Night (hieroglyph)
Encyclopedia
The ancient Egyptian
Night hieroglyph, Gardiner
sign listed nos. N3 is a portrayal of the sky with the 'was' scepter
hanging from it; it is in the Gardiner subset for "sky, earth, and water".
In the Egyptian language
, the night hieroglyph is used as a determinative
for words relating to 'obscurity'. In the language it is used for grh-(grḥ), and w(kh)-(uḫ) for night, and kkw-(kku) for dark, and a determinative for other related words.
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
Night hieroglyph, Gardiner
Gardiner's Sign List
Gardiner's Sign List is a list of common Egyptian hieroglyphs compiled by Sir Alan Gardiner. It is considered a standard reference in the study of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs....
sign listed nos. N3 is a portrayal of the sky with the 'was' scepter
Was
The was sceptre is a symbol that appeared often in relics, art and hieroglyphics associated with the ancient Egyptian religion...
hanging from it; it is in the Gardiner subset for "sky, earth, and water".
In the Egyptian language
Egyptian language
Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
, the night hieroglyph is used as a determinative
Determinative
A determinative, also known as a taxogram or semagram, is an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts which helps to disambiguate interpretation. They have no direct counterpart in spoken language, though they may derive historically from glyphs for real words, and...
for words relating to 'obscurity'. In the language it is used for grh-(grḥ), and w(kh)-(uḫ) for night, and kkw-(kku) for dark, and a determinative for other related words.