Prepositions

Preposition

A preposition is a word that links a noun (or pronoun) to the rest of the sentence, and indicates place, direction, time, means or an abstract relation.

Everyday examples:

• English: in, to, from, with

In Middle Egyptian:

Middle Egyptian has a small number of simple prepositions (consisting of one word), alongside compound prepositions. An Egyptian preposition usually has several meanings, and the translation is determined by context — there is no one-to-one correspondence between Egyptian and English prepositions.

The simple prepositions:

Hieroglyphs	Transliteration	English
	m	in, into; from, out of; as; with, by means of
	n	to, for (a person); because of
	r	to, toward (a place); in order to; against; concerning; than
	ḥr	on, upon; at; from (upon); because of
	ḥnꜥ	together with; and
	mj	like; according to
	jn	by (the agent of a passive verb)
	ḫr	near, in the presence of (a superior)
	ẖr	under; carrying
	tp	on top of, atop
	ḥꜣ	behind, around
	ḫft	opposite, in front of; in accordance with
	ḫnt	at the head of, in front of
	ḫt	throughout
	ḏr	since
	mm	among

Examples:

Hieroglyphs	Transliteration	English
	m pr	“In the house”
	m ḥtp	“In peace”
	r pr	“To the house”
	ḥr wꜣ.t	“On the road”
	ḥnꜥ=j	“With me”
	mj nṯr	“Like a god”
	ẖr mw	“Under water”
	tp tꜣ	“On earth”

Prepositions with Pronouns

A preposition is followed by a noun, a noun phrase or a demonstrative pronoun — without change in their form. When the object of the preposition is a personal pronoun, it takes the form of a suffix pronoun: ḥnꜥ=j “with me”, n=f “to him”, r=sn “to them”.

A suffix pronoun after a preposition is always the object of the preposition — never the subject of the sentence.

Some prepositions have a different form before a suffix pronoun, and another form when they stand alone as an adverb (without an object):

At the beginning of a sentence r is written jr and means “as for” (jr sf Wsjr pw “as for yesterday — it is Osiris”; see “Topic and Comment” in the chapter “Basic Concepts in Grammar”).

Examples:

Hieroglyphs	Transliteration	English
	nn mw.t=k ḥnꜥ=k	“Your mother is not with you”
	dp.t nbw jm=s	“a boat in which gold [was]”
	nn sw m s.t=f	“It is not in its place”
	nn wj jm	“I am not there”
	nḏs n js mjtw=k	“A common man, not worth you”

In the third line m remains m because it is followed by a noun (s.t=f), not by a suffix pronoun.

Compound Prepositions

A compound preposition is made up of a simple preposition plus another word — usually a noun. Its meaning is usually derived from its parts: m ḥꜣ.t “before” (lit. “in the front”), r gs “beside” (lit. “to the side”).

Hieroglyphs	Transliteration	English
	m-ḥꜣ.t	“In front of, before”
	m-sꜣ	“Behind, after”
	m-bꜣḥ	“In the presence of”
	r-gs	“Beside”
	ḥr-sꜣ	“After”

A compound preposition takes a suffix pronoun just like a noun: m-ḥꜣ.t=k “before you” (lit. “in your front”).

The phrase r-ḏr (lit. “to the limit”) means “all, entire”. It comes after the noun and takes a suffix pronoun referring to it — =f for masculine, =s for feminine, =sn for plural: tꜣ pn r-ḏr=f “this entire land”.

Examples:

	Hieroglyphs
jw=f m-bꜣḥ ḥꜣ.tjj-ꜥ nn sbṯ jm=f	Transliteration
“He stood before the nomarch without laughing at him”	English
“He was before the nomarch without laughing at him”	English

	Hieroglyphs
jw nšnj pr.w tp-ꜥ sꜣḥ=n tꜣ	Transliteration
“A storm broke out before we reached land.”	English
“[A] tempest broke out before we reached land.”	English

Prepositional Phrase

A prepositional phrase is a preposition together with its object: m pr “in the house”, r pr “to the house”. The phrase functions in the sentence as a single unit.

Everyday examples:

• English: In the house, To the city

In Middle Egyptian:

Within the sentence a prepositional phrase serves in two main functions:

• Adverbial modifier (an addition to the verb) — indicating where, when, how or why: “he went to the city”.

• Predicate — in the adverbial sentence, whose predicate is a prepositional phrase: jw=f m pr “he is in the house”.

Examples:

Hieroglyphs	Transliteration	English
	jw=f m pr	“He [is] in [the] house”
	jw rꜥ m p.t	“[The] sun [is] in [the] sky”

	Hieroglyphs
jw wpj=sn ꜥḥ rꜥ m ꜣḫ.t	Transliteration
“They open [the] palace [when the] sun is on the horizon”	English
“They open [the] palace [when the] sun [is] on [the] horizon”	English

In a special use, m indicates a role or status: jw sꜣ=j m sš “my son is a scribe” (lit. “in the role of a scribe”). This is the “m of predication”, discussed in the section “The Adverbial Sentence” in Chapter 9.

Chapter New Vocabulary

Hieroglyphs	Transliteration	Type	English
	js	Particle	Particle introducing subordinate clause
	wꜣ.t	Noun	Road, way
	wpj	Verb	To open, part
	p.t	Noun	Sky
	mjtw	Noun	Equal, likeness
	nbw	Noun	Gold
	nn	Particle	Not (negates present/future)
	nšnj	Noun	Storm
	nḏs	Noun	Commoner; small
,	rꜥ	Noun	Sun; day
	r-ḏr	Compound preposition	all, whole, entire
	ḥꜣ.tjj-ꜥ	Noun	Nomarch, local prince; mayor
	ḥtp	Noun / verb	Peace; to be at peace
	sꜣḥ	Verb	To reach, arrive at
	sbṯ	Verb	To laugh, mock
	tp-ꜥ	Compound preposition	Before