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Royal names in cartouches provided a clue. The Rosetta Stone provided the spelling of the name Ptolemy in Greek, Hieratic, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Other carto
by wl 5y ago
Royal names in cartouches provided a clue. The Rosetta Stone provided the spelling of the name Ptolemy in Greek, Hieratic, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Other cartouches with known values filled in a lot. One major problem is that Egyptian hieroglyphs don't really encode vowels. Another set of clues about pronunciation comes from the Amarna letters written in the 18th dynasty. They are written in Akkadian cuneiform (then the language of international diplomacy), a script that does include vowels. These letters contain Egyptian names and sometimes loan words.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago> They are written in Akkadian cuneiform (then the language of international diplomacy), a script that does include vowels. These letters contain Egyptian names and sometimes loan words. I was interested to learn that the name of Ra is attested in these letters! From that, we know the vowel -- it was /i/. (The "a" in Ra is a consonant which is traditionally rendered as "a" by convention.)