Overview

This is a unique work in the field of Egyptian Hieroglyphic Decipherment. The author proposes with much evidence that the preferred language to use as a model for Egyptian hieroglyphic decipherment is Ancient Biblical Hebrew. There is a brief treatment of how the standard decipherment of Egyptian had gotten off track, discussed in the Preface, and at the beginning of chapter 2. Chapter 2 presents 11 methods of hieroglyphic decipherment, with examples. After studying this work you will be able to read many words and phrases in the ancient hieroglyphic writing. A small knowledge of Biblical Hebrew would be useful as a prerequisite, but is not necessary; the basics of Biblical Hebrew are covered. The author finds that the discovery of paradigms is the basis for proof in many areas of historical linguistics and decipherment. It is enlightening to see many proposed hieroglyphic words match Ancient Hebrew words, and these are found in a chapter on translations of Egyptian texts, a chapter listing hieroglyphic words deciphered, and also in chapter 2. The chapter on word derivation (Ancient Hebrew morphology) is intriguing, where it seems both Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Hebrew had a highly ordered and regular morphology. This is most likely the only book that shows in a more detailed fashion how to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, while showing how you can also do this work. The work is often not easy but the process of making discoveries and reading ancient texts is very exciting and fulfilling at the same time. In addition to the main subject chapters, this book also includes phonetic tables, a hieroglyph index, Coptic word list, Ancient Biblical Hebrew glossary, a chapter on proposed terminology for the historical linguistic subject of etymology, a chapter on sound-symbolism and Egyptian symbolism, and a section with questions and answers. Hieroglyphs are found mostly in chapter 2, chapter 3, and the hieroglyph index. In the chapter on more lengthily texts and translations, you may have to obtain one of the books listed to compare the visual text with the translations for that book; 6 books are treated in that chapter, including texts from Nefertari's tomb, texts from the pyramid tomb of Unas, and many others. But in most books on Egyptian art or Egyptology you will find many texts and cartouches which are similar, so that you can begin your own list of translations.

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9781491271445

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Author Information

David Leonardi holds an Engineering degree and does research in the fields of Historical Linguistics, Egyptology, Ancient Hebrew, and Philosophy, including the Philosophy of Science. He is also the author of Discovering Ancient Biblical Hebrew Word Formation , 2010.

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