nꜣ

Egyptian

Pronunciation

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /nɑ/
- Conventional anglicization: na

Pronoun

anaphoric demonstrative pronoun

(Old Egyptian) Used for vocative reference
(Middle Egyptian) the aforementioned one, the said one
(Late Egyptian) the definite article; the
(Late Egyptian, with following noun) he of, this of, that of

Usage notes

This demonstrative is a pronoun, and so does not directly modify nouns. In Middle Egyptian it becomes used as a demonstrative modifying plural nouns. When used in this way, it precedes the noun, with the genitival adjective n(j) in between, e.g. "said feet" is nꜣ n(j) rdw (literally "the aforementioned one of feet").

In Middle Egyptian, this pronoun was somewhat colloquial; in Late Egyptian its force had weakened to that of a definite article.

Inflection

Old Egyptian demonstratives

	determiners						pronouns¹	adverbs
number	singular		dual		plural		unmarked
gender	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	unmarked
proximal	pn	tn, jtn	jpnj	jptnj	jpn	jptn	nn	—
distal	pf	tf	jpfj	jptfj	jpf	jptf	nf	—
proximal	pj, pw, py, p	tj, tw, jtw	jpwj	jptwj	jpw	jptw	nw	—
vocative	pꜣ	tꜣ	—	—	—	—	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ
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
number	singular		plural¹
gender	masculine	feminine	unmarked
proximal	pn	tn	nn	ꜥn
distal	pf, pfꜣ	tf, tfꜣ	nf, nfꜣ	ꜥf
‘copula’; vocative	pw, pwy	tw, twy	nw	—
anaphoric	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ
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 determiners (used with suffix pronouns)	pꜣy	tꜣy	nꜣy
relational pronouns (‘possessive prefixes’)	p-n, pꜣ	t-nt, tꜣ	nꜣyw, nꜣ
definite articles	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ¹
indefinite articles	wꜥ¹		nhꜣy¹
Originally joined by n(j) to nouns they modify; later without it.

Descendants

Demotic: nꜣ
- Coptic: ⲛ- (n-) (Sahidic, Fayyumic, Akhmimic, Lycopolitan), ⲛⲉ- (ne-) (Sahidic, Fayyumic, Lycopolitan), ⲛⲓ- (ni-) (Bohairic, Fayyumic)

References

Allen, James (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, revised second edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN
Junge, Friedrich (2005) Late Egyptian Grammar: An Introduction, second English edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, page 53
Faulkner, Raymond (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN
Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN

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