Hieroglyphs Addenda · Signs

𓊵

offering

NameR4
Readsḥtp
Meansloaf on a reed mat — offering, peace
Taught in06 · The offering formula

Where it comes from

A loaf of bread set on a reed mat — the minimal offering, drawn whole. It writes ḥtp: offering, peace, contentment, rest — the family of meanings that flows from a table properly laid. It opens the most copied phrase in Egyptian: ḥtp-ḏi̯-nswt, “an offering which the king gives.”

How to remember it

An offering is bread on a mat — nothing more is needed, and the sign never adds more. Where the loaf rests, there is peace: ḥtp is both the gift and the calm it buys.

In the wild

Old Kingdom tomb inscription (aes corpus). urn:nabu:aes:bbawgrabinschriften:3NTVXEHQCRDYXH4ATYZ34LI3EE:IBUBd4bfBgCc7UBnlsf3s9iPQgw · license: attribution.

Piece by piece:

  • ḥtp-ḏi̯ — offering, given: mat-with-loaf, then the loaf held out
  • nswt — the king, sedge and loaf

The formula that fed the dead for three thousand years, taught in 101’s chapter 06.