As an Egyptologist who has taught at a university, teaching the ancient Egyptian language is one of my duties… and great pleasures.\u00a0 And sooner or later, my students will need one or more dictionaries in order to continue studying Egyptian at a more advanced level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One my specializations as an Egyptologist is lexicography.\u00a0 Lexicography is the study of the meaning of words.\u00a0 It is a field of study that has been much neglected over the past century but is imperative to our understanding of the Egyptian language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As one grasps the issues involved in lexicography, one soon discovers that not all dictionaries are created equally.\u00a0 You will look at the definition in a dictionary and say to yourself, “Well, it sort of means that but not really.”\u00a0 Or you’ll even find that some definitions were originally placeholders that are accepted as part of the academic tradition.
For example, t\u1f30\u0161pss<\/em> is frequently translated as “cinnamon” based upon how Breasted translated the word in AD 1906.\u00a0 He reasoned that the “merely hypothetical” translation “cinnamon” would eventually be corrected (Schoff 1920, 263).\u00a0 Within a couple generations, the definition entered into the academic tradition and became an accepted translation (Lesko, 2:201; Wilson 1124).\u00a0 But the problem remained–cinnamon trees do not grow in Africa. And some dictionaries are so woefully flawed or out of date as to be absolutely useless, e.g., E. A. Wallis Budge, An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary<\/em> (1920).<\/p>\n\n\n\n More often, students will resort to resources including dictionaries that they find online, e.g.,\u00a0 Mark Vygus’ Middle Egyptian Dictionary <\/em>(2002-2018).\u00a0\u00a0 These “efforts” are not really dictionaries but word lists that have been extracted from someone else’s work\/database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, Vygus’ dictionary was extracted from Luca Brigatti\u2019s Hieroword<\/em> software.\u00a0 Paul Dickson’s Dictionary of Middle Egyptian<\/em> (2006) in turn depends largely upon Vygus’ work.\u00a0 Neither Dickson, Vygus, nor Brigatti have a\u00a0 publication record in Egyptological journals.\u00a0 And as far as I can tell, they have no credentials in the field so their unvetted, low quality word lists are best avoided.\u00a0 What terrifies me is that I’ve seen these word lists used in so-called scholarly works (e.g. Petrovich, 2016). So here is my list of the best dictionaries for learning ancient Egyptian annotated with my opinion as to each work’s merits and problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the “go to” dictionary for students learning Middle Egyptian, and rightly so despite some errors and deficiencies.\u00a0 Faulkner was a first rate scholar and extremely proficient at lexicography, and he brings that experience into this book.\u00a0 It has some of the best definitions with citations that are found in any dictionary published to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dictionary does have some problems that the student should be aware of.\u00a0 It is concise so it is shorter than other dictionaries, and the student may need to consult other works for less common vocabulary.\u00a0 Also, it is published in Faulkner’s handwriting, which can be difficult for the beginning student to read.\u00a0 The dictionary lacks street credibility in the academic community as a reference work, unfairly so in my honest opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, the work is inexpensive, reasonably accurate, and written in English.\u00a0 Few dictionaries on this list have all three.\u00a0 It is the single best dictionary for overall quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The W\u00f6rterbuch,<\/em> as it is known by, is the big standard reference dictionary of Egyptology.\u00a0 It comes in twelve volumes and is highly respected as the<\/em><\/strong> dictionary in the Egyptological community.\u00a0 The advantage of it is that it is exhaustive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The disadvantages of it are plentiful.\u00a0 It is written in German, which is an impediment for most native English speakers.\u00a0 The definitions are not as well-considered as they should be–an\u00a0embarrassing fact that Gardiner (1948) drew attention to.\u00a0 And for a work that is so highly regarded, it is poorly cited.\u00a0 An attempt was made to add citations with a supplement called Die Belegstellen<\/em>, but that effort was unfortunately cut short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No work of Egyptology would be consider seriously without consulting the W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em>.\u00a0 In my opinion this dictionary is very long in the tooth and should be used as a starting point pending further lexicographical work.\u00a0 I would no longer consider the W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em> the final authority for a definition. This is Hannig’s attempt to modernize and create an abridged version of the W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em>.\u00a0 Lofty goals to say the least.\u00a0 The advantage of this work is that it is only one volume, and parts of it are an improvement over the W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there are some disadvantages.\u00a0 Like the W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em> it is written in German.\u00a0 And many entries are little improved over the W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em>.\u00a0 When the work was first published, the work was criticized for its lack of citations.\u00a0 Hannig responded to these criticisms by writing the\u00a0\u00c4gyptisches <\/em>W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em><\/em> (2003-2006), which was intended to be comprehensive.\u00a0 Unfortunately, his citations are repetitive and include a lot of redundant entries referencing too many translations of the same source texts.\u00a0 What his work really needed was greater diversity of original source materials. Overall, Hannig’s dictionary is expensive but compact.\u00a0 The quality of the work is an incremental improvement over the W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes the best dictionary is the only one.\u00a0 This dictionary is really a word list that was compiled by Lesko’s graduate students.\u00a0 The 2nd edition does have more citations than the first, but it still lacks the scholarly reflection that you would find in Faulkner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, many definitions were based upon translations done by expert Egyptologists.\u00a0 As such the work is not as inaccurate as one might fear from a compiled work.\u00a0 This dictionary, however, could still be improved upon with more proper word studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, if you are studying Late Egyptian, you must have this dictionary.\u00a0 No other will suffice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the definitive lexicon on Ptolemaic period Egyptian.\u00a0 The scholarship is excellent and thorough.\u00a0 The work is written in English but is only for advanced students.\u00a0 The only problem is that it is next to impossible to get your hands on a copy as it was published as a fascicle of the series Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta and not currently in print.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two excellent dictionaries that deal with Coptic, the last phase of the Egyptian language.\u00a0 Fortunately, both are written in English, reasonably priced, and available as reprints.\u00a0 The dictionary by Crum is the standard dictionary for Coptic.\u00a0 Crum’s dictionary is an overall sound piece of scholarship. \u010cern\u00fd fills in an important gap by tying the Coptic words found in Crum to related words and phrases found in Greek and older forms of Egyptian.\u00a0 The scholarship is terrific and this work is essential for those doing lexicography that includes Coptic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an Egyptologist who has taught at a university, teaching the ancient Egyptian language is one of my duties… and great pleasures.\u00a0 And sooner or later, my students will need one or more dictionaries in order to continue studying Egyptian at a more advanced level. Not All Dictionaries are Created Equal One my specializations as…<\/p>\nBest Dictionaries for Learning Egyptian<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Raymond A. Faulkner, A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian <\/em>(1962).<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAdolf Erman and Hermann Grapow, W\u00f6rterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache<\/em> (1926-1963)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nRainer Hannig, Gro\u00dfes Handw\u00f6rterbuch \u00c4gyptisch–Deutsch (2800-950 v. Chr.)<\/em> (2009)<\/strong>
\n\n\n\nLeonard H. Lesko, ed.\u00a0 A Dictionary of Late Egyptian<\/em>, 2nd Ed. (2002)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPenelope Wilson, A Ptolemaic Lexicon: A Lexicographical Study of Texts in the Temple of Edfu<\/em> (1997)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWalter E. Crum, A Coptic Dictionary compiled with the help of many scholars\u00a0<\/em>(1939)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nJaroslav \u010cern\u00fd, Coptic Etymological Dictionary<\/em> (1976)<\/strong>