What Ancient Egyptian Sounded Like - and how we know

NativLang
27 Nov 202011:01
EducationalLearning
32 Likes 10 Comments

TLDRThe script narrates the journey of deciphering Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, highlighting the pivotal role of Coptic language and linguistic reconstruction in understanding the sounds of hieroglyphs. It reveals the evolution of the Egyptian language through stages and the contribution of Afroasiatic linguistics in retracing the language's ancestry. The story unfolds the methodical process of how scholars like Champollion pieced together the language, ultimately bringing to life the sounds of a civilization long silenced.

Takeaways
  • 📜 Egyptian scribes used hieroglyphs for 3,500 years, from the beginning of recorded history until they ceased to be used.
  • 🗝️ The popular story of the rediscovery of Ancient Egyptian involves Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and the Rosetta Stone, which led to the decipherment by scholars like Champollion and Young.
  • 🧐 Champollion's work was significantly influenced by his study of Coptic, a language he believed to be a direct descendant of Ancient Egyptian, and his interactions with Abuna Yuẖanna, a Coptic-speaking priest.
  • 📚 Coptic, written in an adapted form of the Greek alphabet, was key to deciphering hieroglyphs, as it contained seven letters derived from late forms of Egyptian signs.
  • 🔍 Egyptologists used 'internal reconstruction' to compare Coptic dialects and guess the ancient pronunciation of hieroglyphs, filling in the missing vowels.
  • 🌍 The Afroasiatic language family, which includes Egyptian, has branches like Semitic and Omotic, providing linguistic clues to the evolution of Egyptian language over time.
  • 🕰️ The Egyptian language evolved through stages from Old Egyptian to Demotic and Coptic, with changes in pronunciation and consonant/vowel patterns.
  • 🤔 Despite advances, there are still uncertainties in the reconstruction of Ancient Egyptian sounds, such as the original vowel sounds and the pronunciation of certain consonants.
  • 📝 Understanding the ancestors, relatives, and descendants of Egyptian was crucial in deciphering the language and pronouncing words correctly.
  • 🌟 The script highlights the importance of linguistic evolution and the interconnectedness of languages in understanding and reconstructing the sounds of a language like Ancient Egyptian.
Q & A

  • How long did Egyptian scribes write hieroglyphs?

    -Egyptian scribes wrote hieroglyphs for three thousand five hundred years.

  • What event marked the final use of hieroglyphs before they fell silent?

    -The final use of hieroglyphs took place in a temple, home of the last known inscription, decades before the fall of Rome.

  • What is the popular narrative about the rediscovery of Ancient Egyptian?

    -The popular narrative involves a Frenchman, an Englishman, and the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, which led to the decipherment of hieroglyphs by matching Greek text to Egyptian symbols.

  • Who were the two scholars that raced to unlock the secrets of the Rosetta Stone?

    -The two scholars were Jean-François Champollion and Thomas Young.

  • What language did Champollion study to understand hieroglyphs?

    -Champollion studied Coptic, which he believed was the continuous evolution of the Ancient Egyptian language.

  • How did Coptic script help in the decipherment of hieroglyphs?

    -Coptic script, which uses an adapted form of the Greek alphabet with additional letters from late forms of Egyptian signs, provided a basis for Champollion to work from and understand the sounds of hieroglyphs.

  • What is 'internal reconstruction' in the context of deciphering hieroglyphs?

    -Internal reconstruction is a method where Egyptologists compare different periods of Egyptian documents to deduce the sounds of missing vowels and consonants in hieroglyphs.

  • How did the discovery of the peace treaty between Egypt and the Hittites contribute to understanding hieroglyph sounds?

    -The peace treaty was written in hieroglyphs and cuneiform, allowing for comparison and reconstruction of Egyptian pronunciation, revealing how the language changed over time.

  • What linguistic family do scholars place Egyptian within?

    -Egyptian is placed within the Afroasiatic linguistic family.

  • How do linguists trace the evolution of the Egyptian language?

    -Linguists trace the evolution of Egyptian by comparing its stages (Old, Middle, Late, Demotic, and Coptic), its relatives, and its descendants, using methods like internal reconstruction and comparison with other Afroasiatic languages.

