nbj

Egyptian

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈniːbit/ → /ˈniːbiʔ/ → /ˈniːba/ → /ˈniːβə/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈniːbit/
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈniːbiʔ/
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈniːba/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈniːβə/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /nɛbi/
  • Conventional anglicization: nebi

Verb

 3ae inf.

1. (intransitive) to swim [since the Pyramid Texts]
2. (intransitive, of the sun) to ‘swim’ in the sky

Inflection

Conjugation of nbj (third weak / 3ae inf. / III. inf.) — base stem: nb, geminated stem: nbb

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
nbt, nbj	nbw, nb	nbt, nbwt, nbyt	nb	nb, nby

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective2		periphrastic prospective2
nb8, nbb8	ḥr nbt, ḥr nbj	m nbt, m nbj	r nbt, r nbj

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	contingent
		aspect / mood	active
perfect	nb.n	consecutive	nb.jn
terminative	nbt, nbyt
perfective3	nb	obligative1	nb.ḫr
imperfective	nb, nby
prospective3	nbw, nb, nby	potentialis1	nb.kꜣ
subjunctive	nb, nby

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms	participles
	active	active	passive
perfect	nb.n	—	—
perfective	nbw1, nby, nb	nb	nby, nb
imperfective	nbb, nbby, nbbw5	nbb, nbbj6, nbby6	nbb, nbbw5
prospective	nbw1, nby, nb, nbtj7	nbwtj1 4, nbtj4, nbt4
Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective. Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. Only in the masculine singular. Only in the masculine. Only in the feminine. Third-person masculine statives of this class often have a final -y instead of the expected stative ending.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of nbj  

nbj	nbj	nbj	nbj	nbj	nbw	nbj
[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[Middle Kingdom]	[Middle Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]	[Greco-Roman Period]

Descendants

• Bohairic Coptic: ⲛⲏⲃⲓ (nēbi), ⲛⲓⲡⲓ (nipi)
• Fayyumic Coptic: ⲛⲓⲃⲓ (nibi)
• Sahidic Coptic: ⲛⲏⲏⲃⲉ (nēēbe), ⲛⲓⲃⲉ (nibe)

References

• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1928) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1], volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 236.10–236.11
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 129