mr

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɛr/
  • Conventional anglicization: mer

Etymology 1

Highly disputed etymology. Hypotheses include:

• From Proto-Afro-Asiatic, cognate with Arabic [script needed] (ʔamar-at-, “heap of stones, mound, esp. as a way-marker”), Akkadian [script needed] (amartu, “dividing wall”), [script needed] (amaru, “pile of bricks”), Hebrew אָמִיר‎ (ʾāmīr, “treetop, mountain summit”).
• Metathesized from earlier *rm, from Proto-Afro-Asiatic, cognate with Proto-Semitic *rwm, *rym (“to be high”); compare Arabic [script needed] (raym-, “abundance, hill, tumulus, step”)
• From a possible Proto-Afro-Asiatic *m-r (“heap of stones”), cognate with Tashelhit i-miri (“heap of stones, wall of dry stone”), a-mra (“stone buttress of a terraced field”), Central Atlas Tamazight i-mr-an (“large half-buried stones that mark off property boundaries”), Mofu-Gudur mémeré (“low stone terrace wall”).
• Related to a Semitic root *m-w-r, as in Qatabanian [script needed] (mwrtn, “tower”), Arabic [script needed] (māra, “to come to a high place or plateau”).

Noun

 m

1. pyramid (monumental building) [from the Pyramid Texts through the Saite Period]
   • c. 1550 BCE, Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, problem 59:

     mr pr-m-ws n.f jmy m 12

     A pyramid, its height 12 [cubits]

2. (rare) heap of corpses [20th Dynasty]
   • c. 1180 BCE, Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu, Inscription of the Year 5, lines 35-36:

     ptrj bjn jm.w r qꜣ n(j) pt nw tꜣy.w wmt ḥr st pꜣ smꜣ.w st jrw m mrw ḥr pꜣ.w zꜣtw m tꜣ pḥtj n(j) nswt qn m ḥꜥw.f nb wꜥ sḫmtj mjtj mnṯw nswt-bjtj wsr-mꜣꜥt-rꜥ-mr(y)-jmn zꜣ-rꜥ rꜥ-ms-s(w)-ḥqꜣ-jwnw

     Behold, they were in badness to the height of the sky, as their thick crowd was collected upon the place of their slaughter, and they were made into corpse-heaps on their soil by the might of the king, valiant in his limbs, the only lord, powerful like Montu, Dual King Usermaatre-Meryamun, Son of Ra Ramesses, Ruler of Heliopolis.

Inflection

Declension of mr (masculine)

singular	mr
dual	mrwj
plural	mrw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mr  

mr	mr	mr	mr	mr	mr	mr
[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]
					abbreviation

Etymology 2

Possibly from a Proto-Afro-Asiatic *m-r (“river, channel”). Compare South Omotic *mir- (“river”), with reflexes including Aari mɨri (“river, stream”) and Dime mɪ́rɛ (“river”). A possible Semitic cognate is Sabaean [script needed] (mr, “part of an irrigation system”). Possible Cushitic cognates include Borana Oromo mērī (“watering trough”), Tsamai mīre (“pond”), and possible Chadic cognates include Fali mirə̂ (“river”), Muskum mìrà (“oxbow lake, marigot”).

Noun

 m

1. canal, ditch, waterway [since the Pyramid Texts]
   • c. 24th century BCE, Pyramid of King Unas, west wall of the main corridor, Pyramid Text spell 317, sections 4-5:

     jj.n wnjs r mrw.f jm(j)w jdb ꜣgb(w) mḥt wrt
     r st ḥtpw wꜣḏt sḫwt jmt ꜣḫt

     Unas has come to his canals at the shore of the waters of the great flood,
     to the place of peace with green fields in the place where the sun rises.

2. a pond or pool, especially an artifical one [since the Pyramid Texts]
3. metal libation bowl or basin
4. Misspelling of mw (“water”). [New Kingdom]

Usage notes

The distinction between the abbreviated mr (“canal, pond, bowl”) — or — and š (“pool, lake, bowl”) — or — is not always clear.

