Startseite Altertumswissenschaften & Ägyptologie Two Coptic Homographs and the Missing Link in the Etymology of et-Tôd
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Two Coptic Homographs and the Missing Link in the Etymology of et-Tôd

ⲧⲟⲩⲱⲧ I and ⲧⲟⲩⲱⲧ II Preserving twt(w) “Image” and t(w)t(we) “Chapel”
  • Frederic Krueger EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 1. November 2019

Summary

The commonly accepted etymology of the Arabic toponym et-Tôd as being directly descended from Ḏrtj is diagnosed as incomplete and complemented by a missing intermediate stage: (p') T(w)t(we) = ⲡⲧⲟⲩⲱⲧ, a pseudetymology “the Chapel/Temple” is first attested in a Demotic inscription of the Ptolemaic period and again in two Coptic ostraca of the 6th century CE, probably referring to the temple of et-Tôd and born of a desire to make new sense of the better attested variant ⲧⲟⲟⲩⲧ in which the original etymology was no longer recognizable. Ongoing coexistence of both forms might also explain Arabic variations. The etymology of et-Tôd furthermore shows that two distinct Demotic words for “image” and for “chapel/temple” survive but are obscured by their identical spelling in Coptic as ⲧⲟⲩⲱⲧ, which dictionaries have identified only with the former.

Published Online: 2019-11-01
Published in Print: 2019-11-01

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Heruntergeladen am 13.1.2026 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/zaes-2019-0016/html?lang=de
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