mꜣꜣ

Egyptian

Etymology

Compare with Arabic أَمَرَ (ʔamara, “to instruct, to show how or what to do”) and Akkadian 𒅆 (amārum, “to look at, to see, to learn by experience”).

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɑʔɑ/
  • Conventional anglicization: maa

Verb

 2ae gem.

1. (transitive) to look at, to see (+ m: as)
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 28–30:

     mꜣ.sn pt mꜣ.sn tꜣ mꜥkꜣ jb.sn r mꜣ(j)w

     (Whether) they saw sky or they saw land, their minds were more observant than lions.

   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 179–181:

     mꜣ wj r sꜣ sꜣḥ.j tꜣ r sꜣ mꜣ.j dpt.n.j

     See me after setting foot on land, after seeing what I’ve experienced!

Inflection

Conjugation of mꜣꜣ (irregular second geminate / 2ae gem. / II. gem.) — base stem: mꜣ, geminated stem: mꜣꜣ

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
mꜣꜣ8, mꜣ, mꜣn	mꜣꜣ	mꜣꜣt	mꜣꜣ, mꜣ	mꜣꜣ, mꜣ

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective2		periphrastic prospective2
mꜣꜣ, mꜣ	ḥr mꜣꜣ	m mꜣꜣ	r mꜣꜣ

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	passive	contingent
			aspect / mood	active	passive
perfect	mꜣ.n, mꜣꜣ.n	mꜣ	consecutive	mꜣ.jn	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
terminative	mꜣꜣt
perfective3	mꜣ, mꜣn	active + .tj1, .tw2	obligative1	mꜣꜣ.ḫr	active + .tj1, .tw2
imperfective	mꜣꜣ	active + .tj1, .tw2
prospective3	mꜣꜣ	mꜣꜣ	potentialis1	mꜣ.kꜣ	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
subjunctive	mꜣ, mꜣn	active + .tj1, .tw2

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms		participles
	active	passive	active	passive
perfect	mꜣ.n	active + .tj1, .tw2	—	—
perfective	mꜣ	active + .tj1, .tw2	mꜣ	mꜣ, mꜣw5, mꜣy5
imperfective	mꜣꜣ, mꜣꜣy, mꜣꜣw5	active + .tj1, .tw2	mꜣꜣ, mꜣꜣj6, mꜣꜣy6	mꜣꜣ, mꜣꜣw5
prospective	mꜣ, mꜣtj7	—	mꜣꜣtj4, mꜣꜣt4
Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective. Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. Only in the masculine singular. Only in the masculine. Only in the feminine. Not used before suffix pronouns.

Derived terms

• mꜣꜣt-ḥr-nfrw-rꜥ
• mꜣꜣt-ḥr-stẖ
• pr-mꜣ

Noun

 m

1. sight, vision
2. appearance, aspect
3. inspection, supervision, oversight
4. means of recognition

Inflection

Declension of mꜣꜣ (masculine)

singular	mꜣꜣ
dual	mꜣꜣwj
plural	mꜣꜣw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mꜣꜣ  

mꜣw

[New Kingdom]

References

• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1928) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1], volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 7.1–10.14
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 100
• Hannig, Rainer (1997) Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch: die Sprache der Pharaonen (2800–950 v. Chr.) (Hannig-Lexica; 1), second edition, Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, →ISBN, page 314
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 156, 164–165, 228, 249, 267–268, 314.
• Hoch, James (1997) Middle Egyptian Grammar, Mississauga: Benben Publications, →ISBN, page 41