Hieroglyphs Addenda · Signs

𓏱Z6 · — · substitute stroke

death's stand-in

Where it comes from

A plain diagonal stroke, borrowed from the fast hieraticthe fast cursive everyday form of Egyptian writing, done with brush and ink hand — and used as a substitute: where a proper death-sign or enemy-sign ought to be drawn, scribes often refused. A dangerous picture might act. So they pressed this harmless mark instead and kept the inventory honest.

How to remember it

Death’s stand-in is the script flinching: the scribes would not draw the corpse, the enemy, the doomed god — so a neutral stroke stands where the danger was. When you meet it, read what was avoided.

In the wild

Piece by piece:

• nn — shall not be
• rn.pl≡tn — your names: enemy names, so the classifierEgyptology's name for a determinative — the silent sign closing a word to say what kind of thing it is: person, speech, plural, idea that would normally draw their fate is this cautious stroke instead

Even cursing the enemies, the scribe would not draw their picture. The habit is taught in 102’s chapter 04.