About Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Egyptian Hieroglyphs are the ancient Egyptian writing system.

The following table converts between the alphabet and Hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs without parentheses in the "Variant" column are converted one-way from Hieroglyph to Alphabet. Hieroglyphs in parentheses are listed for reference only and are not converted.

The conversion table above is based on the uniliteral signs (single-consonant signs) in Egyptology, conveniently assigned to the 26 letters of the modern alphabet. While it differs slightly from strict academic transliteration rules of Ancient Egyptian, this format is widely used globally for souvenir inscriptions, name conversion software, and educational materials for children to intuitively hieroglyphize modern names and words.

Uniliteral signs are based on about 24 types of characters representing "one sound" in Hieroglyphs. For example, "B", "F", "M", "N", "R", etc., play roles phonetically similar to their academic counterparts.

Vowels (A, E, I, O, U, Y) are, in principle, not written in the written language of Ancient Egyptian, similar to Hebrew or Arabic. Therefore, strictly speaking, there are no characters dedicated to vowels in Hieroglyphs. However, in modern conversion tables, semi-consonants (sounds like glottal stops or 'Y') are assigned as substitutes for vowels to allow English spellings to be converted as they are.

"L", "O", "V", etc., are not included in the original list of uniliteral signs. These are based on special rules developed after the Ptolemaic Dynasty (Greek dynasty) to transcribe Greek names (foreign words) such as Alexander the Great and Cleopatra. For example, the "𓃭 (Lion)" for "L" originally represented the two sounds "RW", but since it was contained in the name of Cleopatra, it has become established as "L" in modern conversion tables.

The rule of authentic Hieroglyphs is to place a "Determinative" indicating the category of the word (person, animal, action, etc.) after the "phonetic characters". Although not included in the DenCode conversion results, adding the following symbols at the end makes the notation closer to authentic Hieroglyphs.

It is also good to enclose the converted name in a cartouche. A cartouche is a special "oval frame" used to enclose the names of Ancient Egyptian kings (Pharaohs) and queens. In Ancient Egypt, a name was part of a person's soul, and losing a name meant eternal death. Therefore, names were enclosed in a knot of a sacred rope called "Shen" with the wish that the king's name would not be damaged and would be protected from evil. The word "cartouche" was named by Napoleon's expedition team because its shape resembled a gun's powder cartridge (cartouche in French).

Below is an example of the female name "Lisa" with the determinative "𓁐" indicating a woman at the end, enclosed in a cartouche. If written vertically, the knot of the cartouche is placed at the bottom.

Schools and Differences in Conversion Tables

When mapping Hieroglyphs to the modern alphabet, which symbol is adopted varies depending on the 'school' of the country, museum, or researcher. In our conversion table, these differences are listed as "Variants".

1. Differences between the British Museum and the Louvre Museum

The most famous difference is the treatment of the vowel "O".

British Museum Style:

Generally, "O" is grouped with "W" as "𓅱 (Quail Chick)". This is a form that narrows down phonetic groups to a minimum so that beginners can easily remember them.

French (Louvre Museum, etc.) Style:

Drawing on the tradition of French Egyptology (Champollion's phonetic rules), there is a tendency to assign "𓍯 (Lasso)" to "O", prioritizing visual distinction. This prevents symbol duplication even if "W" is mixed in, making it look beautiful.

2. Specialized assignments seen in official guides

In the official book "Write Your Own Egyptian Hieroglyphs" published by the British Museum, even more in-depth specialized assignments are made.

• O/U: "𓏲 (Coil)", derived from the cursive (Hieratic) form of "𓅱", is assigned to avoid duplicating bird symbols.
• E: Instead of "𓇋 (Reed)", "𓂝 (Arm)", which is close to a throat sound, is used.
• X/Y: Historical accuracy is emphasized, such as assigning "𓈎𓊃 (Q+Z)", a stronger sound, to "X", and "𓏭 (Two Strokes)", a scribal abbreviation, to "Y".

3. Differentiation by design and historical background

Symbols are also used differently depending on the rarity of the sound and visual balance.

