N-red crown (n hieroglyph)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 1 Red Crown, Deshret 2 also, vertical "N" in hieroglyphs |
||
|
The ancient Egyptian Red Crown, the Deshret crown, is one of the oldest language hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt. It is used on a famous Narmer Palette of Pharaoh Narmer as the "Red Crown of the Delta", the Delta being Lower Egypt.
Later use of the Red Crown came to be as the vertical letter "n", a phonogram, versus the horizontal letter 'n'. Both are prepostiional equivalents, with the horizontal letter n, the N-water ripple (n hieroglyph) being more common, as well as more common to form parts of Egyptian language words requiring the phonogram 'n'.
Contents |
[edit] Language usage of vertical "n"-the Red Crown
| Deshret, Red Crown (crown as determinative) in hieroglyphs |
||||
|
The first usage of the Red Crown was in iconography as the symbol for Lower Egypt with the Nile Delta. Later it came to be used in the Egyptian language as a vertical form usage for letter "n" as a preposition. It became functional in running hieroglyphic texts, where either the horizontal or vertical form preposition satisfied space requirements.
The Red Crown is also used as a determinative, most notably in the word for deshret. It is also used in other words or names of gods.
[edit] Rosetta Stone usage
In the 198 BC Rosetta Stone, the 'Red Crown' as hieroglyph has the usage mostly of the vertical form of the preposition "n". In running text, word endings are not always at the end of hieroglyph blocks; when they are at the end, a simple transition to start the next block is a vertical separater, in this case the preposition, vertical n, (thus a space saver).
Since the start of the next hieroglyphic block could also be started with a horizontal "n" at the bottom of the previous block, it should be thought that the vertical "n" is also chosen for a visual effect; in other words, it visually spreads out the running text of words, instead of piling horizontal prepositions in a more tight text. Visually it is also a hieroglyph that takes up more 'space'-(versus a straight-line type for the horizontal water ripple); so it may have a dual purpose of a less compact text, and a better segue-transition to the next words.
The Red Crown hieroglyph is used 35 times in the Rosetta Stone; only 4 times is it used as a non-preposition. It averages once per line usage in the 36 line Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy V)-(Rosetta Stone).
[edit] Iconography of the Red Crown
One of the first uses in iconography of the Red Crown is for Pharaoh Narmer, on his famous Narmer Palette. Throughout wall scenes, steles, tomb reliefs, papyrus, and representation of gods-as-pharaoh, either the Red Crown, White Crown, Pschent-crown, etc. are used.
A painted ostracon from the Ramesside Period is located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ostracons were often used as a 'trial piece'; some ostracons were used as individual expressions, and their purpose, and usage often only guesswork.
 The Red Crown |
 'Painted' ostracon using the Red crown |
 Close-up of Narmer Palette, Pharaoh Narmer with crown |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Budge. An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, E.A.Wallace Budge, (Dover Publications), c 1978, (c 1920), Dover edition, 1978. (In two volumes) (softcover, ISBN 0-486-23615-3)
- Budge. The Rosetta Stone, E.A.Wallace Budge, (Dover Publications), c 1929, Dover edition(unabridged), 1989. (softcover, ISBN 0-486-26163-8)
