jw

See also: JW and jw3

Translingual

Symbol

jw

1. (international standards, obsolete) Former ISO 639-1 language code for Javanese.

   Synonym: jv (current)

Egyptian

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /iuː/
  • Conventional anglicization: iu

Particle

 proclitic

1. (Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian) asserts the reality of a following statement with a verb in the perfect, perfect passive, or imperfective, or else with an adverbial or adjectival predicate, probably serving as a realis modal particle; see usage notes
2. (Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian) introduces an adverbial clause with a pronominal subject; see usage notes
3. (chiefly Old Egyptian, rare, with a following bare noun phrase) there is, there are; introduces an independent existential clause
4. (Late Egyptian) introduces a subordinate circumstantial clause
5. (Late Egyptian) introduces a sentence in the third future

Usage notes

In Old and Middle Egyptian, this particle can stand at the beginning of adjectival, adverbial, and verbal sentences; it is followed by a nominal subject, a demonstrative pronoun, or an attached suffix pronoun. There is significant debate over what exactly it indicates in these stages of the language:

• According to Allen, it indicates that the statement in the sentence is presented as true at the time of the statement, in contrast to false statements and statements which are always or generally true. It occurs at the start of independent clauses, but never those verbal clauses beginning with an imperative, bare stative, perfective, prospective, subjunctive, biliteral suffixed (contingent), or emphatic form. It also occurs at the start of subordinate adverbial clauses if their subject is pronominal, but never if it is nominal.
• According to Loprieno, it is a ‘particle of initiality’ indicating that its sentence opens a new segment of discourse, with the semantic scope of an overt assertion of truth, and pragmatically relating the sentence to the speaker’s situation without necessarily implying direct involvement. However, in simple adverbial clauses with a pronominal subject, it can also serve as a semantically and syntactically neutral morpheme that only serves to carry an attached subject pronoun. In extremely rare cases, it can introduce the subject of an existential sentence consisting of just one element, an apparently archaic usage.
• According to Hoch, it indicates that the statement is one that the speaker wishes to present as a fact, and it only occurs in main clauses.
• It has frequently been characterized as an assertion particle, sometimes noting its apparent modal role marking realis statements.
• In the so-called Standard Theory, its role was often considered purely syntactic, marking independent clauses; this view is no longer common. Some scholars working in the frame of the Standard Theory have suggested that bare (proclitic-less) sentences following one introduced by jw are main clauses that become hypotactically linked to the initial sentence in a chain of discourse, with the particle conveying the syntactic or pragmatic ‘theme’ of the whole and functioning as a nominal element.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jw  

jw	j	jy	jyw	jꜣ	r
	[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[Late Period]	[Late Period]
	before suffix pronouns	before names	before names

Derived terms

• jwms

 

Descendants

• Coptic: ⲉ- (e-)
• ⇒ Coptic: ⲉⲧⲉ- (ete-)
• ⇒ Coptic: ⲣⲉϥ- (ref-)

Noun

 m

1. island
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 39–41:

     ꜥḥꜥ.n.j rḏj.kw r jw jn wꜣw n(j) wꜣḏ-wr

     Then I was put on an island by a wave of the sea.

2. (in the plural) regions, lands (+ genitive: of (the earth, Egypt, etc.)) [Greco-Roman Period]

Usage notes

In late writings this word becomes confused with jꜣt (“mound, lands, regions”) and is often written identically. Furthermore, in late usage this word comes to be used and written chiefly in the plural form.

Inflection

singular	jw
dual	jwwj
plural	jww

Declension of jw (masculine)

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jw  

jw	jw	jꜣ	jww	rww	rww	rww	jꜣww
		[Late Period]	[Late Period]	[chiefly Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]
			in the plural	in the plural	in the plural	in the plural	in the plural

Derived terms

• jww-ḥrjw-jb
• jw-m-jtrw
• jw-n-ꜣmw-m-sḫt-sjsj
• rww-ḏr-jꜣḫw

 

Descendants

• Bohairic Coptic: -ⲓ- (-i-) in ⲡⲓⲗⲁⲕϩ (pilakh)

Noun

 m

1. wrongdoing, misconduct, evil [since the Middle Kingdom]

   ― jw nṯr ― sin against a god

   ― jw n nṯr ― sin against a god

2. wrongness, injustice, error
3. misfortune; wrong or evil suffered

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jw  

jw	jw	ꜣw	ꜣw	ꜣw
	[18th Dynasty]	[Late Egyptian]	[Late Egyptian]	[Late Period]

Derived terms

• jwyt
• ẖrj-jw

 

Noun

 m

1. dog [Middle Kingdom to New Kingdom]

   Synonyms: jwjw, ṯzm

Inflection

singular	jw
dual	jwwj
plural	jww

Declension of jw (masculine)

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jw  

jw

[New Kingdom]

in hieratic

Derived terms

• jwjw

Verb

 2-lit.

