Nefer
{{Short description|Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for perfect/complete}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2008}}
{{Infobox hieroglyphs
|name ={{center|
|name explanation =Nefer
nfr
Good/Beautiful
|}}
The Egyptian hieroglyph {{lang|egy|𓄤}} serves as a phonogram representing the triliteral consonant sequence {{lang|egy-Latn|nfr}}, and appears in Gardiner's sign list as number F35.{{cite book | last = Allen | first = James P. | title = Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of the Hieroglyphs | edition = Third | date = 2014 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | p=34, 478}} It appears in the Egyptian word for "perfect, complete" (with the extended meanings of "good, pleasant, well, beautiful"),{{sfn | Allen | 2014 | p=522}} which has a reconstructed pronunciation of {{IPA|egy|naːfir|}} according to Loprieno.{{cite book | last = Loprieno | first = Antonio | title = Ancient Egyptian: A linguistic introduction | publisher = Cambridge University Press | date = 1995 | p = 87 }} The hieroglyph has a conventional Egyptological vocalization of {{lang|egy-Latn|nefer}}.
Form and appearance
The triliteral Egyptian hieroglyph F35 ('nfr') has sometimes been explained as a representation of a lute; however, Egyptologists today no longer consider this hypothesis likely. Rather than a lute, the hieroglyph is actually a representation of the heart and trachea. It originally may have been the esophagus and heart. The striations of the windpipe only appear in the hieroglyph following the Old Kingdom of Egypt. The lower part of the sign has always clearly been the heart, for the markings clearly follow the form of a sheep's heart.{{cite web|url=http://www.egyptianmyths.net/nefer.htm|title=Ancient Egypt: the Mythology - Nefer (Beauty)|website=www.egyptianmyths.net}}
Image:Nefertiabet name.png|Name of Nefertiabet from the Stele of Nefertiabet-E 15591, 26th century BC, with nefer hieroglyph on right
Image:Nefer Amulet MET 26.7.1095 front.nk.jpg|Nefer amulet, 14th century BC
Image:Ring Inscribed with the Hieroglyphs Nefer Maat MET 11.215.97 top.jpg|Ring, 14th century BC, with nefer hieroglyph on right
Image:Egypte louvre 077 cartouche.jpg|Cartouche amulet, 11th-10th century BC, with nefer hieroglyph on the center left
Image:Karnak inscription nefer.png|Inscription of Shoshenq I at Karnak, 10th century BC, with nefer hieroglyph on the center left
Image:Hieratic nefer.png|Hieratic form of nefer hieroglyph from 10th-11th dynasties
Image:Demotic nfr.png|Demotic form of the nefer hieroglyph
Use
The use of the hieroglyph {{lang|egy-Latn|nfr}} in the word for "good, beautiful" is attested in Old Egyptian in the Pyramid Text of Unas, where it could appear alone to represent the word, or with phonetic complements 𓂋 or 𓆑𓂋.{{cite book | last = Allen | first = James P. | title = A Grammar of the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts: Volume 1: Unis | publisher = Eisenbrauns | date = 2017 | p=241}}
With this meaning, it was incorporated into many names in Ancient Egypt. Examples include Nefertiti, Nefertari, and Neferhotep.
Some scholars suggest that it was used in ancient Egyptian construction where {{lang|egy-Latn|nfrw}} was used to denote 'level zero' of a building and in accounting where {{lang|egy-Latn|nfr}} would refer to a zero balance.{{Cite journal|last=Lumpkin|first=Beatrice|date=1 March 2002|title=Mathematics Used in Egyptian Construction and Bookkeeping|journal=Mathematical Intelligencer|volume=24|issue=2|pages=20–23|doi=10.1007/BF03024613|s2cid=120648746 }} This last usage used the hieroglyph {{lang|egy|𓄤}} alone as an abbreviation for {{lang|egy-Latn|nfrw}} "depletion".{{sfn | Allen | 2014 | p=124}}
The hieroglyph was also used in a particle {{lang|egy-Latn|nfr}} meaning "not at all, not even" infrequently in Middle Egyptian.{{sfn | Allen | 2014 | p=216}}
See also
References
- [http://www.egyptianmyths.net/nefer.htm Ancient Egypt: the Mythology - Nefer (Beauty)]
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Category:Egyptian hieroglyphs: parts of mammals
Category:Ancient Egyptian words and phrases
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