Pot, with Pick hieroglyph at bottom, middle column (reads from right-to-left, Columns 3-2-1).
The ancient Egyptian Pick hieroglyph, Gardiner sign listed nos. U17, U18 is a portrayal of a 'pick upon the side view of a block'; it is in the Gardiner subset for agriculture, crafts, and professions.
In the Egyptian language, the pick hieroglyph is used as an ideogram or determinative for grg, the verb "to pick through",[1] or for other related words.
Verb: to settle, found, establish; (also dismantle)
Though the
pick hieroglyph shows: 'use of a pick, upon a surface', the verb "to choose" is not implied. The
Egyptian language verb for 'to pick or select' is used by "to choose", the commonly used
stp hieroglyph, an adze, or specifically the '
adze-on-block (hieroglyph)', Gardiner no. U21,
, also in the Gardiner subset of
agriculture, crafts, and professions.
The pick hieroglyph in Budge's two volume dictionary has twelve entries, the final three dealing with "lies" and using the
determinative of the sparrow (hieroglyph), for 'bad', 'evil', Gardiner no. G37
, (and
not a swallow hieroglyph, virtually identical). The main definition of the
pick hieroglyph seems to be
to pick at (earth), implying use of the pick as a tool for creating a townsite, and 'constructing'; it translates as a
verb,
to found, establish, settle; also
to make ready to be habitable, equip, furnish, and
prepare.
[2] Budge's dictionary sources are c. 150 authors, and c. 200 sources:
papyri,
steles, literature,
reliefs, etc. For
grg, "to settle", "to establish", etc. he uses: 1. funerary texts of
Pepi I, (and 2. texts of
Pepi II), 3. texts of King Teta, 4.
Gaston Maspero's 1880
Recueil..., vol 1. (in progress), 5. an
El-Bersheh, London document-(undated), 6. and "A. Z.", German
Zeitschrift fur..., 1863, vol. 1, (a work in progress).
Example usage: 24th century BC, Palermo Stone
From circa 2392 BC (24th to 23rd century BC), the Palermo Piece-(obverse) of the 7—piece Palermo Stone contains two uses of the pick hieroglyph. They occur as a pair in Row III[3] (of VI rows) for a "King Year Register" for Pharaoh, King Den.
They are used above 2 rectangular blocks, with the names of cities inside, and the determinative for
town:
. They are similar to the symbol for "Horus in a Chamber", Gardiner no. O10,
, but replaced by hieroglyphs that name the 2 townsites.
Preceded by
"Nightfall"
grh
(grḥ) |
pick
grg |
Succeeded by
1. "one-half"-2. Dual
1. gs--2. gs
(End of g) |
See also
References
- ↑ Betrò, 1995. Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt, Pick, p. 241.
- ↑ Budge, 1978, (1920). An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, gerg, p. 811-812.
- ↑ Schulz, Seidel, 1998. Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs, photo: Palermo Piece-(obverse), p. 24.
- Betrò, 1995. Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt, Betrò, Maria Carmela, c. 1995, 1996-(English), Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, London, Paris (hardcover, ISBN 0-7892-0232-8)
- Budge, 1920, (1978). An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, E. A. Wallis Budge, (Dover Publications), c 1978, (c 1920), Dover edition, 1978. (In two volumes, 1314 pp. and cliv-(154) pp.) (softcover, ISBN 0-486-23615-3)
- Schulz, Seidel, 1998. Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs, Editors, Regine Schulz, Matthias Seidel, Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Cologne, English translation version, 538 pages. (hardcover, ISBN 3-89508-913-3)
