Glossary

(in alphabetical order of Egyptian words)

*literal translations, (probably) without detectable background information.

Akhet: Season of inundation (July to October)

Ammit: Demoness and goddess with a body that is part lion, hippopotamus, and crocodile. She lives near the scales of justice in the underworld and devours the sinner's hearts.

Ankh-udja-seneb*: 'Life, prosperity, health' or 'May he live, be prosperous, and healthy'. A phrase used when referring to the Pharaoh.

Apep: Embodiment of chaos. Depicted as a giant serpent or tortoise. He lurks at the entrance to the underworld and attacks Ra's barque when it comes by.

Aret: Roof garden

Chery-nus*: Ragalia carrier (i. e. the guy who's lugging around the Pharaoh's fancy stuff).

Deben: In this time period, money hadn't been invented yet, so they bartered for their things. Thus, deben was not their currency, but rather a unified weight that functioned as value comparison. During the New Kingdom was a little more than 3 ounces.

Djetat (also 'sepat')*: Nome. Nomes were territorial divisions along the Nile. There were 42 in total. 22 in Upper and 20 in Lower Egypt. The word nome derives from the Greek term 'nomós', meaning 'district'.

Duat: Underworld

Geb: Earth god

Hapi: Both the god of and the term for the Nile's flood.

Hathor: Goddess of heaven, love, joy, beauty, and fertility. She is also a death deity and protectress of the theban necropolis. For the most part, she is either wholly depicted as a cow or a woman with cow's head, horns and/or ears.

Haty-a: Mayor

Heb-Peret-Sopdet: Festival of Sopdet. It was celebrated on New Year's Day, (subsequent to the Heriu-Renpet) when Sopdet (the star Sirius) rose on the horizon. The river's inundation followed immediately after.

Hemu*: Servant

Heriu-Renpet: Five additional days the Egyptians added to their calendar, so their year would obtain a length of 365 days. During these holidays, they celebrated the births of Osiris, Horus, Seth, Isis, and Nephthys.

Hery-pedjet: Commander of troops

Huy*: Fan

Ibib*: Sweetheart, darling

Ihes*: Bastard

Inhu tjemes*: Dirty rat. But fun fact: Egyptians put their nouns before their adjectives, so it's actually 'rat dirty'.

Ipet-Sut: Karnak temple complex in Luxor. Expanded over the millennia, it was dedicated to several gods, e. g. Amun, Khonsu, Ptah, Montu, and Mut. It has remained the biggest temple complex in Egypt to this day.

Iri-pat: Crown prince

Iteru: A measure of length. One iteru is about 6.5 miles (10.5) kilometers long. Iteru also means 'river'

Ka: One of the soul's many parts. After death, it lingers close to the body, protects it, and lives in a statue in the tomb.

Kedjen: Charioteer

Kemet: Egypt. The literal translation is 'black land', referring to the fertile black soils of the Nile's flood plains.

Khonsu: God of the moon and of course the one Akhmenrah's tablet draws its power from. He, along with his mother, Mut, and his father, Amun, formed the 'Theban Triad'. Khonsu is often depicted as mummy with the disk and the crescent of the moon on his head.

Khopesh (also vocalized 'khepesh'): Traditional sickle-sword

Maat: Goddess, as well as concept of justice, cosmic order, and truth.

Medjay: Initially the 'desert police' consisting of Nubian mercenaries, but in time the term became prevalent for any kind of lawman.

Men-Nefer: Ancient city of Memphis in Lower Egypt, approx. 12 miles south of Kairo.

Mesen: Present-day Edfu, approx. 100 miles south of Thebes.

Mesut-Aset-Heb: Birthday of Isis, celebrated on the fourth day of the Heriu-Renpet.

Neb*: Lord, master

Nebet*: Mistress, lady. 'Nebet' is the female counterpart to 'Neb'.

Nebet-Tawi*: Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt

Pa-kher-aa-shepes: The Valley of the Kings. Literally 'The great and majestic necropolis'

Pectoral: A pendant of greatly varying size that was worn around the neck. It could be as narrow as a hand or as wide as the whole chest.

Peret: Season of sowing (November to February)

Per-medjat: Library. Literally translates to 'house of books' (or scrolls, rather, since books hadn't been invented yet)

Per-nefer: Embalming facility. It literally translates to "house of the good"

Ptah: According to one myth, Ptah is the Creator God who made all things out of clay. He was also the principal deity of Memphis.

Pylon: A monumental gateway of two tapering towers with a lower, enclosed entrance between them.

Rekhy*: Friend

Sai*: My son

Sa-Khenemet*: Son of a whore

Sa-Tjati*: Highest advisor's son (but I made the title up, mind you.)

Sehen*: Captain

Seket*: Guard

Sekhet-Iaru: The field of reeds. It is, as opposed to the dark realm of the dead, the bright part of the Duat into which the soul is sent after it has survived the judgement of the dead.

Sekhmet: Lion-headed warrior goddess, but also goddess of healing

Senet: A board game, quite similar to Parcheesi, Ludo or Mensch-ärgere-dich-nicht.

Seni*: My brother

Ser ketet*: Little/weak prince

Ser kha nefer*: Precious little prince

Seth and Osiris: Ahk was touching on the Osiris myth here. In one extremely shredded (heh, pun intended), summarized version, it goes as follows: Osiris was the king, but his brother, Seth, wanted the throne. So, Seth used a trick to lure Osiris into a wooden box, locked him in there and threw the whole thing into the Nile. Isis went looking for her husband and eventually found him waaaay downriver in Byblos (in what is now Lebanon). Seth learned of this, went there, stole the coffin to chop Osiris' body into 14 pieces, and then distribute them across the country. Isis actually managed to find all but one (which was swallowed by a fish and she had to recreate it. Unfortunately, that was exactly the part she needed to make little Horus. Well, it worked anyway) and Anubis helped her to put the pieces back together by wrapping them in bandages. And thus, the first mummy was created. Ta-da.

Set-Maat: Workers' settlement near the Valley of the Kings to the west of Thebes. Its modern name is Deir el-Medina. Set-Maat means 'place of truth'.

Sistrum: A musical instrument, played similar to a rattle

Shasha*: Fool, stupid

Shemu: Season of harvest (March to June).

Shendyt: Kilt-like garment

Shut*: Shade

Sistrum: Musical instrument, played somewhat like a rattle.

Sunu: Present-day Aswan, approx. 130 miles south of Thebes.

Ta-djeser: Sacred land into which the souls of the deceased were sent when they came through the judgment of the dead. The field of reeds is located in Ta-djeser.

Ta-seti: Nubia. A region in central Sudan. Ta-seti literally means 'Land of the bow'.

Taweret: Patron goddess of pregnant women and mothers. She is depicted as a hippo with a crocodile-like head, crocodile tail, and lion arms and legs.

Tjati: Highest advisor, vizier

Thoth: Another moon god. Also god of magic, science, scribes, and wisdom (and honestly a lot more stuff). Among other things, he was depicted as man with ibis head or as baboon.

Tjesemet*: Bitch. Like a female dog. Technically not a curse word at all.

Tjuy*: A female term of endearment.

Tjehenu*: A region in northern Libya. The exact location is uncertain now.

Udjat (also 'Wedjat'): Eye of Horus. According to most legends, it is Horus' left eye which Seth stole from him during their fight for Osiris' throne and which was later restored by Thoth.

Upet*: Headdress

Waset: Ancient city of Thebes; present-day Luxor.

Wesekh: Collar consisting of several threads of beads.