jnk

Egyptian

Etymology 1

From Proto-Afroasiatic *ʔanāku. By surface analysis, jn (independent pronoun morpheme) +‎ .k (first person stative ending).

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /jaˈnak/ → /jaˈnak/ → /ʔaˈnak/ → /ʔaˈnak/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2350 BCE) IPA^(key): /jaˈnak/
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /jaˈnak/
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʔaˈnak/
• (Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʔaˈnak/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /inɛk/
  • Conventional anglicization: inek

Pronoun

 sg 1. stressed (‘independent’) pronoun

1. I, me (see usage notes)
   • Reign of Amenemhat II or Senusret II, c. 1929–1878 BCE, Stela of Hekaib (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, AP 78):

     jnk nḏs jqr

     I was an excellent individual

Usage notes

Unlike the suffix pronouns and dependent pronouns, the independent pronouns are not tied to any other element of the sentence. Nevertheless, the meaning of an independent pronoun depends on context:

• After an infinitive, it is the subject of the verb.
• Before a noun, its meaning can be ambiguous:
  • In the first and second person, it could be the subject of a noun phrase.
  • Alternatively, in all persons, it can be the predicate of a noun phrase.
  • If the noun is a participle, then in all persons it could be either the subject or the predicate of a noun phrase.
  • If the demonstrative pronoun pw is placed between the pronoun and the noun, the pronoun is definitely the predicate.
• Before an adjective, in the first person only, it is the subject of an adjectival phrase.

When the independent pronoun is the subject it may, but does not always, indicate an emphasised subject.

Inflection

Old Egyptian personal pronouns

	number	first person	second person		third person
			masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
suffix pronouns	singular	∅, .j	.k, .kj1	.ṯ, .ṯn	.f, .fj1	.s, .sj1
	dual	.nj	.ṯnj		.snj
	plural	.n	.ṯn		.sn
enclitic (‘dependent’) pronouns	singular	w, wj, wy	kw, k, ṯw, ṯ	ṯm, ṯn	sw, s	s
	dual	—	ṯnj		snj
	plural	n	ṯn		sn
stressed (‘independent’) pronouns	singular	jnk	ṯwt	ṯmt	swt	stt
	dual	—	—		ntsnj
	plural	—	ntṯn		ntsn, jntsn
stative (‘pseudoparticiple’) endings	singular	.kj, .k	.tj, .t		∅, .j	.tj, .t
	dual	—	.tjwn		.wy, .wj	.ty
	plural	.wn, .nw			∅, .w, .y, .wy	.tj, .t

¹ Only when attached to a dual noun or prospective participle.

Middle Egyptian personal pronouns

	number	first person	second person		third person
			masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
suffix pronouns	singular	∅, .j	.k, .kj1	.ṯ, .t	.f, .fj1	.s, .sj1
	dual2	.nj	.ṯnj, .tnj		.snj
	plural	.n	.ṯn, .tn		.sn, .w3
enclitic (‘dependent’) pronouns	singular	wj, w	ṯw, tw	ṯn, tn	sw, st	sj, s, st
	plural	n	ṯn, tn		sn, st
stressed (‘independent’) pronouns	singular	jnk	ntk, ṯwt2	ntṯ, ntt, ṯwt2	ntf, swt2	nts, swt2
	plural	jnn3	ntṯn, nttn		ntsn
stative (‘pseudoparticiple’) endings	singular	.kw	.tj, .t, .tw3		∅, .w	.tj, .t, .tw3
	plural	.wn, .wjn	.tjwn, .tjwnj		∅, .w, .y
proclitic (‘subject form’) pronouns3	singular	tw.j	tw.k	tw.t	sw	sj, st
	plural	tw.n	tw.tn		st

¹ Only when attached to a dual noun or prospective participle.
² Only in formal texts, especially religious texts.
³ Only in postclassical (Neo-Middle Egyptian) texts.