Inflection

Declension of mr (masculine)

singular	mr
dual	mrwj
plural	mrw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mr  

mr	mr	mr	mr	mr	mr	mr	mr
		[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[21st Dynasty]
					in papyri	in papyri	in papyri

Derived terms

Terms derived from mr

mr-wr ḥr mr.f

qrḥ mr

Etymology 3

From Proto-Afro-Asiatic. Cognate with Proto-Semitic *mir(Vʔ)- (“bull”): compare Akkadian [script needed] (mīrtu, “young cow”), [script needed] (mīru, “young bull”), Hebrew מְרִיא‎ (mərīʾ, “fatted steer”). Possible Cushitic cognates include Hadiyya mōr-â (“bull”), Mbugu ki-mole, ki-more (“ox, bull”), possible Omotic cognates include Wolaytta mārā (“young bull”), Yemsa omoru (“bull”), and possible Chadic cognates include Mafa maray (“sacrificial bull”), Mofu-Gudur maray (“fattened bull”), Mafa mari (“bull”).

Noun

 m

1. (fighting) bull [Middle Kingdom]

Inflection

Declension of mr (masculine)

singular	mr
dual	mrwj
plural	mrw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mr  

	E101
mry	mry

Derived terms

Terms derived from mr

mr-wr

mrt

Proper noun

 m

1. (rare) Abbreviation of mr-wr (“Mnevis”). [Greco-Roman Period]

Etymology 4

From Proto-Afro-Asiatic. Probable Berber cognates include Tazerwalt Tashelhit ta-märr-it (“pain, agony”), Tagargrent i-mur-ǝn (“labour pains”), and Kabyle u-mr-an (“sorrows”), a-mur (“colic, stomachache”), and a-mrir (“embarrassment, great difficulty”). Cushitic cognates include Oromo marar (“to be sick”), Baiso marni (“to be sad”), and Sidamo marar-s (“to be sick”). A likely Omotic cognate is Yemsa mer-o (“illness”).

Verb

 2-lit.

1. (intransitive) to be(come) ill, to be(come) sick or diseased
2. (intransitive) to suffer, to (come to) be in pain
3. (intransitive) to be(come) painful, to sting
4. (intransitive) to be(come) harsh or fierce

Inflection

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

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
mr	mrw, mr	mrt	mr, j.mr	mr, j.mr

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

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	contingent
		aspect / mood	active
perfect	mr.n	consecutive	mr.jn
terminative	mrt
perfective3	mr	obligative	mr.ḫr
imperfective	mr, j.mr1
prospective3	mr	potentialis	mr.kꜣ
subjunctive	mr, j.mr1

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms	participles
	active	active	passive
perfect	mr.n	—	—
perfective	mr	mr	mrr, mrrj6, mr2, mrw2 5, mry2 5
imperfective	j.mr1, mr, mry, mrw5	j.mr1, j.mrw1 5, mr, mrj6, mry6	mr, mrw5
prospective	mr, mrtj7	mrtj4, mrt4
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, plural .sn. Only in the masculine singular. Only in the masculine. Only in the feminine.

Derived terms

• mrt
• nꜥr-mr

Descendants

• Demotic: mr
  • Old Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩⲣ (mour)

Noun

 m

1. ailment
2. pain

Inflection

Declension of mr (masculine)

singular	mr
dual	mrwj
plural	mrw

References

• Erman, Adolf; Grapow, Hermann (1926-1961) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN
• Faulkner, Raymond (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN
• Takács, Gábor (1999-2008) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 361–372, 392–395
• Allen, James (2013) A New Concordance of the Pyramid Texts, volume III, Providence: Brown University, PT 317.4–5 (Pyr. 508a–508b), Unas
• Allen, James (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, revised second edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 213
• Hoch, James (1997) Middle Egyptian Grammar, Mississauga: Benben Publications, →ISBN, page 146