nswt-bjtj

Egyptian

Etymology

nswt +‎ bjtj, literally ‘the belonging one of the sedge, the one of the bee’, or, more simply, ‘he of the sedge and the bee’, the sedge and the bee being emblems of Upper and Lower Egypt, respectively, according to the traditional etymology. Sometimes it is instead read as n(j) +‎ swt +‎ bjt, literally ‘the belonging one of the sedge and of the bee’, thus ultimately expressing the same meaning. In recent times the derivation and reading of nswt has been questioned; if it is not in fact derived from swt (“sedge”), then nswt-bjtj may just be a compound of two words meaning ‘king’.

Pronunciation

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /nɛsuːt biti/
- Conventional anglicization: nesut-biti

Noun

m

dual king of Upper and Lower Egypt; pharaoh
Conventionally written before the cartouche containing a king’s praenomen.

References

Allen, James (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, revised second edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN
Schenkel, Wolfgang (1986) “Das Wort für König (von Oberägypten)” in Göttinger Miszellen, 94, pp. 57-73
Sethe, Kurt (1911) “Das Wort für König von Oberägypten” in Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, vol. 42, issue 1-2

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