mdw-nṯr

Egyptian

Etymology

mdw (“word”) +‎ nṯr (“god”) in a direct genitive construction, thus literally ‘word of god’. The written form demonstrates honorific transposition.

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˌmaːtʼaw ˈnaːcaɾ/ → /ˌmaːtʼaw ˈnaːtaʔ/ → /ˌmoːtʼ ˈnoːtə/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˌmaːtʼaw ˈnaːcaɾ/ (singular); IPA^(key): /maˌtʼuww ˈnaːcaɾ/ (plural)
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˌmaːtʼaw ˈnaːtaʔ/ (singular); IPA^(key): /maˌtʼuww ˈnaːtaʔ/ (plural)
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˌmoːtʼ ˈnoːtə/ (singular); IPA^(key): /məˌtʼøww ˈnoːtə/ (plural)

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɛduː nɛt͡ʃɛr/
  • Conventional anglicization: medu-netjer

Noun

 m

1. Egyptian hieroglyphic writing
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see mdw,‎ nṯr.

Inflection

Declension of mdw-nṯr (masculine)

singular	mdw nṯr
dual	mdwj nṯr
plural	mdw nṯr

References

• L. H. Lesko, The Ancient Egyptian Book of Two Ways, University of California Press (1972), p. 64.