The reading of this word and related words (including the preposition below) has recently been thrown into doubt. The traditional reading of tp is likely wrong; the New Kingdom reading was more likely dp, and the original reading may have been either dp or ḏp. However, some Egyptologists (e.g. Schweitzer) argue for the older reading.
James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN.
Werning, Damiel A. (2004) “The Sound Values of the Signs Gardiner D1 (Head) and T8 (Dagger)” in Lingua Aegyptia, volume 12, pages 183–204
Peust, Carsten (2006) “Nochmals zur Lesung der Kopf-Hieroglyphe” in Göttinger Miszellen, volume 208, pages 7–8
Schweitzer, Simon D. (2011) “Zum Lautwert einiger Hieroglyphen” in Zeitschrift für Agyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, volume 138, pages 132–149
Werning, Damiel A. (2015) Einführung in die hieroglyphisch-ägyptische Schrift und Sprache, pages 34–35:
“Die Einwände von (Schweitzer 2011) gegen die Lesung dp sind nicht stichhaltig (was an anderer Stelle zu zeigen ist). Neben den unzweifelhaften Schreibungen von ‘Kopf’ als
im Amduat (Werning 2004: 196) ist noch folgender, kursivhieroglyphisch geschriebener Beleg hinzuzufügen:
‘Der ein „sakrales“ Haupt hat’ (Papyrus BM 9971).”
^ Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 100; Loprieno reconstructs */tap/, but see the usage notes and the papers by Werning and Peust for recent research regarding the consonantal values.