  • What are some examples of words whose pronunciation has changed over time in Egyptian?

    -Examples include 'nfrt' which might have been /nafɾat/ becoming /nofɾə/, 'kmt' meaning 'Egypt' which was earlier /kuːmat/, and 'p-rmṯ' or 'person' which shifted from /raːmac/.

Outlines
00:00
📜 The Rediscovery and Sounds of Ancient Egyptian

This paragraph introduces the historical context of the Ancient Egyptian language and hieroglyphs, highlighting their use for over 3,500 years. It challenges the popular narrative of the rediscovery of the language, which typically involves Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and the Rosetta Stone. Instead, the focus shifts to understanding the sounds of the language and the crucial role of Coptic in deciphering hieroglyphs. The story of Champollion's dedication to learning Coptic to truly understand Ancient Egypt is emphasized, as well as the significance of the Coptic alphabet's unique combination of Greek and Egyptian signs in aiding decipherment.

05:06
🔍 Deciphering Hieroglyphs and the Evolution of Egyptian

The second paragraph delves into the challenges of deciphering hieroglyphs, particularly the consonants and missing vowels. It explains how Egyptologists used internal reconstruction and comparison with related languages to fill in the gaps. The paragraph also discusses the evolution of the Egyptian language from Old Egyptian to Coptic, and how linguistic evidence from the peace treaty between Egypt and the Hittites provided insights into the language's changes over time. The unique position of Egyptian within the Afroasiatic language family is highlighted, and the process of tracing sound changes from Coptic to Ancient Egyptian is outlined.

10:11
🌍 Uncovering the Roots and Evolution of the Egyptian Language

The final paragraph summarizes the journey of rediscovering the sounds of the Ancient Egyptian language. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the language's ancestors, relatives, and descendants to accurately decipher its sounds. Specific examples of word pronunciations, such as Aten, ankh, and Egypt's name, are provided to illustrate the process. The paragraph concludes by thanking the audience for their interest and support in this linguistic exploration, encouraging them to continue learning about language.

Mindmap
Keywords
💡Egyptian scribes
Egyptian scribes were individuals who practiced the art of writing in ancient Egypt, using a system of hieroglyphs. They played a crucial role in recording history, religion, and daily life for over 3,500 years. The video script mentions their long-lasting tradition and the eventual silence of this form of writing, highlighting the historical significance of these scribes in preserving ancient Egyptian culture and knowledge.
💡Hieroglyphs
Hieroglyphs are the ancient Egyptian writing system that used pictorial symbols to represent words or sounds. The script discusses the evolution and eventual decipherment of hieroglyphs, emphasizing their importance in understanding the language and culture of ancient Egypt. The Rosetta Stone, which features hieroglyphs alongside Greek, was instrumental in deciphering this complex script.
💡Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is a granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. It is famous for its three scripts—hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek—which provided the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. The video script describes the Rosetta Stone as a pivotal discovery that helped scholars like Champollion and Young to unlock the secrets of the ancient Egyptian language.
💡Champollion
Jean-François Champollion was a French scholar who is credited with deciphering the Rosetta Stone and thus the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. The script highlights his belief in the continuity of the Coptic language as a key to understanding Egyptian, and his dedication to learning Coptic to decipher the hieroglyphs, which was a significant breakthrough in the field of Egyptology.
💡Coptic language
Coptic is the final stage of the Egyptian language, which was written in the Coptic alphabet, an adapted form of the Greek alphabet. The script emphasizes the importance of Coptic as a linguistic bridge between ancient and medieval Egyptian, and as a tool used by Champollion to decipher hieroglyphs. It also mentions the unique features of Coptic, such as its use of seven letters derived from late forms of Egyptian signs.
💡Internal reconstruction
Internal reconstruction is a linguistic method used to infer the historical development of a language by comparing its attested forms and hypothesizing about its earlier stages. In the context of the script, this method was used by Egyptologists to deduce the pronunciation of hieroglyphs by comparing different Coptic dialects and historical documents, which helped in understanding the evolution of the Egyptian language over time.
💡Afroasiatic languages
The Afroasiatic languages are a large language family that includes Egyptian, Semitic languages like Arabic, and Omotic languages, among others. The script discusses the linguistic connections between these languages and how they provide clues to the evolution of the Egyptian language. It also mentions how the study of Afroasiatic languages helped in placing Egyptian within a broader linguistic family and understanding its historical development.
💡Proto-Afroasiatic
Proto-Afroasiatic is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Afroasiatic language family. The script refers to the use of linguistic comparisons to trace the evolution of Egyptian and other Afroasiatic languages back to this hypothetical ancestral language. This process helps linguists understand the sound changes and shifts that occurred over time, contributing to the decipherment of ancient Egyptian and the understanding of its language family.
💡Decipherment
Decipherment is the process of解读 or translating a previously undecipherable script or code. In the video script, the decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs is a central theme, detailing the historical efforts and methods used by scholars like Champollion to unlock the language of ancient Egypt. The script emphasizes the significance of this achievement in understanding the rich history and culture of this civilization.
💡Linguistic evolution
Linguistic evolution refers to the changes that languages undergo over time. The script discusses how the Egyptian language evolved from Old Egyptian to Middle Egyptian, Late Egyptian, Demotic, and finally to Coptic. It highlights the process of tracing these changes back to understand the pronunciation and structure of the language at different historical periods, which was crucial in deciphering the hieroglyphs.
💡Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic is a dialect of Arabic spoken in Egypt and is part of the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. The script mentions Egyptian Arabic as an example of how languages within the Afroasiatic family share common traits, which have been used to infer the sounds of ancient Egyptian. It also points out that the first attempts to relate hieroglyphs to Coptic sounds were made in Arabic by medieval scholars.
Highlights