1. (transitive) to sever, to cut off (something) (+ r: from (something else)) [since the Middle Kingdom]
2. (transitive) to sever, to cut through (something)

Inflection

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
jw	jww, jw	jwt	jw, j.jw	jw, j.jw

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective2		periphrastic prospective2
jw	ḥr jw	m jw	r jw

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	passive	contingent
			aspect / mood	active	passive
perfect	jw.n	jww, jw	consecutive	jw.jn	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
terminative	jwt
perfective3	jw	active + .tj1, .tw2	obligative1	jw.ḫr	active + .tj1, .tw2
imperfective	jw, j.jw1	active + .tj1, .tw2
prospective3	jw	jww	potentialis1	jw.kꜣ	active + .tj1, .tw2
		active + .tj1, .tw2
subjunctive	jw, j.jw1	active + .tj1, .tw2

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms		participles
	active	passive	active	passive
perfect	jw.n	active + .tj1, .tw2	—	—
perfective	jw	active + .tj1, .tw2	jw	jww, jwwj6, jw2, jww2 5, jwy2 5
imperfective	j.jw1, jw, jwy, jww5	active + .tj1, .tw2	j.jw1, j.jww1 5, jw, jwj6, jwy6	jw, jww5
prospective	jw, jwtj7	—	jwtj4, jwt4
Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective. Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. Only in the masculine singular. Only in the masculine. Only in the feminine.

Conjugation of jw (biliteral / 2-lit. / 2rad.) — base stem: jw, geminated stem: jww

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jw  

jw	jw
[Middle Kingdom]	[Late Period]
in hieratic

Adjective

1. perfective passive participle of jwj (“to leave boatless, to strand”): boatless

Usage notes

This participle is practically always used nominally to mean ‘boatless person’, ‘stranded person’, ‘the boatless’.

Inflection

	masculine	feminine
singular	jw, jwy	jwt, jwyt
dual	jwwj, jwywj	jwtj, jwytj
plural	jww, jwyw	jwwt1, jwt2, jwywt1, jwyt2
Archaic in Middle Egyptian when modifying a noun. From Middle Egyptian, this feminine singular form was generally used for the plural. In Late Egyptian, the masculine singular form was used with all nouns.

Declension of jw (perfective passive participle)

Verb

 2-lit.

1. (intransitive) to wail, to lament (+ n: for, over (someone)) [since the Coffin Texts]
2. (intransitive, with ḥr) to compain about (someone)

Inflection

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
jw	jww, jw	jwt	jw, j.jw	jw, j.jw

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective2		periphrastic prospective2
jw	ḥr jw	m jw	r jw

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	contingent
		aspect / mood	active
perfect	jw.n	consecutive	jw.jn
terminative	jwt
perfective3	jw	obligative1	jw.ḫr
imperfective	jw, j.jw1
prospective3	jw	potentialis1	jw.kꜣ
subjunctive	jw, j.jw1

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms	participles
	active	active	passive
perfect	jw.n	—	—
perfective	jw	jw	jww, jwwj6, jw2, jww2 5, jwy2 5
imperfective	j.jw1, jw, jwy, jww5	j.jw1, j.jww1 5, jw, jwj6, jwy6	jw, jww5
prospective	jw, jwtj7	jwtj4, jwt4
Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective. Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. Only in the masculine singular. Only in the masculine. Only in the feminine.

Conjugation of jw (biliteral / 2-lit. / 2rad.) — base stem: jw, geminated stem: jww

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jw  

jw

[Greco-Roman Period]

Noun

 m

1. (hapax) hunchback [Middle Kingdom]

References

• “jw (lemma ID 21881)”, “jw (lemma ID 21940)”, “jw (lemma ID 21990)”, “jw (lemma ID 21970)”, “jw (lemma ID 21960)”, “jw.w (lemma ID 400636)”, “jw (lemma ID 22000)”, and “jw (lemma ID 21900)”, 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 5, 42.12–43.11, 47.4–47.11, 47.13, 48.1–48.3, 48.5–48.10, 48.17–48.19
• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1928) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎, volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 408.4–408.10
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, pages 11–12
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 114, 132, 193, 210, 317.
• Hoch, James (1997) Middle Egyptian Grammar, Mississauga: Benben Publications, →ISBN, pages 11–12, 146
• Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 162–168
• Junge, Friedrich (2005) Late Egyptian Grammar: An Introduction, second English edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, pages 110, 122
• Uljas, Sami (2007) The Modal System of Earlier Egyptian Complement Clauses: A Study in Pragmatics in a Dead Language, page 23–24
• Oréal, Elsa (2022) “The negative existential cycle in Ancient Egyptian” in Ljuba Veselinova & Arja Hamari (eds.), The Negative Existential Cycle, Berlin: Language Science Press, pages 197–230