Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/76

* HIEROGLYPHICS. 60 HIEROGLYPHICS. nieiint. The majority "f scrilie-s. however, use as lielps the so-oalli'd iletcrininativcs. For cx- aiiiple, they phice alter the sign Klin the hiero- thesc are shown in the aeeoinpanying illustra- tions. It is very easy to represent a man ^S" cr ^^ glyp '" 'h'Uise' n to inilieate that it means {romet), a woman JU (liimcl)- R"t taken -xvithin." and distinpiish the word •apprrjaeli' together mean 'mankind'; one repeated three times, 'men' or 'women.' A soUlier A^t"  >^y charaeterized hy his arms and costume; a cliief rm hy liis staff; a king hy the addition of the crown: a child ^ (Ar/iroe/l hy sucking its hy tlie addition of a pair of legs, indicating a (writing implc- verb of nintiun. Again ™ iiicnts) means 'writing.' 'write.' 'scrilM'.' hut !■> applying the proper determinatives, the writer can readily indicate which of these meaning- he wishes to convey. Hy placing after this sign the figure of a man he makes it clear that 'scribe" is intended, while the addition of a roll of papyrus linger. Animals can he figured to a large extent, also some plants, the parts of the human body, etc. But wool! (Klirl) can he represented only by a twig ^-^^ ; grain (i/of ) oy three grains %«% : water (iiioii) by wavy lines «iwvah From indications of this nature there is hut a step to symbolism. 'Hearing" (sotem) is ex- pressed by the ear of an ox ^g, while the human v:T means only 'ear'; 'weeping' (remy) by a weeping eye "7?^ : 'ilrinking' by a man drink- "ife' ^3) It'"" "■■'" ""*^ *'°^*'' "'o"^ suffice). 'Fighting battle' is symbolized by weapons 'going* by a pair of legs J : leturning' by an inversion A "f this sigii ; 'bringing' (ciiij) by a vessel, in combination with the sign fpr 'going' n : 'giving* {day) by an arm presenting a cake Q /I . 'Rain' can. of course, be easily represented by a sky with water falling from it I I i ; but the ideas 'night,' 'darkness,' must be sj-mbolizcd "TfT^i by a star hanging from the sky; 'cool' {qohh) is indicated by a water-sprink- . great manv words and ideas. "■'H however, cannot be represented at all, and here the writer surmounts the dilliculty by using the signs for homophonous words or for words of somewhat similar sound, exactly as such signs are emploved in our mo<U'rn rebus. For example Khun, khe'n, 'inside, in,' and kheny. 'to approach,' have no etymological connection whatever with the pictorial sign for 'hide,' 'skin' {khen) but the same picture is used for all three words. Thus many signs pass from the ideographic into the phonetic class, that is, tney merely represent sounds without regard to the meaning, and from word-signs they develop into syllabic signs of two consonants ( for example, the figure of the hide becomes the syllabic sign khn. representing any syllabic with the two consonants kh and n) ; a few signs finally obtain the value of single consonants and form the alphabet. The rebus system, however, would have led to manv obscurities. Some inscriptions, indeed, simplv use the sign for A/i» for all three words. and leave it to the reader to decide from the context whether 'skin,' 'in,' or 'approach' is in<licates that 'writing.' 'book,' is meant. These determinatives are not arbitrary, but are used in accordance with certain fixed principles. Thus all w(ir(i< for <|uadrupe(ls which cannot lie easily represented are written phonetically, and determined by i(A a |)iece of skin ; all names of persons are determined by the figure of a man or woman; all names of trees by a tree small plants by ^Jf ; drugs, sand, etc., by round grains o ; actions of the mouth (eating, speak- ing, etc.) ; or thought by ^JA ; violent action.'} by a man or an arm in the act of strik- ing {, I ; localities by a house, etc. To these determinatives belongs also the so-called car- touche (q.v. I or frame surrounding royal names. Perfectly analogous determinatives are found in Babylonian (where, however, they are rather sparingly employed), and in Chinese. A great many of the ideographs are l>oly- phonous. that is. they admit of more than one pronunciation; as. for example, the picture of a horse might he under>tood l)y an Englishman as standing for 'liorse.' 'steed.' 'mare.' To prevent such ambiguity, many signs receive what is called the phonetic lomplement. For example, the sign r—'i nin (originally representing a chessboard) is very rarely used alone: an n is generally placed after it to fix the pronunciation. There- fore, men, 'to remain.' is usually written /^^^«a i.e. the syllabic sign nin -f- the phonetic comple- ment n (not to he pronounced separately) + the determinative 'book, inilieating that the word belongs to the category of abstract ideas. In classical orthography, many signs are invariably followed by a phonetic complement. With some signs the phonetic complement precedes, while others have two or even three complements. For example, the word seHhem, "to lead,' is alway* written P^^^^Sr^ '' 'P*'0"stie comple- ment) : the word-sign -inhm -f »i (second phonet- ic complement ) + the determinative of a verb of motion. Thus arises a veri- complicated but quite regiilar orthography, which is of special service to the reader in that it enables him to