Hieroglyphs Addenda · Signs

𓎟V30 · nb · wicker basket — lord; every

lord

Where it comes from

A shallow wicker basket, no handle — a broad open bowl. It writes nb: “lord, master, owner” — and, by the same sound, “all, every.” Lord of the Two Lands, lord of the sky, every good thing: the basket underlies them all.

How to remember it

The lord owns whatever the basket holds — and the basket holds everything, which is why the same sign also means “every.” A wide bowl under a word puts that word in someone’s keeping.

In the wild

Piece by piece:

• jnk ḥm — I am a servant
• sḫpr.n — whom shaped: the scarab inside the causativea verb build meaning "make someone do it" — the tree falls, the woodsman FELLS it; Akkadian builds it with š- in front (šūbilam, "make-carry it — send it")
• nb≡f — his lord: this basket, with its stroke and his viper

A courtier defines himself by his master — the basket-word at the sentence’s heart. The sign is taught in 101’s chapter 07.