If you’ve seen any HolÂlyÂwood movie set in ancient Egypt, you already know how its lanÂguage soundÂed: just like EngÂlish, but spoÂken with a more forÂmal dicÂtion and a range of broadÂly MidÂdle-EastÂern accents. But then there are many comÂpetÂing theÂoÂries about life that long ago, and perÂhaps you’d preÂfer to believe the linÂguisÂtic-hisÂtorÂiÂcal take proÂvidÂed in the video above. A proÂducÂtion of Joshua RudÂder’s NativLang, a Youtube chanÂnel preÂviÂousÂly feaÂtured here on Open CulÂture for its videos on ancient Latin and ChiÂnese, it tells the stoÂry of “the many forms of the long-lived EgyptÂian lanÂguages,” as well as its “ancesÂtors and relÂaÂtives,” and how they’ve helped linÂguists deterÂmine just how the ancient EgypÂtians realÂly spoke.
RudÂder begins with a cerÂtain artiÂfact called — perÂhaps you’ve heard of it — the RosetÂta Stone. DisÂcovÂered in 1799 durÂing Napoleon’s camÂpaign in Egypt, it “bore two EgyptÂian scripts and, ausÂpiÂciousÂly, a rough transÂlaÂtion in perÂfectÂly readÂable Greek.” Using this inforÂmaÂtion, the scholÂar Jean-François ChamÂpolÂlion became the first to deciÂpher ancient EgyptÂian hieroÂglyphs. But as to the quesÂtion of what they soundÂed like when proÂnounced, the stone had no answers. ChamÂpolÂlion evenÂtuÂalÂly became conÂvinced that the still-livÂing CopÂtic lanÂguage was “the EgyptÂian lanÂguage, the very same one that stretchÂes back conÂtinÂuÂousÂly for thouÂsands of years.”
Though CopÂtic sounds and gramÂmar could proÂvide clues about spoÂken ancient EgyptÂian, it couldÂn’t get ChamÂpolÂlion all the way to accuÂrate proÂnunÂciÂaÂtion. One pressÂing goal was to fill in the lanÂguage’s missÂing vowÂels, an essenÂtial type of sound that nevÂerÂtheÂless went unrecordÂed by hieroÂglyphs. To the archives, then, which in Egypt were espeÂcialÂly vast and conÂtained docÂuÂments datÂing far back into hisÂtoÂry. These enabled a process of “interÂnal reconÂstrucÂtion,” which involved comÂparÂing difÂferÂent verÂsions of the EgyptÂian lanÂguage to each othÂer, and which ultiÂmateÂly “resultÂed in an exploÂsion of hieroÂglyphÂic knowlÂedge.”
But the jourÂney to reconÂstruct the speakÂing of this “longest writÂten lanÂguage on Earth” doesÂn’t stop there: it thereÂafter makes such side quests as one to a “pockÂet of Ethiopia” where peoÂple speak “a clusÂter of lanÂguages grouped togethÂer under the label OmotÂic.” Along with the SemitÂic, the Amazigh, the Chadic, and othÂers, traceÂable with EgyptÂian to a comÂmon ancesÂtor, these lanÂguages proÂvidÂed inforÂmaÂtion essenÂtial to the state of ancient EgyptÂian linÂguisÂtic knowlÂedge today. GivÂen the enorÂmous amount of scholÂarÂship required to let us know what to call them, it’s enough to make you want ankhs to come back into fashÂion.
RelatÂed ConÂtent:
What Ancient ChiÂnese SoundÂed Like — and How We Know It: An AniÂmatÂed IntroÂducÂtion
What Ancient Latin SoundÂed Like, And How We Know It
Based in Seoul, ColÂin MarÂshall writes and broadÂcasts on cities, lanÂguage, and culÂture. His projects include the SubÂstack newsletÂter Books on Cities, the book The StateÂless City: a Walk through 21st-CenÂtuÂry Los AngeÂles and the video series The City in CinÂeÂma. FolÂlow him on TwitÂter at @colinmarshall, on FaceÂbook, or on InstaÂgram.
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