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Re: BrSc & ancient Egyptian

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Saturday, April 27, 2002, 14:51
Raymond Brown scripsit:

> [A]ncient Egyptian which, like the syllabary, didn't express > vowels (and, sadly, they are now lost probably for ever; so we don't > really know how pronounce the language), except that one symbol is > traditionally transcribed {i}.
We have to distinguish between conventional and actual vocalism for Egyptian. We construct conventional vocalism for convenience, so we can pronounce words and names when useful or necessary. The rule is: pronounce ' as a, y as i, w as u, and insert e whenever things get hairy, so NFRTYTY becomes Nefertiti and 'MNShPSWT becomes Amon-Shepsuet. Work on the actual vocalism, based on Coptic and comparative Afroasiatology (ugh, what a word) is ongoing. -- John Cowan <jcowan@...> http://www.reutershealth.com I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, http://www.ccil.org/~cowan han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith. --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_

Replies

Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>
BP Jonsson <bpj@...>