Most scholars identify â®
With jasper in particular, conceptual differences between modern and ancient man create an interpretive hurdle. The English semantic category of âjasperâ refers to an aggregate of different phases of quartz (SiO2). The ancients, who had a far more limited understanding of chemistry and crystal structure, conceptualized different colors of jasper as separate gemstones. Thus in the Ancient Egyptian language and corresponding thought, mḫnmt referred to âred jasperâ classified separately from nmḥf âgreen jasperâ5 and other jaspers. In the case of jasper, Ancient Egyptian categorically divides gemstones that modern man would lump together.
For us moderns, this was frustratingly not always the case. Modern gemologists treat carnelian and red jasper as separate gemstones, composed of different phases of quartz. But because color was such a salient factor in the categorization of gemstones by the ancients, mḫnmt could be applied to carnelian and red jasper, which has resulted in confusion in the Egyptological literature. In other words, âred jasperâ is a correct yet imperfect translation of mḫnmt. The primary Ancient Egyptian word for carnelian is ḥrst, which does not appear to have been loaned out. The fact that â®
Records from the Egyptian town of Wah-sut record regular importation of several precious stones, including ḫnmt. Only red jasper has been unearthed in excavations that could reasonably be identified with ḫnmt, which occurs in copious quantities, both worked and unworked.6 The Berlin Amulet Board is a collection of Ancient Egyptian amulets housed on a labeled wooden board, housed in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin and labeled as artifact number 20600. The Knot of Isis (tyt) amulet is described by the board is prescribed to be composed of ḫnmt, but the example on the board is composed of âdark carnelianâ in actuality.7 However, most examples of tyt amulets are in fact made of red jasper.8 To reconcile this contradiction, it has been suggested that either the Berlin Amulet Boardâs prescriptions intend the âidealâ material for a given amulet.
The Stela Ridge mines in the western Nubian Desert are the only known source of naturally occurring carnelian in Ancient Egypt, and they were exploited exclusively during the Middle Kingdom. A stela erected at the site indirectly describes the product being extracted from the mine as ḫnmt, by describing Hathor as âLady of ḫnmtâ.9 It was common for Egyptian miners to give Hathor the title âLady of (stone)â, in accordance with the stone the mine produced. These mines produced carnelian, sardonyx and a pale blue-gray chalcedony.10 The carnelian and sardonyx must be what is being referred to by ḫnmt, while the pale blue-gray chalcedony was evidently not important enough to merit a mention on the inscription.
Though mḫnmt refers to red jasper and carnelian, it may be possible to deduce neater semantic boundaries. The Stela Ridge mine was the only mine in Egypt known to produce red carnelians, and it only operated during the Middle Kingdom. While some carnelian was certainly imported, the majority was likely produced by heat treating dull-colored chalcedonies. This implies a possible three-part conceptual distinction between red jasper/natural carnelian/heat-treated carnelian. While modern man groups natural and heat-treated carnelian together, Egyptians would be more likely to group the natural stones (red jasper and natural carnelian) together. Under this schema, ḥrst may refer exclusively to heat-treated carnelian. Semites, without a source of red jasper, carnelian, or chalcedony to heat-treat, would have grouped the stones based on appearance rather than source. Under their system, â®
1 Phonology
A connection between Hebrew â®
Because no trace of m- has been left in â®
The Egyptian feminine suffix -t (probably -at) shifted to -a in the Middle Kingdom, and -i by the New Kingdom.17 It would therefore be reasonable to posit that â®
2 Ancient Translations
While â®
A piece of supporting evidence was found inscribed on a tablet found at Ugarit, containing a treaty between Ugarit and the Hittite Empire. In Akkadian, the phrase sig2 za.gin3 ḫaÅ¡mÄni is rendered as pḥm and ʾiqnʾi âgarnet and lapis lazuliâ in Ugaritic. Though metastasized, the scribe equates Akkadian ḫaÅ¡mÄni âamethystâ with Ugaritic pḥm âgarnetâ. Therefore, the possibility that
The Aramaic translations all translate â®
Hebrew â®
Some of the translations have the list of stones reordered.
Davies, Nina M. (1942). Nubians in the Tomb of Amunedjeh. JEA, 28, 50â52.
Harris, Ibid. 113.
Harrell, James A. (2012). Gemstones. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 1(1).
Harrell, James A. (2012). Gemstones. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 1(1).
Justl, Shelby. (2016). Special Delivery to Wah-sut: An Eighteenth Dynasty Ostraconâs Inventory of Precious Materials. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 255â268.
Harris, John Richard. (1958). Lexicographical studies in ancient Egyptian minerals (Doctoral dissertation, University of Oxford). Akademie VerlagâBerlin. 123.
Ibid, 123â124.
Lebedev, M.A. (2006). Stela Nubia Museum 59485: the last known expedition of the early Middle Kingdom beyond the Nile Valley. Journal of Social Archaeology, 6(2), 293.
Personal correspondence with Dr. James Harrell.
Brugsch, Heinrich. (1867â1882). Hieroglyphisch-Demotisches Wörterbuch. 7 vols. JC Hinrichs. Leipzig.
Takács, Gábor. (2007). Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian: Volume Three: m. Brill. 209.
Ibid.
Ibid., vol. III. 292.10.
Steiner, Richard C. (2005). On the Dating of Hebrew Sound Changes (*Ḫ > Ḥ and *Ä > Ê¿) and Greek Translations (2â¯Esdras and Judith). Journal of Biblical Literature, 124(2), 229â267.
Peust, Carsten. (1999). Egyptian phonology: an introduction to the phonology of a dead language (Vol. 2). Peust und Gutschmidt. 166.
Noonan, Benjamin J. (2016). Egyptian Loanword as Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus and Wilderness Traditions. âDid I Not Bring Israel Out of Egypt?â Biblical, Archaeological, and Egyptological Perspectives on the Exodus Narrative, 49â67.
Loprieno, A. (1996). Ancient Egyptian: a linguistic introduction. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 36.
Ibid, 38.
Bostock, John, and Henry T. Riley. (1855). Pliny the Elder: The natural history. Perseus at Tufts. Book 37, Chapter 25.
Hyllested, Adam. (2017). Armenian goÄazm âblue gemstoneâ and the Iranian evil eye. Usque Ad Radices. Indo-European Studies in Honour of Birgit Anette Olsen.