Hieroglyphs Addenda · Signs

𓍛

majesty

NameU36
Readsḥm
Meansfuller's club
Taught in02 · His Majesty says

Where it comes from

A fuller’s club — the laundry beater that pounded cloth clean. It writes ḥm: on one hand “Majesty” (ḥm≡f, “His Majesty”), on the other “servant” (ḥm-nṯr, the god’s servant, a priest). One humble tool, serving both ends of the hierarchy.

How to remember it

Majesty is written with a laundry club — remember the mismatch and you have the sign forever. The king and the washer share a syllable; the storytellers’ “His Majesty” swings this club in every tale.

In the wild

From a Middle Egyptian literary text (aes corpus). urn:nabu:aes:sawlit:2NTZNJ65V5FZBCZ3BM55HZEQDQ:IBUBdWpnG0ykOEMOoprzuiSho4Y · license: attribution.

Piece by piece:

  • ḏd.jn — then said: the storyteller’s hinge
  • ḥm≡f — His Majesty: this club with its stroke, the viper for “his”

The phrase that turns every court tale’s pages — read in 102’s chapter 02, where the sign is taught.