I'm pretty sure the noutjeru know how to pronounce and write their own language. But if you are still convinced what you experienced is legit then you know, you could always take the time and learn the language yourself and prove it to yourself instead of relaying on others. But until you do you will just have to listen to people who actually study the historical language of Ancient Egypt.
