jptwj

Egyptian

Etymology

Dual form of tw.

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /iptuːi/
  • Conventional anglicization: ipetwi

Determiner

 f du proximal, later vocative demonstrative determiner

1. (Old Egyptian) these two
2. (Middle Egyptian, archaizing) O (vocative reference)

Usage notes

This demonstrative was originally a determiner but could later be used alone, like a pronoun. When used as a determiner it follows the noun it describes.

In Old Egyptian it would hypothetically form a contrastive pair with the demonstrative *jptfj, in which jptwj is proximal. However, in Old Egyptian texts both jptwj and *jptfj are only attested in written forms identical to those of the plural demonstratives jptw and jptf, so that the separate existence of the dual forms is a matter of inference rather than clear attestation.

The term’s use in Middle Egyptian texts is an archaism. However, this is the only context in which it can be found spelled in full and clearly distinct from the plural jptw.

Inflection

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.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jptwj  

jptw

References

• “jptwj (lemma ID 401158)”, 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, page 70.3
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 17
• Edel, Elmar (1955-1964) Altägyptische Grammatik, volume 1, Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, § 182 et seq., page 83 et seq.
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1929) The Plural and Dual in Old Egyptian, Bruxelles: Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth, § 62, pages 63–64