Chapter 17
, giving the form ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. In spite of the excellent authority of these variants, they must be considered as giving an erroneous reading. The words ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ‘remember,’ and ⁂⁂⁂ are different in origin and meaning. The latter signifies ‘confer glory,’ and the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ are religious formularies recited by priests, identifying the deceased person with Osiris and other divinities. There are numerous pictures in the tombs representing priests performing this office.[6]
3. M. Déveria has produced excellent evidence showing that ⁂ _maāt-ḫeru_ has the sense of ‘victorious, triumphant.’ But the sense of _véridique_ is untenable. ⁂⁂⁂ _ḫeru_ is ‘voice’ not ‘speech.’ In _Proceedings S.B.A._, Vol. VI, p. 192, note, I have quoted a passage from a chapter (now numbered 181 in M. Naville’s edition) in which ⁂⁂⁂⁂ signifies ‘want of success, failure.’
⁂⁂⁂⁂ _maāt ḫeru_ really signifies “one whose voice is Law.” It is essentially a _divine_ title (see “Altar at Turin,” _Transactions_, III, pl. II, _line_ 10, appended to Mr. Bonomi’s article), and in _no_ Egyptian text is it used of mortals supposed to be living. The translation “juste de voix,” limits the conception of _maāt_ to _one_ of its secondary acceptations.
⁂⁂⁂⁂ _semaāt ḫeru_ is also, and necessarily so, a divine act, that of Thoth; and it is done through his utterances.
4. ⁂ _ȧn_ in this place as in very many others is not a preposition, _still less is it a verb_. It is a demonstrative particle, like the Latin _en_, _ecce_, or the Hebrew הֵו. Nothing is more common than this
## particle followed only by a proper name, _e.g._, on the funereal
figures. There is not the slightest reason for supposing that there is an ellipse of the verb ‘saith.’ The particle is used like the corresponding Latin one under the Scottish picture of Edward I—
‘En rex Edwardus debacchans ut leopardus.’
When I translate ⁂⁂⁂ ⁂⁂⁂, “It is Thoth—who is here,” I do not wish to imply that ⁂⁂ is the verb _to be_, any more than I should in the frequent expression ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “It is his son who revives his name.” ⁂ is a demonstrative particle and nothing else.
Instead of looking out for moods and tenses and paradigms, Egyptologists ought to wake to the consciousness that the Egyptians never rose to the conception of what we mean by a _verb_.
5. The Bull of Amenta is Osiris. Bull, like Lion or Hawk, was one of the figurative names of gods or kings, and Osiris is sometimes represented with a Bull’s head.
6. ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _T’at’at_. This word is often wrongly translated ‘judges.’ The divine judges are called _t’at’at_, but the proposition is not simply convertible. There were the ⁂⁂⁂⁂ not only of Osiris, but (_Todt._, 22, 2) also of every god and every goddess. And all the ancient towns of Egypt had their divine ⁂⁂⁂⁂. It is a term used (_cf._ p. 55) as exactly synonymous with ⁂⁂. In a mythological system like the Egyptian no god stood alone; every god involved others in close connection with himself, and every act of his necessitated corresponding acts on their part.
7. The _sebȧu_ are the enemies of the _Sun_, either as Rā or Osiris. I believe that under this mythological name the dark clouds are personified.
8. _Het Saru_, ‘House of the Prince,’ is the name of the great Sanctuary at Heliopolis. It must be remembered however that many of the geographical localities named in the Book of the Dead have their counterparts in the Egyptian heaven.
9. ⁂⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂, the ‘firm, stable, unalterable, abiding, eternal one,’ whose origin and progress are in eternity. The city ⁂⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂⁂ has a name like the Palestinian עַוָֹה, Gazah, the ‘strong’ city, and many other Hebrew names connected with the root עזז.
10. _Rechit_, a locality in the north of Egypt. The mourners and weepers alluded to are chiefly Isis and Nephthys.
11. _Teshtesh_ is one of the names of Osiris; perhaps, as might be inferred from a text at Dendera, of his molten image.
12. The god “whose heart is motionless” is Osiris.
13. ⁂⁂ _Re-stau_, one of the gates of the Netherworld. Its situation is specified in