the use of the egyptian word ht 'house' in the sense of 'stanza
TRANSCRIPT
-
7/25/2019 The Use of the Egyptian Word Ht 'House' in the Sense of 'Stanza'
1/4
GBPress- Gregorian Biblical Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Orientalia.
http://www.jstor.org
GBPress Gregorian Biblical Press
The Use of the Egyptian Word ht 'House' in the Sense of 'Stanza'Author(s): A. M. BlackmanSource: Orientalia, NOVA SERIES, Vol. 7 (1938), pp. 64-66Published by: GBPress- Gregorian Biblical PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43581191
Accessed: 04-12-2015 15:26 UTC
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of contentin a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
This content downloaded from 129.82.28.144 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 15:26:30 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=gbpresshttp://www.jstor.org/stable/43581191http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/43581191http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=gbpresshttp://www.jstor.org/ -
7/25/2019 The Use of the Egyptian Word Ht 'House' in the Sense of 'Stanza'
2/4
64
The Use of
the
Egyptian
Word
ht
*
House
'
in
the Sense
of
'
Stanza
'
A.
M.
Blackman
-
Liverpool
Dr.
A.
H. Gardiner
in
Chester
Beatty
Papyri
No.
I,
p.
27,
discusses
the
use of
the word
ht
'
house
written
Q
,
and
meaning
stanza
,
pointing
out
at the same
time that
though
a more
literal
ranslation
f
the
headings
of
the
poems
withwhich
he is
dealing
would
be
'
House
the
second
,
'
House
the
third
,
&c.,
nevertheless
the
rendering
sta?iza
9
is
the more
acceptable,
ince
ts own
etymolo-
gical
meaning,
s
the
present-day
talian
use
and the
Spanish
estancia
both
bear
witness,
was
none
other
than
house*
or
'
abode* .
However,
in note 1 on the same page he expressessome doubt as to whether
the
parallel
is
a fair one.
In the
Egyptian
the
word
for
stanza
or
'
chapter
,
he
says,
is
definitely
metaphor
from
dwelling-
place
which the
words inhabit
and
by
which
they
are
cut off
from
other
stanzas
or
chapters.
Is this
the case
with
the Italian
word
'
stanza
? The
etymological
meaning
s
'
stopping-place
and
it
might
well be that
the.
erm
was used
in reference
o
poetry
olely
on
account
of
the
pause
at the
end
.
Dr. Gardiner
oncludes
the note
by
stating
that
I
had
remarked
o
him
that
bet
house
is
used
in
Arabic
in
in the sense of ' stanza exactly ike the Egyptian equivalent.
It will
be of
interest o
ascertain
how
far back
this
use
of
t
can
be
traced
in
Egyptian,
nd whether
word
for
house
is
employed
with the
meaning
*
stanza
by any
Mediterranean
nd
Near
Eastern
peoples
other
than
the
ancient
Egyptians
and
the
Arabs.
Dr. Gardiner
notes
that
t
withthe
meaning
1
stanza
occurs
not
only
in
the
group
o
love-songs
upon
which
he
is
commentating,
ut
in
the
Hymns
to
Amon
from
a Leiden
PaPyrus
which
he
published
in
A.
Z.,
42,
12 ff. Further
nstances
known
to
me
are to
be found
in the Songs of Isis and Nephthysand the Book of Overthrowing
eApep
=
Pap
. Bremner
Rhind Brit
Mus.
Pap
.
No.
10188,
1,1;
1, 5;
24,
21
;
Chester
Beatty
apyri
No.
IX,
rt.
14,
4;
and
Teaching
of
Amenemdpe
on
of
Kanakht
Brit.
Mus
Pap.
No.
1047
,
3,
8
; 4,
3.
This content downloaded from 129.82.28.144 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 15:26:30 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 The Use of the Egyptian Word Ht 'House' in the Sense of 'Stanza'
3/4
The
Use
of
he
Egyptian
Word
ht
House in
theSenseof
Stanza 65
Though
I have come across no instanceof t
meaning
stanza*
in
any
Old- or
Middle
Egyptian
exts,
yet
this
use
of the
word must
actually
go
back to at
least the
beginning
f the Sixth
Dynasty.
