Customer Reviews

Egyptian Grammar (Dictionary)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As the student (or aspiring sesh-per-ankh) may have judged by the price, this is meant to be a college textbook. On the bright side, don't worry about backorders-- a fourth edition is on its way for next semester to provide the necessary kickbacks for the professors.

Where was I? Ah-- I own quite a few books on hieroglyphics, but this is truly the only one I would recommend to a fellow aspiring scholar. Other books are either impossible to understand or treat the student like a complete idiot while providing little useful information. This covers everything from sentence structure, to developing a proper handwriting style (they are sacred symbols, afterall), to (most importantly) exercises which emerse the student into the language gradually. And, thankfully, this book has the most complete sign lists, glossaries, and indexes I have seen.

Learning to read hieroglyphics is, of course, no easy task (I myself have just scratched the surface). With variations in the language starting from near-antedeluvian times, I would imagine it is much like a foreigner trying to learn all the idiosyncrasies of English merely by reading a book-- only with an alphabet consisting of more than 6,000 characters!

This is the book that the serious student should purchase. It is also the only one you will need.

When I was a little girl I wanted to learn Egyptian hieroglyphics in the worst way. In 1970 I had that opportunity, and I've always treasured the experience. Gardiner's grammar was the book we used, and it's still one of the most seminal texts on the subject. It includes gradually more complex grammar and exercises that train the student to transliterate and translate from the Egyptian to English and from English into Egyptian. For the professional, or the amateur enthusiast, sidebars give additional information on unusual word forms and make textual references to epigraphic data/research to be found in journal sources, most particularly the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. The appendicies include extensive sign lists in catagorical form that are easy to use. They also include a fairly extensive vocabulary which, along with Faulkner's Dictionary, makes a useful resource for translating the more common texts. This is no small amount of work, however, the volume is several hundred pages long and gets into some very arcane phrases and usages. The person more intrigued than enthused by heiroglyps should probably look for a book called Egyptian Hieroglyphics by Patrick F. O'Mara. For the person who really gets into it, I'd suggest the book Middle Egyptian Stories by Aylward M. Blackman, a truely delightful book of short stories in hieroglyphic form.

Sir Alan's work is "the book" for any interestedperson. It's a milestone not only in the study of Egyptian language,but in modern philology. Maybe the style is old looking, but good language is understandable, no matter when it was written. Its "antiquate style", makes it even more interesting to be read. To me, it was easy to read even when, as a hi school student, I've seen a copy in Venice's State library. Thanks to Gardiner's book I've started my egyptological studies. It was in 1974 and I was 16 years old. It's an expensive book, but each page is worth its price. A necessary complement to the Grammar is "Egypt of the Pharaohs - an introduction", where Sir Alan guides us through ancient egyptian history, always under some linguistical and philological point of view. I don't exaggerate if I say that who owns this book owns a little bibliographical and cultural monument.

I actually learned hieroglyphs beginning with a different text, but then the course quickly graduated to Gardiner's text for those pursing historical studies in earnest, at the University of London in the 1980s. I have assembled a collection of more accessible books on how to learn hieroglyphs as refreshers (four such other texts, each of which has merits) but `Egyptian Grammar' by Gardiner remains the standard bearer of hieroglyph study.

If you are truly interested in learning Egyptian hieroglyphs for an upcoming trip to Egypt or to visit a museum with a collection (I amazed a friend once by being able to read an inscription at the museum; I confessed that of the hundreds of 'paragraphs' of hieroglyphs in the collection, that that was one of only two I could decipher without my notebook), this text might not be the first choice. However, if you are serious about studying hieroglyphs and think it might become a lifelong avocation or even professional study, this is the text to get.

Now in its third edition, the Gardiner text has been continually updated since its first publication in 1927 (the printing I have is from 1978). It consists of 33 lessons, each of which covers a particular facet of grammar, followed by a section on vocabulary and exercises. There are also several additional pieces, Excursus A, B and C, which cover historical information such as calendrical studies, funerary rites, and royal speech and address. The appendices cover vocalisation (Middle Egyptian), proper names, extensive lists of hieroglyph symbols and meanings (nearly 100 pages of such), and vocabulary arranged in both Egyptian/English and English/Egyptian formats.

All that is needed for the language is covered in this text. The vocabulary follows interesting patterns, as does grammar and sentence structure, whichh can vary in ways similar to the direction of the writing. The pattern of hieroglyphs is variable. Generally, you always want to 'read into the face', i.e., the picto-glyphs will be facing the direction from which to start -- more often right to left than left to right, and columns go top to bottom. There are no punctuation marks and no word breaks -- this can make meanings hard to decipher.

Consider the example:

IAMNOWHERE
which could be broken into
I AM NOW HERE
or
I AM NOWHERE
and in this case, context might not help provide which meaning is the true one. Or perhaps the author is poetical and sees the trouble of distinction and means that trouble to be present.

No wonder hieroglyphs are hard!

