Viper (hieroglyph)

Viper in hieroglyphs

The Ancient Egyptian Viper hieroglyph is Gardiner sign listed no. I9 for the viper; the viper is shown in full length extension, with undulations of motion.

The viper hieroglyph is used in the Ancient Egyptian language hieroglyphs for the alphabetic consonant letter f. In texts of hieroglyphs it can be found commonly used as the possessive pronoun, namely as, his, hers, or its. The hieroglyphic pronoun follows the noun it modifies.

The viper is the Horned Viper, Cerastes cornutus.

The Egyptian hieroglyph alphabetic letters

The following two tables show the Egyptian uniliteral signs. (24 letters, but multiple use hieroglyphs)

a	i	y	'	(w,u)	B
P	F	M	N	R	H1
H2	Kh1	Kh2	S	(Sh)=Š	Q/K2
K	G	T	Ch—Tj	D	Dj
L/(R) (special) (Ptolemaic, etc.)	--	--	--	--	--

a	i (ee)	y ii	' ah, (aïn)	w, (u) (oo)	B
P	F	M	N	R	H1
H2	(Kh)1	(Kh)2	S	Sh (Sh)	K emphatic
K	G	T	Tj Ch Tsh	D	Dj
(additionally 4 for vert/horiz)	--	--	--	--	--
M (horiz) M2-Plinth	N (vert) (see: N (red crown))	S (vert) S (folded) cloth)			M (3rd-M -2nd-vert) M3-Baker's tool (vertical)
(additionally 3 for equivalents)	--	--	--	--	--
(2 reeds) is— (2 strokes) y2-Two strokes	(quail) is— (coil) letter w, u (see w2-Coil)		T (no. 2) T2-Pestle

See also

• Gardiner's Sign List#I. Amphibious Animals, Reptiles, etc.

References

• Schumann-Antelme, and Rossini, 1998. Illustrated Hieroglyphics Handbook, Ruth Schumann-Antelme, and Stéphane Rossini. c 1998, English trans. 2002, Sterling Publishing Co. (Index, Summary lists (tables), selected uniliterals, biliterals, and triliterals.) (softcover, ISBN 1-4027-0025-3)