nb-ḫꜥw

Egyptian

Etymology

From nb (“lord, possessor”) +‎ ḫꜥw (“appearance in glory, shining-forth”) in a direct genitive construction, thus ‘possessor of appearances in glory’. Sometimes the second part is instead interpreted as ḫꜥw (“crown”), etymologically the same word.

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /nɛb xɑːuː/
  • Conventional anglicization: neb-khau

Noun

 m

1. a common epithet for the king: ‘Lord of Appearances’
2. used as a title preceding the fifth (given) name in the royal titulary [since the 18th Dynasty]
   • 20th Dynasty, c. 1150 BCE, Votive bust of a ram ([www.khm.at/de/object/318393/ Kunsthistorisches Museum 1029]):

     nb-tꜣwj ḏsr-kꜣ-rꜥ nb-ḫꜥw jmn-ḥtp […]

     The Lord of the Two Lands, Djeserkare, Lord of Appearances, Amenhotep […]

Usage notes

This epithet is conventionally translated ‘Lord of Appearances’, but both parts of this translation are misleading — ‘possessor’ more accurately renders nb than ‘lord’ in this context, and ḫꜥw implies more splendor than a mere appearance.

Proper noun

 m

1. A serekh name notably borne by Sahure, a pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty
2. A Two Ladies name notably borne by Sahure, a pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty

References

• “nb-ḫꜥ.w (lemma ID 600260)”, “nb-ḫꜥ.w (lemma ID 853267)”, and “Nb-ḫꜥ.w (lemma ID 400279)”, in Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae‎^[1], Corpus issue 18, Web app version 2.1.5, Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning by order of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils by order of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, 2004–26 July 2023
• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1929) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[2], volume 3, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 242.1–242.2
• Leprohon, Ronald (2013) Denise Doxey, editor, The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, →ISBN, page 38
• von Beckerath, Jürgen (1984) Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen, München: Deutscher Kunstverlag, →ISBN, pages 54, 181