66 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [apRIL 13, 



"food," T '^ "a flower," 1 ^ "a star," T | "a door," 



all pronounced alike. Also ^ ^ "a tish," ^ /fT 

 "to weep," both pronounced re7n\ J| j t^ " a leopard," 



J 



' ^ "the god of the toilet," J |' ^^ "to depart," 



J P £ I "an image," J ^ fi "a flame," J [ 1? 

 " a vessel for holding ointment,''' all pronounced hes. 



Some other examples to point out the force of the determina- 



tives, are : ^_^ ( ^1 sefZ " to speak," ^ ^) a "ahl oh!" 



7/?.(5?' " to love," 1^1 ^ <"?'' "ascribe," (the first character 



representing the reed, inkstand, ruler and paint-box). 



j^5^ 



(111 " to see," 



III ad " dew," .^^:^ "T^ kek " night," 



\\\\^ ^ 7)ni! " chariot," _^ |' ® ^ni w^ea; " boat," 



I 



■^[^^ mdxa "balance 

 " ^^^ mih " sold." 



,"JJ 



•>^# 



heb " bracelet 



of gold,' o o o 



While the Egyptian language was not changed in the least, 

 still in Ptolemaic times we find a peculiar orthography brought 

 about by inventing signs of a very fantastic character (such as 



^^ ^ 



), by giving some characters 

 different pronunciations, and above all by making plentiful use 

 of ideographs (with pronunciation !). A description of the in- 

 terpretation of such texts, which are very difficult to solve, 

 would require too much space. One example may suffice. 



