j.ḫm-sk

Egyptian

FWOTD – 27 February 2019

Etymology

j.ḫm (“not knowing”, imperfective active participle of ḫm) +‎ sk (“destruction”), thus literally ‘(one) not knowing destruction’, because the circumpolar stars never set and so were considered imperishable.

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /ixɛm sɛk/
  • Conventional anglicization: ikhem-sek

Noun

 m

1. circumpolar star
   • c. 2289 BCE – 2255 BCE, Pyramid Texts of Pepi I — west wall of the corridor’s north section, line 45–47, spell 519.64–66:

     
     

     wd.kꜣ.k n.k ppy pn m sr jm(j) ꜣḫw j.ḫmw-sk mḥtjw pt ḥqꜣw ḥtpwt zꜣꜣww wꜣḥyt ḏḏjw hꜣ nw n ḫnt(j)w kꜣw jm(j)w pt

     Thus you will set this Pepi for yourself as the high official among the akhs, the circumpolar stars in the north of the sky, who govern the offerings, who safeguard the oblations, who let those descend to the foremost of the kas in the sky.

   • c. 1550 BCE – 1295 BCE, Great Hymn to Osiris (Stela of Amenmose, Louvre C 286) lines 5–6:

     nb hnw m pt rswt dwꜣw m pt mḥtt j.ḫmw-sk ẖr st ḥr.f swt.f pw j.ḫmw-wrḏ

     Possessor of acclaim in the southern sky, worshipped in the northern sky, the circumpolar stars are under his care, and the unwearying stars are his residences.

Inflection

Declension of j.ḫm-sk (masculine)

singular	j.ḫm-sk
dual	j.ḫmwj-sk
plural	j.ḫmw-sk

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of j.ḫm-sk  

j.ḫm-sk	j.ḫm-sk
[18th Dynasty]

Antonyms

• j.ḫm-wrḏ

References

• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1926) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1], volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, page 125.14
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 330.