Egyptian scribes wrote hieroglyphs for 3,500 years, from the dawn of history until they fell silent.

The last known hieroglyphic inscription was in a temple, marking the end of the ancient script's usage.

The popular narrative of the rediscovery of Ancient Egyptian involves a Frenchman, an Englishman, and the Rosetta Stone.

Champollion and Young raced to decipher the Rosetta Stone, with Champollion often credited with successfully unlocking its secrets.

Champollion's belief in Coptic as the continuous form of the Egyptian language was crucial to his decipherment efforts.

Coptic, written with an adapted Greek alphabet, provided the key to understanding the hieroglyphs through its similarity to ancient Egyptian.

The decipherment process involved comparing Coptic sounds and grammar to the hieroglyphs.

Major challenges in deciphering included determining the original sounds of consonants and the placement of missing vowels.

Egyptologists used 'internal reconstruction' to compare Egyptian documents over time to infer the original sounds of the language.

The comparison of the Egyptian language's evolution from Old to Middle to Late to Demotic and Coptic provided insights into its sound changes.

The peace treaty between Egypt and the Hittites provided a bilingual text that helped in reconstructing the pronunciation of ancient Egyptian words.

Linguistic evidence suggests that Egyptian evolved over time, dropping consonants and vowels in its progression from Old to Coptic.

The Omotic languages of Ethiopia share traits with Afroasiatic languages, providing clues about the sound of ancient Egyptian.

Arabic, a Semitic language, was used by medieval scholars to relate hieroglyphs to Coptic sounds, offering a linguistic connection within the Afroasiatic family.

By understanding the linguistic ancestors, relatives, and descendants of Egyptian, scholars could reconstruct the sounds of the hieroglyphs.

The word 'Aten' was reconstructed to be pronounced /jaːtin/, showcasing the application of linguistic reconstruction.

The name 'Egypt' was earlier pronounced /kuːmat/, and its language /ɾaˀnikuːmat/, illustrating the evolution of the language over time.

The journey to rediscover the sound of the longest written language on earth involved complex linguistic analysis and historical context.

Transcripts

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AncientEgyptLanguageDeciphermentChampollionRosettaStoneCopticLanguageLinguisticAnalysisHistoricalResearchEgyptianScriptAfroasiaticLanguages