Mnemonics
Egyptian hieroglyphs have been assigned names according to the naming conventions
by Gardiner; see sign lists.
Some hieroglyphs can also be referred to by names that I like to
call mnemonics; these represent their most common Egyptological
readings. (The name `mnemonic' is
derived from assembly language: mnemonics can be used as
alternatives to the numbered instructions of machine code.)
Below is an inventory of some common lists of mnemonics. I assume that
MdC88 (with corrections) is the only `official' list, and the
others are unfortunate aberrations.
The names I assign to the lists are my own, and
are meant to simplify the discussion.
This is the list that appeared on pp. 41-46 of
J. Buurman et al.
Inventaire des signes hieroglyphiques en vue de leur saisie
informatique.
Institut de France, Paris, 1988.
commonly known as the ``Manuel de Codage''.
In the list given above we have made the following corrections with
regard to the printed publication:
- The correct mnemonic for N30 is "iAt", not "iAr"
as erroneously indicated on p. 43. This is confirmed on p. 47.
- T26 does not have a mnemonic "sxt",
as erroneously indicated on p. 45, as "sxt" is already a mnemonic for M20,
as indicated on p. 20.
This is confirmed on p. 49.
This list of mnemonics used to be on the site of the
CCER, as part of
a revised version of the Manuel the Codage, by
Hans van den Berg, dated 1997. The
original link
is now broken, but see also an
inofficial mirror.
This list differs from MdC88 in the following ways:
- Erroneously, the category "Aa" in the Gardiner codes was replaced by "J".
- For V6, the mnemonic "Ss" is replaced by "sS". (This may well
be an error.)
- "M" no longer stands for Aa13 but for Aa15.
- There are new mnemonics.