Pre-Late Egyptian Reconstruction/Templatic Class I

Egyptian words which follow Templatic Class I generally emit an underlining nominal characteristic.

The following paradigms equate to Osing and Schenkel's: Subjekts-Nominalisierungen: Nominalbildungsklasse I (forms 1-4).

AaBaC Forms

'Forms 1 - 4' appear to be specific to the infinitive and sometimes nouns.

Form 1

Root Class	Formula
3-lit	AāBaC

Form 2

Root Class	Formula
3-lit	AaBǎC

AiBiC Forms

These forms may be better analyzed as an original adjectival vocalization as well as a true irregular counterpart to 'Forms 1 and 2' and will be discussed in a separate page:

Form 3

Root Class	Formula
3-lit	AǐBiC

Form 4

Root Class	Formula
3-lit	AiBǐC

The Infinitive

The infinitive may be said to express a verbal action, which in transitive verbs passes to an object and in intransitive verbs affects the subject initiating the action. The infinitive can express an active or a passive sense (in English translations of Coptic and Egyptian infinitives); e.g. OYωN- ‘to open’ or ‘to be opened’, TAKO - ‘to destroy’ or ‘to be destroyed’, TAϪPO - to make strong’ or ‘to be strengthened’. With intransitive verbs the infinitive expresses an action without a direct object, e.g. ϩωN - ‘to come near’; or it denotes the beginning of a condition or circumstance, e.g. †ϩE - ‘to become drunken’ ^[1].

The infinitival inflections below follow different vocalizations.

a-Type Infinitives

The chart below outlines the formulas for those roots without ultimae-j/y consisting of the a-Type pattern CaCaC:

Root Class	Formula	Example
2-lit.	AāB	dād [ϪⲰ] - saying
2ae-gem.	AaBǎB^[2]	kamǎm [ⲔⲘⲞⲘ^S] - to be black
3-lit.	AāBaC	sānat [ⲤⲰⲚⲦ] - found, create
3ae-gem.	AaBCǎC or AǎBCaC	paḥrǎr - running^[3] sǎpdad - preparing [ⲤⲞⲂⲦⲈ^S]
4-lit.	AǎBCaD or AǎBAaB	wǎstan - striding/expanding [ⲞⲨⲞⲤⲦⲚ^S] sǎlsal [ⲤⲞⲖⲤⲖ^S] - comforting, encouraging
5-lit.	AaBǎCBaC	saqǎrqar [ⲤⲔⲞⲢⲔⲢ^S] - rolling

Some intransitive verbs may model after Form 2. The change in stress seems to be determined by semantic criteria to at least an extent^[4] (these appear to be specific to adjective-verbs and it appears some of these verbs adopted an imitation of Stative/Qualitative constructions as their infinitive form):

jarǎš - become cold [ⲀⲢⲞϢ^S]
marǎš - become red/yellow [ⲘⲢⲞϢ^S]
madǎn - be at rest [ⲘⲦⲞⲚ^S] mdn^MEg - be quiet, mtn^Dem - repose
ḥarǎš - become heavy [ϨⲢⲞϢ^S, ϨⲰⲢϢ- (lit: make heavy) make into a bad state]
naḫǎt - be(come) strong [ⲚϢⲞⲦ^S, ⲚⲞⲨϢⲦ^s. - oppress, do violence]
rawǎd - be glad/eager/ready [ⲞⲨⲢⲞⲦ^S] rwd^MEg - be firm, rwṱ^Dem - be firm, fresh^[5]
ḥalǎg - be merry, rejoice [ϨⲖⲞϬ^S - become sweet; take delight] ḥnrg^MEg, ḥɜg^LEg - be merry, rejoice; ḥlk^Dem - sweet
wamǎt - [ⲞⲨⲘⲞⲦ^SB / ⲞⲨⲘⲀⲦ^S] - thicken
ḥaqǎr - become hungry [ϨⲔⲞ]^[6].
darāɜ - become strong, firm, victorious [ϪⲢⲞ^SAA² / ϬⲢⲞ^SB ~ dr^Dem]
waꜥǎb - purifying [OYOΠ^S]
jahǎm - to sigh, groan [ⲀϨⲞⲘ - mourning]
qanǎs - [ⲔⲚⲞⲤ - stinking, stink, be putrid] = etymology is obscure: qnst^Dem - (fem) stinking. May come from qns - slay (which comes from Semitic) [ⲔⲰⲚⲤ - pierce, slay]^[7]

