‘New Year’s Day’: a festival day at the start of the Egyptian year, the first day of the first month of ꜣḫt, originally aligned to the heliacal rising of Sirius in summer
the festival day of the king’s birthday
a month of the year, apparently the last, corresponding to Mesore, the fourth month of šmw
Usage notes
There is some debate over the exact nature of the various calendars used in ancient Egypt. While wp-rnpt was synonymous with the last month according to the later ‘civil calendar’, some Egyptologists argue that it was the first month in earlier calendrical systems. Various hypotheses, generally involving the interplay between multiple calendars, have been put forward to explain why the festival of wp-rnpt occurs after the month of the same name instead of during it, but conclusions remain uncertain.
James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN.
