CHAr. XIII. GODDESS OF LETTERS. 51 



It appears that the expression " conqueror of the 

 9 regions" signified "of the remaining three parts 

 of the world," Egypt itself completing the whole 

 number 12, and three being the sign of plurality 

 for each set, in the sense of " the regions." 



SOFH ?, SOFKH ?, SaKH ?. 



The name of this Goddess is still uncertain. It 

 appears to read Sof h * or Sof kh ; and these letters 

 are followed by demonstrative signs, which are 

 either intended to represent horns t, or human 

 tongues. If the latter, her name may possibly be 

 related to Sagi, " a tongue," and she may be the 

 abstract idea of the human speech. From her 

 employment, noting on the palm branch of Thoth 

 the years of human life, and from her title, " Lady 

 of Letters," she appears also to be the Goddess 

 of writing. She may perhaps be a deification of 

 "speech" or language. t But her hieroglyphics 

 read sof h or sofkh, and not sakh, c^.^, " writing; " 

 nor does the word sagi, ca.xi, "a tongue," answer 

 to the characters they present. Like Thoth, she 

 registers the events of man's life, and bears a palm- 

 branch with the emblems signifying halls of assem- 

 bly ; marking on it, at the same time, the years of 

 the King's life, or the number of jmnegyries at 

 which he had been proclaimed. 



* This may call to mind the Hebrew words sophar (sefer), "to 

 count" or "write ;" and Tzophim, "prophets," or "watchmen ;" the 

 Sofis of Persia ; or the Greek ao(pi.a, wisdom ; though without being 

 related to any one of them. 



-|- Perhaps connected with the cow's horns placed over her head. 



X Vide supra. Vol. I. (-^d Series) p. 392. 



