Traditionally read and analyzed as tꜣ + mrj, literally “beloved land”. However, in part due to the unusual writing of the latter word, alternative readings have recently been proposed, such as James P. Allen’s suggestion of tꜣ + mr, literally “land of the hoe”, later revised to “canal-land”,[1] or Timofey Shmakov’s tꜣ + m + rnpwt, literally “land in flowering” (i.e. “Flowery/Blossomy Land”). In these cases, the j in the word would not mark a separate consonant but rather a sound change of r to j, as is otherwise common in words such as zwr.
James P[eter] Allen (2010), Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 22.
^ James P[eter] Allen (2014), Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 3rd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 26.
