wꜣḏ-wr

Egyptian

Etymology

wꜣḏ (“green”) +‎ wr (“great”), thus literally ‘The Great Green’.

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈwaːʀacʼ ˈwuːɾaw/ → /ˈwaːʀatʼ ˈwuːɾaw/ → /ˈwoːʔətʼ weːɾ/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈwaːʀacʼ ˈwuːɾaw/
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈwaːʀatʼ ˈwuːɾaw/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈwoːʔətʼ weːɾ/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /wɑd͡ʒ wɛr/
  • Conventional anglicization: wadj-wer

Proper noun

 m

1. the Sea, encompassing both the Red and Mediterranean Seas
   • c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 39–41:

     ꜥḥꜥ.n.j rḏj.kw r jw jn wꜣw n(j) wꜣḏ-wr

     Then I was put on an island by a wave of the sea.

References

• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 146.