112 Fragments on Egyptian Literature. 



the mystic titles, or prcEnomens, of all the kings, who were thus 

 entitled, commenced. 



I am not sure whether the crosier is generally admitted to 

 be a character for God ; I am satisfied, however, that it is so. 

 It frequently occurs in the titles of kings, accompanied by some 

 symbol, simple or compound, which stands for an epithet, or 

 a combination of epithets, such as good, just, warlike, &c. 

 For example, the sovereign, the cover of whose sarcophagus is 

 at Cambridge, is called " Rameses, the Warlike God." 



Either of these characters (the hatchet and the crosier) fol- 

 lowed by a semicircle and an oblique oval, (a group, which 

 Dr. Young pointed out as characteristic of the feminine gen- 

 der,) or by a semicircle only, forms the phonetic word, OUTHiS 

 or OUTH, which signifies *' a Goddess." In this instance, 

 and probably in the greater number of native words, the femi- 

 nine characteristics were sounded, a short vowel being supplied 

 between the two letters ; but in other cases, especially, as we 

 may suppose in foreign proper names, they are pleonastic. 



The sitting figure, representing a God or a Goddess, which is 

 generally subjoined to the phonetic name of a divinity, is in 

 most cases pleonastic, so far, I mean, as respects the pronun- 

 ciation. Sometimes, however, it is required in order to com- 

 plete the name, and must then be read OU, OUTH, or 

 OUTHiS. An instance of this will be given in the next frag- 

 ment ; another is the following. The name of the deified 

 mother of the defunct, who occupied Sir T. Henniker's sarco- 

 phagus, is represented hieroglyphically, if Mr. Salt's plate be 

 correct, by the three letters PH, I and L, followed by the figure 

 of the Goddess Athor. It appears, from the Greek inscription, 

 that her name was in the genitive case (^iXourof, which would 

 come, according to the Alexandrian dialect, from a nominative 

 (piXovT, as well as from (^iKov^. I am inclined to think that the 

 former was her true name, and that the figure of the Goddess 

 is in this instance to be sounded OUT. 



I will only remark farther, that, although the hatchet is to 

 all intents and purposes a letter, and as such has the same 

 power as the lituus or quails it appears to be only used in words 

 connected with religion. It is used occasionally as the first 

 letter of the word OUeB, " a priest," and as the middle letter 

 of the word MOUTH, a mother, when applied to a Goddess. 