Transitive VS Intransitive

In order to understand how Middle Egyptian may have vocalized their roots, we must first comprehend how Coptic distributes their vowels throughout consonantal stems- and according to the above vocalic templates there are some differences between transitive and intransitive inflections and/or stress^[8]

Every infinitive by its very nature nature belongs to one or the other of two syntactic classes, transitives and intransitives, according to the following definition:

Transitive infinitives are those which at the speaker's choice can be constructed so as to express action directed at a direct object, i.e. at a receiver or goal or action. A direct object follows the infinitive:

AY-NAY E-ΠϢHPE ϢHM - They saw the child
AY-OYωN N-NEYAϩωωP - They opened their treasures
ϩHPωλHC ΓAP NA-ϢINE NCA-ΠϢHPE ϢHM - Herod is about to search for the child
AY-CωTΠ N-CTEΦANOC - They choose Stephen.

By this definition, NAY, OYωN, ϢINE, and CωTΠ (see, open, search, choose) are classed as transitives, even though they can also occur without a direct object. The direct objects in these Coptic examples (the child, their treasures, etc.) are marked as such by an appropriate preposition (E-, N-, NCA-); each transitive infinitive has its own particular preposition(s) that mark objects.

Futhermore, with mutable infinitives (mutable transitive infinitives are those which occur as a set of allomorphs called states; absolute state, prenominal state, and personal state- traditionally these are called status absolutus, status constructus, and status pronominalis), under certain conditions a direct object can or must be immediately suffixed to the infinitive instead of being mediated by a preposition, i.e:

AY-CETΠ-MNT-CNOOYC - He chose twelve
NEY-†-CBω - They taught (gave teachings)
E-TAKO-Ϥ - To destroy him (transitivity is also a property of the suffixally conjugated verboid OYNTE-).

By the definition used here, transitivity or intransitivity does not just refer to the construction in which a verb happens to occur in one sentence or another; but rather, to the verb's potential compatibility with the direct object construction- it's ability to take a direct object- as a permanent feature of its lexical character. In other words, transitivity is here defined as the essential property of a lexical subclass of verbs, not an incidental feature of usage in one particular sentence or another.

Intransitives are those whose infinitives cannot, under any circumstances, be constructed so as to express action directed at a direct object (receiver or goal of action). E.g. OYBAϢ - 'turn white', ϢA - 'rise'. Crum, Coptic Dictionay (p.vii) uses 'transitive' and 'intransitive' in quite different senses.

It is to be noted that in Egyptian most if not all verb forms follow similar rules for the governing of subjects and objects unlike in Coptic where it is restricted to the infinitive as the infinitive was the main verbal device used to designate tense in Coptic.

Stress-Tone

Egyptian appears to have had a distinct stress pattern culminating in various vocalizations if stress is relocated (according to Coptic spellings- one must thus adduce that this also occurred in the earlier phases of the language^[9]). Every stem in Egyptian has stress on the penultimate syllable (that is second to last syllable) and under two main circumstances the stress moves and may cause a vowel change (or change in vowel length) on the stressed syllable and abridged vocal variations (or vowel deletion) in unstressed syllables. These following rules apply to the Egyptian language as a whole but is best learned specifically with the Coptic infinitive + subject/object additions:

Additions of various prefixes, suffixes (and words which act like prefixes/suffixes) or some kind of auxiliary (this would be best compared to English words like: reiterate, bio-organism, ect). For example:

In the case of a nominal object, the addition of the object directly to the verb causes the tone to pass from the verb to the object, A.Ϥ.ϩETB.Π.PωME. We might call this object the ‘tonal object’. However, when the object is a pronoun, it does not itself receive the tone, but rather follows the stressed syllable in the pronominal form of the verb; e.g. A.Ϥ.KOTB.Ϥ. It might be described as the ‘post-tonal object’, but in view of the fact that some verbs, owing to the loss of original consonants, do show a tonal stress on some suffix endings (e.g. MECTω.K - To hate thee, CAϩω.Ϥ - To set him up, etc.), a better name would be ‘direct suffix object’.
E.g. A.N.PωME MEPE.Π.KAKE N.ϩOYO E.N.OYOEIN - Men loved darkness more than light.

A.Ϥ.NOϪ.Ϥ.E.ΠE.ϢTEKO - He cast him into prison ^[10].

When two or more words are placed closely together to form a compound noun or group, the tone falls on the last word only and the formative vowel of the preceding word or words shortens; e.g. ϩOY-MICE ‘birthday’ (from ϩOOY ‘day’ and MICE ‘to give birth to’), PEI.PωME ‘this man’ (from ΠAI ‘this’ and PωME ‘man’), CKPKP.Π.KOT 'to revolve the wheel’ (from CKOPKP ‘To roll’ and Π.KOT ‘the wheel').

