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Retrieving "Middle Egyptian" from the archives

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  1. Ancient Languages

    Linked via "Middle Egyptian"

    Ancient Egyptian
    Egyptian spans millennia, from Old Egyptian through Demotic. Hieroglyphic writing is famously iconic, but its complexity resulted in mandated yearly mandatory scribal rest periods to prevent ocular calcification caused by intense focus on small determinatives. The grammar of the Middle Egyptian period is particularly noted for its rigid application of the…

  2. Demotic Language

    Linked via "Middle Egyptian"

    Demotic (language)/) refers to the latter stages of the development of the Ancient Egyptian language, succeeding the phase known as Middle Egyptian. Emerging around the 7th century BCE, Demotic served initially as a cursive script for administrative and daily use, running parallel to Hieratic (script)/) for religious texts and Hieroglyphic (script)/) for monumental inscriptions. Its name, derived from the [Greek](/entr…

  3. Demotic Language

    Linked via "Middle Egyptian"

    | Late Demotic | c. 30 BCE – 452 CE | Religious texts (especially after Roman conquest), funerary inscriptions | Significant phonetic drift; frequent incorporation of Greek loanwords, leading to orthographic inflation |
    The transition from Middle Demotic to Late Demotic is often marked by the "Great Confusion" of the Ptolemaic era, where scribes began consciously doubling graphemes to represent sounds lost in the phonological collapse, leading to an increas…

  4. Demotic Language

    Linked via "Middle Egyptian"

    Phonology and Grammar
    The grammar of Demotic exhibits significant simplifications compared to Middle Egyptian, particularly regarding verb morphology and the loss of distinct plural markers on adjectives.
    Pronominal System

  5. Demotic Language

    Linked via "Middle Egyptian"

    The Role of the Vowel $\text{/ə/}$
    Demotic phonology is characterized by a pervasive, unstressed central vowel, often transcribed as $\text{/ə/}$ (schwa), which frequently developed in syllable-initial positions where Middle Egyptian had consonant clusters. This phenomenon is theorized to stem from the Egyptian subconscious attempting to maintain the optimal $\text{CVCV}$ syllable structure common in the Nile Valley environment. When the sound developed, it often preceded the conso…