This is a heavy, academic text. It is not always user-friendly. The book assumes a high level of comfort with grammar and linguistic construction not only of English but of other languages as well. The student is introduced to transliteration early in the text, but the lessons continue using both picto-characters and transliterations throughout the entire volume.

Of course, the Gardiner (3rd edition) text is by far the best academic and research tome (600+ pages), but hardly meant for the popular press. Look for this when beginning a doctorate or M.Phil. in Egyptology or Linguistics of the ancient world.

If you're truly interested in learning how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs and have already bought and read one of the many "How To" beginners books currently being published, you've no doubt realized how limited the scope of your purchase is. You've been taken to the precipice, shown the wisdom of the ages, only to find out that, just when things were getting interesting, the story ends.

Perhaps, if you've followed my misguided steps while surfing your new-found wave of enthusiasm, you further indulged your need for immediate gratification by purchasing the hefty, two-volume Egyptian dictionary set by Budge. After you've lovingly brushed off the dust and handed over your discretionary income for the next month, you realize that you're acting on impulse but rationalize your post-purchase cognitive dissonance by assuring yourself that "they wouldn't still be publishing this work after all these years if it wasn't any good, right?" Of course, a week later while cruising the net, your bubble bursts as you realize that everybody who's anybody in the world of Egyptology is warning you to "Beware of Budge".

If this in any way resembles you and your desire to learn this enigmatic language from the past still burns bright, do yourself a tremendous favor and buy this book! Yes, relative to what you've purchased so far, Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar is expensive and, unless you want to give up your next paycheck for shipping charges, it will take a week or two to arrive. I promise you, hand-on-heart, that it will be worth every pfennig of your investment and well worth the wait. After only the first couple hours (which will pass like minutes) you'll realize how very limited everything else you've read really is. After a couple weeks, you will be able to figure out for yourself why our more learned colleagues encourage us to take anything from Budge with a grain of salt.

At the time of writing this endorsement (while factual, I make no pretense of being objective), I've owned Egyptian Grammar for three months. Applying myself moderately (I have a wife, child, four cats and a day job - none of which tolerate being ignored), I've already achieved a surprising level of competence at transliteration (converting hieroglyphs into phonetic Egyptian) without need of a reference. While happy with my progress to date, I've not yet succumbed to delusions of adequacy. I still have a long path to walk and must rely heavily upon Mr. Gardiner for translating all but the simplest of passages.

As I'm sure you've already guessed, I am giving this book a five-star rating. Is Egyptian Grammar perfect? No. The wonderful thing about Egyptology is that with every passing year, we learn more about this fascinating culture. As with any material in print, there's a level of currency missing from its pages. Perhaps a more relevant question to pose would be, "Is there anything out there that I can buy that's better than this book by Gardiner?" I don't think so. If there is, it's either not currently being published or not available in English. Either way, I've yet to discover it.

Formerly I was mainly familiar with Hieroglyph of the Ptolemic Period and needed more information for a project. Sir Alan H. Gardiner's Text Book not only filled this needed, but increased my interest in pursuing the subject even more comprehensively than I have had before. At my age (74) this keeps my mind active and gives another purpose to my life.
I feel this volumn is well worth the cost of acquirement and is an excellent addition to my library.

This book (which I cut my teeth on over 30 years ago), remains the standard text for students of Early-Middle Kingdom Hieroglyphics. Certainly not for the faint-of-heart-- but Gardiner makes a rather complicated subject _much_ easier to deal with. This, with Faulkner's Dictionary, should be in any Egyptologist's Library.

I think this is the ultimate textbook for any beginning, intermediate, or advanced Egyptologist because it is so detailed and thorough. I couldn't possibly wish for anything more in an Egyptian textbook. I've only read up to page 190. I have been studying Egyptian since 1996 when I first borrowed Mercer's handbook, but since I got this book just over ten weeks ago I have learned more about the Egyptian language than I ever learned before. I can't wait to finish the book.

Gardiner's book is the sine qua non for learning ancient Egyptian. Though somewhat dated, no other book is quite as exhaustive and most if not all professional Egyptologists have learned ancient Egyptian from this book. Although the book was originally written for the rank beginner, Gardiner assumes his readers are not idiots and it pays to know something of grammar, preferably some previous knowledge in an inflected language like Latin or Greek, or perhaps even some knowledge of linguistics, before taking the plunge. Students who aren't serious should stay away since the book will be quite worthless to dilettantes. This book, along with Faulker's "Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian", are the core for English speaking students who wish to master Middle Egyptian.

Not your average holiday book. Initially printed in 1929,the book starts with an introduction to the ancient Egyptian language in the form of heiroglyphics. The lessons begin very simply and each subsequent one becomes more difficult,although there is plenty of assistance with vocabulary and a dictionary at the end of the book to help. It requires plenty of time to work through and a lot of effort on the reader's part but it is well worth the trials and tribulations. One definately learns a lot through this excellent tome