Plumley ^[11] mentions, 'the older forms of the language show that, apart from some verbs mentioned above, originally the direct object— either tonal object or direct suffix object— was the normal usage with all tenses'.

James P. Allen ^[12] mentions, The rule of Egyptian word order is: VsdoSOA (Verb, subject pronoun, dative (ex: n = of), object pronoun, Subject, Object, Adverbs and prepositional phrases) = capital letters refer to nouns, and small letters refer to pronouns. Pronominal datives (d) and objects (o) are separate words but were probably pronounced together with the verb without a separate stress of their own. Thus:

rdjt n.f t-ḥd (giving him white-bread) probably had two stresses, rdjt-n.f and t-ḥd, just like in English: GIVing-him WHITE-bread.
rdjt.k n.j (n)syt.k (your giving me your kingship) probably had one stress on rdjt.k-n.j and (n)syt.k, just like in English: your-GIVing-me your-KINGship.
jrt n.f st (to do it for him) probably had only one stress, just like in English: to DO it for him.

Nominal subjects, objects, and datives, on the other hand, tend to be stressed separately:
rdjt mntw tɜwj n jtj (MONtu’s GIVing the-Two-LANDS to-the-SIRE).

It is also to be noted, in relation to subject/object additions, that in Egyptian the subject and object are behind the verb and in Coptic the subject is in front of the verb:

Egyptian
prt sm - the emerging of the sem-priest
prt.s - it's emerging

Coptic
Π.PωME CωTM - the man hears
Ϥ.CωTM - he hears

And the direct object follows the subject in Egyptian, and in Coptic the direct object follows the verb:

Egyptian
jrt jst jɜkb - Isis's making mourning
tzt.j jb.j - my lifting up my heart
rdjt.f wj m ḥɜt hrdw.f - his placing me in front of his children

Coptic
†.NA.Bωλ - I will loose => †.NA.Bλ.THYTN - I will loose you [uses the pronomial form]
A.Ϥ.ϩETB.Π.PωME - He killed the man [with a nominal object the construct form is used]

This results in different stress patterns between Egyptian and Coptic spelling.

Antonio Loprieno^[13] mentions: 'Infinitives may be used in construct or in pronominal state followed by the subject (with intransitive verbs: pr.t=k /'pirtvk/ "your going forth") or by the object (with transitive verbs: sdm=f /'saɟmvf/ "to hear him"; the subject is introduced in this case by the preposition jn).

Loprieno also gives an example of a noun augmented to a nominal verb stem (which he terms emphatic/nominal [like its Semitic equivalent iparras] - this pattern follows the a-Type vocalization)^[14]. This inflectional verb pattern is basically identical to that of the Egyptian infinitive:
sdm zɜ=j ~ saɟam'zi:ʀaj - my son listens
jrr=s ~ ja'ra:rvs - she does

Conclusion & Final Formula

According to the above examples and studies, several conclusions can be had:

It appears the main infinitival construction followed Templatic Class I: Form 1 and existed for most if not all roots.
The |a < i| vowel replacement will be discussed in another page but to summarize: a theory exists where there was a separate i-Type vocalization specific to the adjective-verb. This i-Type vocalization may have influenced the modification of some ultimae-j/y/ɜ/ꜥ roots.
These generalizations are based upon three major Coptic Infinitival sub-classes of vocalizations^[15]: a-Type, i-Type and Stative/Qualitative Adaptations.

Examples:

Egyptian Transitive:
gmt.f jn ḥm.f => gǎmtaf n̩^[16] ḥǎmaf - finding him by His Incarnation
tzt.j jb.j => tăzti^[17] jǐbi^[18] - my lifting up my heart.

