Introduction
Most of the books written for the student of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic
language assume a working knowledge not only of English grammar but also of
French and German. In addition, references to many other languages including
Greek, Latin, Arabic, Coptic, Akkadian, and Hebrew are often found scattered
throughout these texts. This book is written for the individual who is
interested in the ancient Egyptian language but has no prior knowledge of any
foreign language, nor a thorough grounding in English grammar. Therefore, each
Egyptian grammatical point is introduced by first explaining its English
equivalent. Moreover, each chapter contains a
COMMENTARY which discusses the grammatical point presented.
Initially, Egyptian words are shown with spaces between the signs, and not until
the student has had a feel for the language are the spaces reduced in size,
eventually being eliminated altogether. Similarly, the phonetic pronunciation is
omitted once the student has learned how to sound out the words. To help the
student, there are exercises at the end of each chapter, which review both the
new and the previous material learned.
Each chapter contains an ARTICLE concerning some
aspect of ancient Egypt. In this way, the student is introduced to the Egyptian
civilization as well as its language. The articles cover a broad range of topics
and are not arranged in any particular order.
In order to help learn the various time periods, dates are provided throughout.
In addition, locations are geographically defined and maps provided to enable
the student to develop a physical perspective of Egypt and her neighbors.
At the end of the PRIMER are six
APPENDICES: A LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS commonly used in the field of
Egyptology;
A GLOSSARY; A CHRONOLOGY;
A DICTIONARY; A LIST OF
WHERE EACH SIGN WAS FIRST ENCOUNTERED; and ANSWERS
TO THE EXERCISES. The PRINT BIBLIOGRAPHY
represents the source books used and provides a reference list for those
students who desire more information on a particular topic or wish to expand
their knowledge of ancient Egypt. As there are a large number of websites on
ancient Egypt, I have not attempted to list in a bibliography any of the ones I
consulted.
THE EXERCISE DRILL PROGRAM replicates not
only the set of exercises found at the end of each chapter but also many of the
words and phrases found in the chapter studied. These drills may be used
sequentially or randomly, as well as quickly or slowly, and they obviate the
need to make flip cards for vocabulary drills. My thanks go to Nestor Sulikowski
(from A Brand New Web)
who wrote the program and created this web site. He may be reached at
nestor_sulikowski@abrandnewweb.com.
And finally, a note of thanks to my daughter, Peggy Ronn, who was my editor.
Without her encouragement this PRIMER could not
have been completed and her many suggestions and emendations were invaluable.
Please send your feedback using the feedback page.
Enjoy!
-- Website created by A Brand New Web