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Pragments on Egyptian Literature. 



i. Egyptian word for God, Among the hieroglyphical 

 characters whose meaning was first discovered by the late 

 lamented Dr. Young, is the hatchet or battle-axe, which he in- 

 terpreted *' God," and read " Nout," a Coptic word of similar 

 signification ; he, of course, considered the character as ideo- 

 graphic or symbolic. In this he has been closely followed by 

 M. ChampoUion, who says of the hatchet — '^ Noute dieu, carac- 

 t^re symbolique." I agree with these gentlemen as to the 

 signification of the character, which, when it stands alone, 

 beyond all controversy signifies God. I have observed, how- 

 ever, that, when combined with other characters, it is often de- 

 cidedly phonetic, representing the vowel O, or the diphthong 

 OU ; and I conclude that it was by this simple monosyllable, 

 and not by the Nout or Noute of the Coptic manuscripts, that 

 the ancient Egyptians expressed the idea of ** God." In fact, 

 the Coptic word would appear to be a derivative from the Egyp- 

 tian one. It seems to have properly, or, at least, originally 

 denoted the adjective *^ divine," not the substantive *• God." 

 In this sense it occurs on the Rosetta Stone, in the last line of 

 the hieroglyphic text. Where it is said that the decrees shall 

 be engraved in sacred characters, I read the adjective employ- 

 ed phonetically — NOUT, that is, ** divine." 



This old Egyptian word O, or OU, forms a part of several 

 proper names, which are preserved in Greek characters ; it is 

 represented in them by o, co, or ou, with the article w or (p some- 

 times prefixed. Thus, in Apcuripis, hpitny^pccms ^ and 2e/x(f)o:yx- 

 pcLlr^Sy the syllables &;, tto, and (poy signify " God," or ** the 

 God." I will not enter at present upon an explanation of the 

 remaining parts of these words ; suffice it to say, that the 

 meaning assigned to these syllables is not a mere conjecture. 

 We have a compound similar to these in the proper name, Sem- 

 po-eris, deciphered by Dr. Young from the Enchorial MSS. 

 of Mr. Grey {Quart. Journ., JV. S., I. 402). Another com- 

 pound word, in which this element is found, is the well-known 

 title of the ancient Egyptian kings, of which so many inter- 

 pretations have been given. I have no hesitation in resolving 

 it into the elements Pha-Ra-0, that is, **The Sun God." It 

 is the enunciation of that symbol, the solar disc, with which 