Egyptian Intransitive:
prt^[19] sm => pǎrat sǎm (párat-sǎm) - the emerging of the sm-priest
prt.s => pārtas - its emerging

Alternative Egyptian Spelling based upon ultimae-j:
pǐrit sǎm => pǐjt sǎm (píjt-sǎm)^{colloquial/LE}
pǐrtas => pītas^{colloquial/LE}

Nominal Forms

Egyptian Nouns which follow Templatic Class I: Form 1 and 2 [these forms may also be indistinguishable with Templatic Class II: Form 1] with an addition of feminine forms which caused alteration of stress and vowel quantity:

Root Class	Formula	Example
2-lit.	AǎB AāBat (fem) AǎBat (fem #2)	sǎn [CON^copt] - brother sānat [CωNE^copt] - sister jǎdat [OOTE - womb] - vulva
3-lit.	AāBaC AaBāCat (fem) AǎBCat (fem #2)	nātar [NOYTE^copt] - god natārat [NTωPE^copt] - goddess rǎnpat [POMΠE^copt] - year
4-lit.	AǎBCaD	nǎmtat [NOMTE^copt - strength, power] - nmtt^ME - step

Stress-tone/accent^[20] in nouns with the formation CaCaC(at) can appear to be unpredictable in many Coptic words, fortunately there is usually logic behind why the stress has shifted- for example, the difference between natārat (fem) and rǎnpat (fem #2) is the first formula represents the feminine form of a masculine formation with the feminine marker attached to the root causing the relocation of the stress one syllable to the right and the second formula is rather treated as a regular vocalized 4-lit. root but is a feminine noun. Other-times there is no concise reason.

List of 2-lit. AǎB roots:

zǎp [COΠ^copt] - time, occasion, turn
tǎm(aɜ) [TOM^copt] - mat
kǎɜ [KO^copt] - bull
rǎɜ [PO^copt] - door, mouth, gate, utterance, magic spell, speech
rǎɜ [PO^copt] - goose
tǎɜ [TO^copt] - land, earth
ḫǎɜ [ϢO^copt] - thousand
ḥǎr [ϩO^copt] - face
ḥǎp [ϩOΠ^copt] - feast,; marriage feast, bride-chamber
bǎh [BOϩ, Bωωϩ^{b. copt}] - an idol in Alexandria (probably Buchis, sacred bull of Hermonthis)
gǎs [ϬOC^copt] - half
pǎ(y)^[21] [ΠOI^copt - bench] = p^ME - base, throne; py^dem - seat.
sǎɜ [COI^copt] - back (of man or beast)
dǎw [TOOY^copt] - mountain, desert
wǎf(aɜ) [OYOϤ^copt] - lung

List of 2-lit. AāBat (fem) roots:

ɜāḥat [EIωϩE^copt] - field
sāḫat [CωϢE^copt] - field; meadow, country
sāḫat [CωϩE^copt - weave] - plait, weave
dārat [TωPE^copt] - hand
šāpat [ϢωΠE^copt] - cucumber (also sšpt, š(s)pt, špj)
mānat [NOYNE^copt] - root
nārat [NOYPE^copt] - vulture
bādat [BωTE^copt] - emmer (a cereal)
māmat [MOYME^copt] - fountain, spring
nāhat [NOYϩE^copt] - sycamore tree

List of 2-lit. AǎBat (fem) roots:

zǎwat^[22] [COOYO^copt, COYA^{f. copt}] - wheat (also corn in Demontic and Coptic)

List of 3-lit. AāBaC roots:

jāt(af)^[23] [EIωT^copt] - father
mālaḥ^[24] [MOYλϩ^copt] - wax
rāmat [PωΜΕ^copt] - man
nābas [NOYBC^copt - Christ's tree] = nbs^ME/LE - a (type of) tree
qābah^[25] [KωBϩ^copt] - sinew, cord
wānaš [OYωNϢ^copt] - wolf
jāpad [ωBT^copt] - goose (or other edible bird); poultry.
jānar [ωNE^copt] - stone
ꜥāb(aw) [ωB^copt] - lettuce
šāꜥ(ay) [Ϣω^copt] - sand
šām(aw) [ϢωM^copt] - summer
ḫāpaš [ϢωΠϢ^copt] - arm, foreleg (of animals)
šādat [ϢωTE^copt] - water hole, well, pit, cistern
šādat [ϢωTE^copt] - dough, flour
sāšan [ϢωϢEN^copt] - lotus (also zššn, sššn)
šāp(aj) [ϢωΠ^copt] - necklet or bracelet
kā(ɜa)m^[26] [ϬωM^copt] - garden, vineyard, property
bā(ɜa)k [BωK^copt] - servant^[27]
b(aɜ)ākat [BωKI^{b. copt}] - female servant^[28]

List of 3-lit. AaBāCat (fem) forms:

jarātat [EPωTE^copt] - milk

List of 3-lit. AǎBCat (fem #2) roots:

jǎbḥat^[29] [OBϩE^copt] - tooth
jǎɜdat^[30] [EIωTE^copt, yꜥt̪ɜt^dem] - dew
šǎndat[ϢONTE^copt] - thorn tree
m(aɜ)āqat [MOYKE^copt] - ladder

