Re: Restored Egyptian - nouns

At 10:49 AM 10/27/2000 -0600, you wrote:

>> Masculine nouns are formed from roots using one of several
>> patterns.  While the patterns are regular, there is no way to
>> predict beforehand which pattern a root will use.
>>
>> [snip]
>
>These patterns remind me of the broken plurals found in Arabic; was
>this also a feature of "real" Egyptian?
>
Nobody really knows, but it seems likely.  The word for 'house', for
example, is written in hieroglyphs simply as 'pr' (plural 'prw').  I've
based my patterns on the reconstructions in Loprieno's "Midddle Egyptian"
book. He bases his conclusions on comparisons with other Afrosemitic
languages and survivals into Coptic, and hints from the hieroglyphic spellings.

He presents his hypothetical grammar as an ideal.  Whether the plural of
'pr' really was pronounced 'paruuwaw', or whether various sound processes
maybe shortened it to 'paruu' is anybody's guess.

I've actually simplified and regularized what he presented in the book (for
one thing, he tends to contradict himself, like calling the plural for
'brother' sanuuwaw in one place and sinuwaw in another).  That's why I'm
calling this a conlang: when in doubt, I just make stuff up!

-- Terry

http://www.geocities.com/teresh_2000
http://www.geocities.com/weseb_2000
>Dirk
>
>--
>Dirk Elzinga
>dirk.elzinga@m.cc.utah.edu
>