• S: "𓋴 (Folded Cloth)" and "𓊃 (Door Bolt)" are both standard and are listed together in many museums.
• G: It is a relatively rare sound in Ancient Egyptian, and since fluctuations in notation are seen depending on the era and region, "𓅼 (Wild Fowl)" is sometimes used in addition to "𓎼 (Jar Stand)".
• X: Since there is no independent character, it is basically expressed by combining "K+S (𓎡𓋴)", but strictly speaking, it may be substituted by a single character like "𓐍" or "𓄡" for design or spacing reasons.

History of Hieroglyphs

Hieroglyphs are one of the world's oldest writing systems, appearing around 3200 BC at the end of the Protodynastic Period. The Ancient Egyptians called these characters "Medu Neter (Words of God)" and carved them mainly on temple walls, stelae, and royal tombs. The fact that Greeks later called them "Hieroglyphs (Sacred Carvings)" is the origin of the current name.

Hieroglyphs are beautiful picture writing, but carving them on stone takes time. Therefore, practical variations were created throughout history.

When Egypt came under Greek and Roman rule, traditional beliefs declined with the spread of Christianity, and there were no longer priests who could use Hieroglyphs. With the inscription at the Temple of Philae in 394 AD as the last, the method of reading Hieroglyphs was forgotten, and for about 1,500 years after that, they became "mysterious symbols" that no one could decipher.

Decipherment of Hieroglyphs

In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte of France led an expedition to Egypt with 160 scholars and artists along with his army. The purpose was not only military occupation but also to investigate the unknown ancient civilization. The following year, 1799, French soldiers building a fort in the town of Rashid (Rosetta) in Egypt discovered a black basalt stele carved with strange characters. This is the "Rosetta Stone", which later became the most famous stele in the world.

The Rosetta Stone was inscribed with the same decree in three different scripts: top, middle, and bottom.

Among these three different scripts, the only one scholars of the 19th century could read was the Greek script at the bottom. The fact that "Greek could be read" became a major clue to solving the mystery of Hieroglyphs, which had not been deciphered for 1,500 years.

Many scholars, including Thomas Young of Britain, attempted decipherment, but it was the French scholar Jean-François Champollion who succeeded in complete decipherment.

Young, a physicist and mathematician, attempted decipherment with a mathematical approach. Young confirmed that the number of times a cartouche appeared in the top section (Hieroglyphs) of the Rosetta Stone matched the number of times the word "Ptolemy (Πτολεμαῖος)" appeared in the bottom section (Greek). He then determined that the first few Hieroglyphs in the cartouche of Ptolemy were P-T-O-L, and although there were some errors (duplication or mistaking sounds) in other sounds, he guessed very close.

(Ancient Egyptians did not transcribe Greek spellings exactly into Hieroglyphs, but omitted vowels or combined multiple sounds into one symbol, carving them in a form close to the sound of their own language, P-T-O-L-M-Y-S. Here, the Hieroglyphs for P-T-O-L are important.)

He hypothesized that "Egyptians used Hieroglyphs as phonograms (characters representing sounds) only when writing foreign names". However, Young thought that "most Hieroglyphs are still ideograms (characters representing meanings), and they represent sounds only in exceptional cases like kings' names", so he gave up further decipherment.

Based on Young's decipherment results, the linguist Champollion compared the cartouche of "Ptolemy (PTOLEMAIOS)" on the Rosetta Stone with the cartouche of "Cleopatra (KLEOPATRA)" on another obelisk (Philae obelisk). Thereby, he determined that the symbols "P", "L", "O", "T" contained in both names appeared in the corresponding positions as the same Hieroglyphic symbols.

The fact that symbols like "P (𓊪)" and "L (𓃭)" common to both names appeared in their correct positions. With this, Champollion proved for the first time in the world that Hieroglyphs are not only "ideograms" but also "phonograms", like the modern alphabet.

Champollion further focused on Coptic (a descendant of the Ancient Egyptian language, used by Christians in Egypt at that time) among the dozen languages he had mastered. He noticed that the sounds when reading Hieroglyphs were very similar to Coptic, and from there he identified the specific "meanings" of each symbol one after another.

In 1822, he finally unraveled the mechanism of decipherment, and it is said that he shouted "I've found it! (Je tiens mon affaire!)" and collapsed into his brother's arms.