The Egyptian Book of the dead

Future life; Incantations, Egyptian

3. _They wait apart._ The early MSS. do not agree here in a single word,
and they defy translation. The later MSS. are scarcely less discordant.
⁂⁂ is _to alight_, _rest_, and this must also be the meaning of
⁂⁂. ⁂⁂⁂ is connected with ⁂. ⲛⲉϩ in the sense of
_dispersing_, _separating_.

4. _Bruised_, or _trodden_. There being no rational context it is
impossible to fix the sense of a word like ⁂⁂⁂, which may mean
either _guard_ or _bruise_ by _beating_ or _treading down_.

5. _Cleansing_ ⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂. The result of the process is
certainly _cleansing_, but the operation itself is generally supposed to
be _washing_. This agrees with the Coptic ⲣⲁϩⲧ _a fuller_, of which the
old Egyptian form is ⁂⁂. But ⲣⲁϩⲧ has also the sense of
_beating_, and the operation is in many countries thought to be one of
the most important duties of washerwomen. With this sense of the word I
would connect the names _Rechit_ given to Isis and Nephthys, as
signifying ‘mourners.’ Compare the Greek τύπτεσθαί τινα, κόπτεσθαί τινα,
_to mourn a person_, and the Latin _plangere_.

6. _Balancing the issues_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. The first of these
words is unambiguous. ⁂⁂⁂ signifies literally ‘standing,’ like
_status_, or στάσις, and like those words also signifies position,
situation, condition, circumstances, and also the point at issue, the
question to be decided.

A well known passage in Cicero’s _Topics_ (93, c. 35) may be quoted
here: “Refutatio accusationis, in quae est depositio criminis, Graece
στάσις dicitur, Latine _status_ appelletur: in quo insistit, quasi ad
repugnandum congressa defensio.”

Perhaps the passage in chapter 30 B, in which “the divine ministrants
are said to deal with a man” according to his ⁂⁂ may have
reference to the circumstances of his life.

Chapters like this, however worthless in themselves, contain small
fragments highly illustrative of the ideas of the Egyptians at an
extremely remote period.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLATE XII.

                           BOOK OF THE DEAD.

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXVIII.
  =Papyrus, Brocklehurst, II.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXVIII.
  =Papyrus, Musée du
  Louvre, III, 93.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTERS XXVI-XXIX.
  =Papyrus, Berlin Museum, 22.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXX.
  =Papyrus, Musée du Louvre, III, 93.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXI.
  =Papyrus, Musée du Louvre, III, 89.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXIII.
  =Papyrus, Leyden Museum, IV.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXVI.
  =Papyrus, Leyden Museum, IV.=
]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLATE XIII.

                           BOOK OF THE DEAD.

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXVI.
  =Papyrus, Berlin Museum, 2.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXVII.
  =Papyrus, Cairo, Bulaq, 21.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXVIII.
  =Papyrus, Musée du Louvre,
  Cat. des Médailles.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXVIII.
  =Papyrus, Leyden Museum, V.=
]

[Illustration:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Religion

The Egyptian Book of the dead

Future life; Incantations, Egyptian

3. _They wait apart._ The early MSS. do not agree here in a single word,
and they defy translation. The later MSS. are scarcely less discordant.
⁂⁂ is _to alight_, _rest_, and this must also be the meaning of
⁂⁂. ⁂⁂⁂ is connected with ⁂. ⲛⲉϩ in the sense of
_dispersing_, _separating_.

4. _Bruised_, or _trodden_. There being no rational context it is
impossible to fix the sense of a word like ⁂⁂⁂, which may mean
either _guard_ or _bruise_ by _beating_ or _treading down_.

5. _Cleansing_ ⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂. The result of the process is
certainly _cleansing_, but the operation itself is generally supposed to
be _washing_. This agrees with the Coptic ⲣⲁϩⲧ _a fuller_, of which the
old Egyptian form is ⁂⁂. But ⲣⲁϩⲧ has also the sense of
_beating_, and the operation is in many countries thought to be one of
the most important duties of washerwomen. With this sense of the word I
would connect the names _Rechit_ given to Isis and Nephthys, as
signifying ‘mourners.’ Compare the Greek τύπτεσθαί τινα, κόπτεσθαί τινα,
_to mourn a person_, and the Latin _plangere_.

6. _Balancing the issues_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. The first of these
words is unambiguous. ⁂⁂⁂ signifies literally ‘standing,’ like
_status_, or στάσις, and like those words also signifies position,
situation, condition, circumstances, and also the point at issue, the
question to be decided.

A well known passage in Cicero’s _Topics_ (93, c. 35) may be quoted
here: “Refutatio accusationis, in quae est depositio criminis, Graece
στάσις dicitur, Latine _status_ appelletur: in quo insistit, quasi ad
repugnandum congressa defensio.”

Perhaps the passage in chapter 30 B, in which “the divine ministrants
are said to deal with a man” according to his ⁂⁂ may have
reference to the circumstances of his life.

Chapters like this, however worthless in themselves, contain small
fragments highly illustrative of the ideas of the Egyptians at an
extremely remote period.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLATE XII.

                           BOOK OF THE DEAD.

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXVIII.
  =Papyrus, Brocklehurst, II.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXVIII.
  =Papyrus, Musée du
  Louvre, III, 93.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTERS XXVI-XXIX.
  =Papyrus, Berlin Museum, 22.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXX.
  =Papyrus, Musée du Louvre, III, 93.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXI.
  =Papyrus, Musée du Louvre, III, 89.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXIII.
  =Papyrus, Leyden Museum, IV.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXVI.
  =Papyrus, Leyden Museum, IV.=
]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLATE XIII.

                           BOOK OF THE DEAD.

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXVI.
  =Papyrus, Berlin Museum, 2.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXVII.
  =Papyrus, Cairo, Bulaq, 21.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXVIII.
  =Papyrus, Musée du Louvre,
  Cat. des Médailles.=
]

[Illustration:

  CHAPTER XXXVIII.
  =Papyrus, Leyden Museum, V.=
]

[Illustration:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Egyptian Book of the dead

The Egyptian Book of the dead

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