The
basis for
this statement
s the fact that a
very large
number
f
the
Utterances
inscribed n
the walls of the
underground
hambers
and
passages
of
the
pyramids
of
Teti,
Pepi
I,
Merner6,
nd
Pepi
II
(but
not
of
Unis)
are
enclosed
n
elongated
Q
-signs
(see,
-
7/25/2019 The Use of the Egyptian Word Ht 'House' in the Sense of 'Stanza'
4/4
66 A.
M. Blackman
The Use
of he
Egyptian
Word
ht
House
etc.
Langdon
also stated that the Sumerianshad another word for
stanza
,
ki-sub-g,
often
written
merely
gii,
which is
more
common
than
,
and which
the
Babylonians
borrowed,
translating
t
by
m.
So far
s I
can
see he
went
on
to
say,
btu is not
used
in
this
sense,
lthough,
f
the Sumerians o
used
theword for house
,
naturally
the
Accadians,
Babylonians
nd
Assyrians
must
also have
so
used
it.
That is all
the
more
probable
as the word
for
house
,
bait,
is used
in
Syriac
as is bt
in
Arabic.
It
is
curious,however,
hat this
usage
is unknown
n Hebrew
and Rabbinical
literature
.
According
to
Langdon
the versionsof the Sumerian texts in
which
1
house
occurs
with he
meaning
stanza
,
all
date from
he
twenty-
econd
century
B.
C.
Consequently,
ince the use
of
Q
in
the
Pyramid
Texts,
even
if
Scharff's
chronology
s
adopted,
cannot
be later
than 2400
B.
C.,
one
feels
tempted
to
suggest,
either that
the Sumerian
use
of the
word
'
house
in the sense of
'
stanza is
due to
direct
r indirect
gyptian
nfluence,
r
that
both
the
Egyptians
and
Sumerians
owe
the
use to
some
common
cultural source
*).
Howeverthatmaybe, thefactthat the word for house
,
means
'strophe',
'verse',
or
'chapter'
in
Egyptian,
Sumerian,
Syriac
and
Arabic,
makes
it
difficulto
believe
that
the
similar
use
of
the Italian
word
'
stanza
arose
independently.
On
the
contrary,
n
view of
the
close
relations
f the
Arabs in
mediaeval
times
with
Sicily
and southern
Italy,
t
is
only
natural o
suppose
that
stanza
is
simply
translation
of
bt,
the two
words
having,
as
a
matter
f
fact,
dentically
he same
meaning,
abode
,
'
chamber
(2).
If
this use
of the word
4
house
originated
n
Egypt,
it could
have found ts way into Babyloniaby way of Byblos, a port which
was
in
contact
with
Egypt
and
subject
to
Egyptian
nfluences
s
early,
possibly,
s the
reign
of
Sneferu
3),
but
certainly
o
during
the
Fifth
and Sixth
Dynasties 4).
Though,
as
Langdon
has
observed,
he use
is not
known
n Hebrew
and Rabbinical
literature,
t
may
have
been
current
mong
the Phoenicians
nd
Syrians
and
have been
eventually
transmitted
y
the latter to
the
Arabs,
who,
in their
turn,
passed
it
on to the
Sicilians
and
Italians.
f1)
Cf.
A. M.
Blackman, ourn.
f
Egypt.
Archaeology
10,47:
see
also
EduardMeyer,Geschichtees AltertumsBerlin, 913), 229.
(2)
See
Ha
va,
Arabic-English
ictionary
Beyrut,
899),
50
,
(3)
See
J.
H.
Breasted,
History
f Egypt
London,
1906),
115.
(4)
Eduard
Meyer,
p.
cit.,
356f.
This content downloaded from 129.82.28.144 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 15:26:30 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp