ꜥn

Egyptian

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /ɑːn/
  • Conventional anglicization: an

Etymology 1

From a form of ꜥnn (“to turn back”).

Adverb

1. (Late Egyptian) again, once more, anew
2. (Late Egyptian) back, to a previous condition or place
3. (Late Egyptian) furthermore, in addition
4. (Late Egyptian, negated) nor yet, nor
5. (Late Egyptian, negated) nevermore, never again

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜥn  

ꜥnw	ꜥnw	ꜥnw
	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]

Descendants

• Demotic: ꜥn, jn
  • Akhmimic Coptic: ⲁⲛ (an)
  • Bohairic Coptic: ⲟⲛ (on)
  • Fayyumic Coptic: ⲁⲛ (an)
  • Lycopolitan Coptic: ⲁⲛ (an)
  • Sahidic Coptic: ⲟⲛ (on)

Etymology 2

Noun

 m

1. writing tablet made of wood or metal [since the Middle Kingdom]

Inflection

Declension of ꜥn (masculine)

singular	ꜥn
dual	ꜥnwj
plural	ꜥnw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of ꜥn  

ꜥn	ꜥnj	ꜥnw	ꜥn	ꜥnw
[Middle Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[Greco-Roman Period]
			abbreviation

Etymology 3

Nominalized from the participle of ꜥnj (“to be beautiful, pleasant, kind”).

Noun

 m

1. kind, pleasant man

Inflection

Declension of ꜥn (masculine)

singular	ꜥn
dual	ꜥnwj
plural	ꜥnw

Etymology 4

Compare ꜥf (“there”) and ꜥꜣ (“here, there”), apparently paralleling the several series of demonstrative determiners with endings -n, -f, -ꜣ, for instance pn, pf, and pꜣ.

Adverb

1. (Neo-Middle Egyptian) here [18th Dynasty]

See also

Old Egyptian demonstratives

	determiners						pronouns1	adverbs
	singular		dual		plural		unmarked
	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
proximal to speaker	pn	tn	*jpnj	jptnj, jptntj	jpn	jptn	nn	—
distal	pf	tf	*jpfj	*jptfj, *jptftj	jpf	jptf	nf	—
proximal to spoken of	pj, pw, p	tj, tw	jpwj	jptwj, jptwtj	jpw	jptw, jptwt	nw	—
vocative	pꜣ	tꜣ	—	—	—	—	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ

¹ Unmarked for number and gender, but treated syntactically as masculine plurals when used with participles and relative forms, and as feminine singulars when referred to by resumptive pronouns.

Middle Egyptian demonstratives

	determiners and pronouns			adverbs
	singular		plural1
	masculine	feminine
proximal	pn	tn	nn	ꜥn
distal	pf, pfꜣ	tf, tfꜣ	nf, nfꜣ	ꜥf
‘copula’ and vocative	pw, pwy	tw, twy	nw	—
anaphoric	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ

¹ Joined by n(j) to nouns they modify.

Late Egyptian demonstratives and articles

	masculine	feminine	plural		adverb
pronoun	pꜣw				dj
determiners and pronouns	pꜣj	tꜣj	nꜣj
possessive determiners1	pꜣy	tꜣy	nꜣy
relational pronouns (‘possessive prefixes’)	p-n, pꜣ	t-nt, tꜣ	nꜣyw, nꜣ
definite articles	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ2
indefinite articles	wꜥ2		nhꜣy2

¹ Used with suffix pronouns.
² Originally joined by n(j) to nouns they modify; later without it.

References

• “ꜥn (lemma ID 38050)”, “ꜥn (lemma ID 38020)”, “ꜥn (lemma ID 38080)”, and “ꜥn (lemma ID 38000)”, in Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae‎, Corpus issue 18, Web app version 2.1.5, Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning by order of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils by order of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, 2004–26 July 2023
• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1926) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎, volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 187.11, 187.13–187.14, 189.8–189.16, 190.7
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 43
• Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 68–69