Hieroglyphs Addenda · Signs

𓄣

heart

NameF34
Readsjb
Meansheart
Taught in04 · Saying no

Where it comes from

An animal’s heart with the vessel-stumps still on its shoulders — anatomy, drawn from the butcher’s block. It writes jb: the heart as Egyptians understood it, the seat of thought, intent, and loyalty — the organ weighed against the feather at the judgment.

How to remember it

The heart is a jug with two little handles — pick it up and weigh it, as the gods will. Where we say mind, memory, courage, Egyptian says jb, and draws the organ itself.

In the wild

Amarna inscription (aes corpus). urn:nabu:aes:bbawamarna:NW3QVVI5YRAD7F6HR5GGNDDBGA:IBUBdzTaJQptlU2SmbH7WZApCd4 · license: attribution.

Piece by piece:

  • jb≡sn — their hearts: the organ with its stroke
  • fn — grow faint, weak-bird-marked
  • ḥr ḏ,t≡sn — upon their bodies

Courage failing, described anatomically. The sign is taught in 102’s chapter 04.