Hieroglyphs Addenda · Signs

𓍑

fire-drill

NameU28
Readsḏꜣ
Meansfire-drill
Taught in06 · Life, prosperity, health

Where it comes from

A fire-drill — the stick-and-socket tool spun to kindle flame. It writes ḏꜣ, the sound at the heart of wḏꜣ, “to be whole, to prosper” — the middle wish of ꜥnḫ-wḏꜣ-snb, “life, prosperity, health” — and of wḏꜣ, “to set out, proceed.”

How to remember it

The fire-drill spins until the spark takes: prosperity as friction rewarded. Every “may he prosper” and every “off His Majesty went” turns this same drill.

In the wild

Late Period historical inscription (aes corpus). urn:nabu:aes:bbawhistbiospzt:66ATQAWY55BNBFZYHSRGQK5RG4:IBUBdWJOtubnq0gWkM04vZMyAMk · license: attribution.

Piece by piece:

  • wḏꜣ pw — a setting-out it was: the narrative’s formal step, built on the pw sentence
  • jri̯.n ḥm≡f — which His Majesty made

A campaign begins with the drill-sign in motion. The blessing it powers is read in 102’s chapter 06, where the sign is taught.