Customer Reviews

Middle Egyptian Grammar (SSEA Publication)

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Professor Hoch's Middle Egyptian Grammar gives clear and complete explanations, so necessary for home study when no one is available to answer questions. He simply leaves you with less questions. While I will still refer to Gardner or Allen for further or another perspective/explanation, I wish I had found this book first.

If you are learning middle egyptian on your own, this is a great book to have along with Allen or Gardner's books on the language. I've studied hieroglyphics on my own, and it was handicaped because I knew so little about grammar, english or otherwise. Gardner's book on egyptian was probably written for someone familiar with the study of languages (which is no criticism, it is a great book to learn from) and doesn't explain much about the grammer terms used. Allen's book does epxlain the grammer, and is also a great book for home study. BUT I would defiitely add Hoch to Gardner and or Allen--there is something so clear about his explanations, and his discussions about confusion in grammatical terms applied to Egyptian is a huge help. It is very hard as a self-taught beginner to know when I'm confused because I haven't mastered the material, and when I am confused because of the material itself. Hoch takes the time to discuss the underlying logic of the egyptian language, and any conflicts between that logic and the logic of grammatical terms that we apply to it. That was a huge help to me. For an amateur, I wouldn't use Hoch's book alone, as his material is a little less "see Jane run,"

If you have a real interest in Ancient Egyptian language, this is a great book. I've had to look up some linguistics-specific terms, but otherwise it's really interesting. This is a textbook, so it has to be read like one.

I'm a little bummed that the cover wasn't laminated, but that's a pretty small thing.

Overall, this is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn the Ancient Egyptian language.