qꜣj sꜣ

Egyptian

FWOTD – 3 December 2012

Etymology

From qꜣj (“to be(come) high”) +‎ sꜣ (“back”), thus literally ‘to be(come) high of back’.

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /qʼaʀ saʀ/ → /qʼaʀ saʀ/ → /qʼaj saj/ → /qʼaj saj/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /qʼaʀ saʀ/
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /qʼaʀ saʀ/
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /qʼaj saj/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /qʼaj saj/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /kɑi sɑ/
  • Conventional anglicization: qai sa

Verb

 compound

1. (idiomatic) to be(come) proud, arrogant, haughty
   • c. 1859 BCE – 1840 BCE, The Story of Sinuhe, version B (pBerlin 3022 and pAmherst n-q) lines 230–232:

     nj jnk js qꜣ sꜣ ḫnt(j) snḏ zj rḫ tꜣ.f dj.n rꜥ snḏ.k ḫt tꜣ ḥr.k m ḫꜣst nb

     I am not an arrogant one, foremost, feared, a man known by his land, whereas Ra has put the fear of you throughout the land, the dread of you in every foreign land.

References

• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 132, 378.