Late Egyptian personal pronouns

	number	first person	second person		third person
			masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
suffix pronouns	singular	∅, .j	.k, .kw	.t	.f, .fj	.s, .st, .sw
	plural	.n	.tn, .twn		.w, .sn1
enclitic (‘dependent’) pronouns1	singular	wj	tw, tj		sw, st
	plural	n, wn	twn		sn, st
stressed (‘independent’) pronouns	singular	jnk	mntk, mtwk	mntt, mtwy	mntf	mntst, mntjst
	plural	jnn	mnttn		mntw
stative (‘pseudoparticiple’) endings1	singular	.kw, .k	.tj, .tw		∅, .w, .y	.tj, .tw
	plural	.nw	.tn		∅, .w, .y
	unmarked2	∅, .tw
proclitic (‘subject form’) pronouns	singular	tw.j	tw.k	tw.t	sw	st, sw
	plural	tw.n	tw.tn		st, sw, swt

¹ Only in formal texts, especially religious texts.
² Later form.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jnk  

jnk	jnk	jnk	jnk	jnk	jnk
[since the Old Kingdom]	[since the Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[Middle Kingdom]	[Middle and New Kingdoms]

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jnk  

jnk	jnk	jnk	jnk	jnk
[New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[since the Late Period]	[since the Late Period]	[since the Late Period]

Further, the writing of this pronoun can optionally be varied to indicate the identity of the antecedent — a distinction which would not have been indicated in speech, e.g.:

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jnk  

male human	female human	god	god or king	king	king	dead human

Descendants

• Demotic Egyptian: jnk
  • Akhmimic Coptic: ⲁⲛⲁⲕ (anak)
  • Bohairic Coptic: ⲁⲛⲟⲕ (anok)
  • Fayyumic Coptic: ⲁⲛⲁⲕ (anak)
  • Old Coptic: ⲁⲛⲟⲕ (anok)
  • Sahidic Coptic: ⲁⲛⲟⲕ (anok)

Etymology 2

Wilson suggests an origin in a later development of jnq (“to embrace”). Also compare jkn (“to seize”), which may be a further development of this word.

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /inɛk/
  • Conventional anglicization: inek

Verb

 3-lit.

1. (transitive) to hold in hand [Greco-Roman Period]

Inflection

Conjugation of jnk (triliteral / 3-lit. / 3rad.) — base stem: jnk, geminated stem: jnkk

infinitival forms imperative infinitive negatival complement complementary infinitive1 singular plural jnk jnkw, jnk jnkt jnk jnk ‘pseudoverbal’ forms stative stem periphrastic imperfective2 periphrastic prospective2 jnk ḥr jnk m jnk r jnk suffix conjugation aspect / mood active passive contingent aspect / mood active passive perfect jnk.n jnkw, jnk consecutive jnk.jn active + .tj1, .tw2 active + .tj1, .tw2 terminative jnkt perfective3 jnk active + .tj1, .tw2 obligative1 jnk.ḫr active + .tj1, .tw2 imperfective jnk active + .tj1, .tw2 prospective3 jnk jnkk potentialis1 jnk.kꜣ active + .tj1, .tw2 active + .tj1, .tw2 subjunctive jnk active + .tj1, .tw2 verbal adjectives aspect / mood relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms participles active passive active passive perfect jnk.n active + .tj1, .tw2 — — perfective jnk active + .tj1, .tw2 jnk jnk, jnkw5, jnky5 imperfective jnk, jnky, jnkw5 active + .tj1, .tw2 jnk, jnkj6, jnky6 jnk, jnkw5 prospective jnk, jnktj7 — jnktj4, jnkt4 1 Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. 2 Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. 3 Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective. 4 Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .snj, plural .sn. 5 Only in the masculine singular. 6 Only in the masculine. 7 Only in the feminine.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jnk  

jnk

References

• “jnk (lemma ID 27940)”, in Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae‎^[1], Corpus issue 20, Web app version 2.5.0, ed. by Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning […] and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils […], 2004–23 April 2026
• Erman, Adolf; Grapow, Hermann (1926), Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[2], volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, page 101.13
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962), A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 24
• Wilson, Penelope (1991), A Lexicographical Study of the Ptolemaic Texts in the Temple of Edfu‎^[3], Liverpool: University of Liverpool, pages 159–160
• James P[eter] Allen (2010), Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 51.

Finnish

Pronoun

jnk

1. (lexicography) abbreviation of jonkin

Usage notes

• This abbreviation is chiefly used in dictionaries.

Anagrams

• jkn