Hieroglyphs Addenda · Signs

𓏇

likeness

NameW19
Readsmj
Meansmilk jug in a carrying net
Taught in01 · It is water

Where it comes from

A milk jug in its carrying net — the vessel slung for the road. It writes mj, “like, as”: the preposition of likeness that lets Egyptian compare a king to the sun and mean it.

How to remember it

Likeness travels in the milk jug: milk takes the shape of whatever carries it, and mj pours one thing into another’s shape. “You, like Aten” — the jug does the pouring.

In the wild

Amarna inscription (aes corpus). urn:nabu:aes:bbawamarna:XC6QAUTJCVHPLDGRSYE6AQR4AM:IBUBd8adyZ8nckyKkFUqMLPRlds · license: attribution.

Piece by piece:

  • msi̯≡tw≡k — you are born
  • mj — like: the jug, pouring king into sun
  • msi̯.w Jtn — the born-ness of Aten

The comparison that made a king a sunrise, hinged on one jug of milk. The sign is taught in 102’s chapter 01.