Customer Reviews

Egyptian Hieroglyphic Grammar: With Vocabularies, Exercises, Chrestomathy (A First-Reader, Sign-List&Glossary)

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As an Egyptologist I add to my library regularly and I am always looking for a good hieroglyph workbook to improve my translation skills. This one is based upon extracts from Wallis Budge's work and was actually assembled in 1927. Since that time the approach in transliterating and translating hieroglyphs has evolved considerably and I would not recommend this publication for anyone especially a beginner since they will be sent off on the wrong track from the very beginning. Budge's work was seminal to be sure but is now very dated. An alternate excellent publication would be "How to read Egyptian Hieroglyphics" by Mark Colier augmented with other publications to enlarge the sign resources. Collier's book will set you to translating immediately in the style now taught.

There is no other source I know of that has so many glyphs PLUS THEIR MEANING. I have used this and the other volume that goes with it for myriads of translation problems.

I gathered from the book's description that this might finally be the one to offer easy lessons for learning hieroglyphics quickly-- such a thing is impossible, but I don't stop looking. It is a good book for easy reference for the major signs and their meanings, though it is far from complete. The lessons, in my opinion, are not good, and other sources must often be used to translate the exercises at the end of each lesson. The basic pronunciation key in front is not only inacurate so far as naming the objects depicted in the hieroglyphs, but Mercer seems to expect the reader to learn Hebrew and Arabic in order to properly pronounce them. (I also disagree with his writing of hieroglyphs in shorthand, but that's beside the point.) On the up side, there are some nice brain-busting exercises at the end of the book where the reader must decipher actual Egyptian texts, though I don't see how one could using only this book's instruction. It's value is not lost, though, as it does make a handy and convenient guide (184 pgs) for the more experienced student.

Be aware that this text is exactly what its title says it is: a grammar. The text is terse and to the point - out of the book's 184 pages, only the first 86 actually contain English text. The rest are the selection of Egyptian readings (or "Chrestomathy" as he calls it) and the sign list.

Furthermore, the copies printed by Ares are exact duplicates of the original edition (1926, London). When this was written, it was still a fairly safe assumption that anyone reading it had already studied Latin and probably Greek. As a result, you will find this rough going if you're not already familiar with grammatical terms. I had some Latin and Anglo-Saxon before I was assigned this book as an introductory text. Most of my classmates did not have that background. I learned a good deal from this book; they, mostly, did not.

In short, if you don't know what a "dual pronoun" is, you need a newer, friendlier book. I have some recommendations.

For a comprehensive introductory textbook aimed at those with a serious interest in mastering Middle Egyptian, try "Middle Egyptian: an introduction to the language and culture of hieroglyphs" by James P. Allen. If your interest is more casual, you may find "How To Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs" by Mark Collier and Bill Manley helpful. Both base their examples on texts found in museum pieces.

Alan Gardiner's "Egyptian Grammar" is still fairly comprehensive, but decidedly dated. Avoid anything by E.A.W. Budge - he published prolifically, but also sloppily. There are a great many errors in Budge's work, which will cause you no end of headaches if you try and use his texts as study guides.

Lastly, for a good dictionary try "A Concise Dictionary of Middle English" by Raymond Faulkner. Note that this book is handwritten lecture notes in published form, so it can be hard to read. The English index was published as a separate volume, the "English-Egyptian index of Faulkner's Concise dictionary of Middle Egyptian" by David Shennum. These two are expensive; refer to them at a library if you can.

This is a very good book with a lot of excercises in it. The sign list is big and it is very good except for if you don't know what the picture you are looking for is a picture of. It's my favorite book about hieroglyphics!