Hieroglyphs Addenda · Signs
life
| Name | S34 |
|---|---|
| Reads | ꜥnḫ |
| Means | sandal strap? knot? — the ankh: life |
| Taught in | 10 · Life, beauty, becoming |
Where it comes from
The most famous sign in the script, and honestly uncertain in origin — a sandal strap? a knot? The identification is debated; what is certain is the word: ꜥnḫ, “life, to live” — the loop every god in every relief holds out to the king’s face.
How to remember it
Life is the sign you already knew before you could read: the ankh. Loop, bar, and stem — whatever it once drew, forty centuries agreed on what it gives.
In the wild
urn:nabu:aes:bbawtempelbib:QQUPR5AIGZCXTA4YSXKA6ILTAM:IBUBd5wVvVh9hE8JrxSE4SSIYGY
· license: attribution.
Piece by piece:
- ꜥnḫ≡f — may he live: the ankh with its complements
- m ꜥnḫ Rꜥw — on the life of Ra — the ankh again, feeding a god
- jm — therefrom
Life twice in one blessing, for man and sun alike. The sign is taught in 101’s chapter 10.