List of 4-lit. AǎBCaD roots:

sǎntar [CONTE^copt - resin] - incense
hǎnmat [ϩONBE^copt] - spring, well
jǎtraw [EIOOP(E)^copt - canal] - river
ḥǎfɜaw [ϩOϤ^copt] - snake

Medial Weak Radicals

3.lit forms:

kǎɜas [KOEIS^copt - vessel (for liquids)] - a vessel (of metal)
dǎyas [TO(E)IC^copt] - piece, rag (of cloth), linen
tǎwat [TOOYE^copt - shoe; pair of shoes] - sandals.
hǎɜan [ϩOEIM^copt] - wave (original hɜnw, hym^dem)

4.lit forms:

sǎwḥat [COOYϩE ^Copt] - egg
bǎjnat [BOINE ^S.] - harp

↑ pg 19 http://bibletranslation.ws/down/Plumley_Coptic_Grammar.pdf
↑ Even though geminated/reduplicated roots show extreme irregularities in Coptic, it is an accepted theory that originally the AaBǎB was the main construction- but by the time Coptic came into usage newly modified forms unpredictably appeared in lieu of final-reduplicated radicals with unstable stress placement.
↑ Merely a hypothesis based upon construction of 2ae-gem and other reduplicated nouns.
↑ Carsten Peust, Egyptian Phonology: An Introduction to the Phonology of a Dead Language pg 247
↑ -ⲢⲰⲦ/-ⲢⲞⲦ- adj. firm, strong
↑ In Coptic this infinitive can be used as a noun to mean hunger as well as famine.
↑ J. Černý, Coptic Etymological Dictionary pg 59
↑ The following few paragraphs are taken from pg 126 of Layton, Bentley, A Coptic grammar: with chrestomathy and glossary : Sahidic dialect
↑ Some scholars, for example Helmut Satzinger believe accent was in free variation in the earlier phases of the Egyptian language: FOLIA ORIENTALIA vol 49 2012, On Egyptian Participles and Nomina Agentis by Helmut Satzinger pg 473.
↑ pg 19 http://bibletranslation.ws/down/Plumley_Coptic_Grammar.pdf
↑ pgs 50-51 http://bibletranslation.ws/down/Plumley_Coptic_Grammar.pdf
↑ pgs 167-168 James P. Allen, Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs 2nd Edition
↑ Loprieno, Antonio. A Linguistic Introduction pg 89
↑ Loprieno, Antonio. A Linguistic Introduction pg 79
↑ Excluding verbs borrowed from foreign languages.
↑ The loss of the vowel of the pre-stress syllable was already accomplished in the NK, cf. Zeidler (1995), and the same is probably true of the assimilation of the glottal stop to the following m. - Reading Late Egyptian by Helmut Satzinger.
↑ Assuming the suffix pronoun j was pronounced i like in other Afroasiatic languages.
↑ jb - heart; possibly had always been pronounced with an ǐ. This word is also well attested in most Afroasiatic languages typically spelled lib(b). Omotic language = yib, also some Cushitic forms utilize lap or lip.
↑ prj - emerge is an ultimae-j root
↑ The same is true of vowel quantity and quality.
↑ -y ending appears to have been added in colloquial speech at a later date possibly Demotic/Pre-Coptic.
↑ The Coptic reflex is interesting in that it shows the original |a| before a fem. -t ending.
↑ In hieroglyphics 'father' was usually written jtf occasionally written jt. A possible explanation for this was to distinguish from other homonyms. Another example of the -f ending would be the word snf - blood [possibly to differentiate between sn - brother]; and in Coptic we have: Pω.Ϥ - mouth (-.Ϥ - his, was added to differentiate from PO - door = PwoY - doors and PO - goose).
↑ in hieroglyphs spelled mnḥ or mlḥj^dem
↑ qbht^ME - tendon; feminine ending appears to have completely vanished by Pre-Coptic.
↑ may represent an early Egyptian instance of |-ɜa| deletion.
↑ Also may represent an early Egyptian instance of |-ɜa| deletion or hieroglyphic |ɜ| represented a vowel.
↑ May represent an early Egyptian instance of |-aɜ| deletion or hieroglyphic |ɜ| represented a vowel.
↑ The reduced feminine ending seemed to appear after Middle Kingdom where before the feminine -t marker was not used in hieroglyphs and the word was originally masculine.
↑ The long vowel ω in Coptic may indirectly represent a syllable -āʔ.

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