THE

EGYPTIAN  ALPHABET =1; so conventionally transcribed since it unites two values, being sometimes y but often rr (especially at the beginning of words), and from the earliest times used in a manner corresponding to the Arabic hamza, to indicate a prosthetic vowel . Often lost . and qq are frequently employed for y . _ '(s) ; easily lost or changes to y . = ' (s) ; lost in Coptic . This rare sound, well known - Semitic, occurs also in Berber and Cushite languages . J =b . Q P . =f• ,vww, =n . p=r; often lost, or changes to y. r and lam distinguished in later demotic and in Coptic.* M =h distinction lost in Coptic . =b in Coptic U~ . (sh) or J (kh) correspond to it .

=h; tee=s =Lt; generally written withCO(1') in the Old

Kingdom, but *-o corresponds to kh in Coptic . f _s distinction lost at the end of the Old Kingdom. t, (sh) . A =q; Coptic K . '=a =k] Coptic K ;or 6'',x , according to dialect . 7v =g j- Coptic K ; or 6 . e =t; often lost at the end of words . =t (0) ; often changes to t, otherwise Coptic T ; or Y.', 6. e1=d; in Coptic reduced to t . =d (z) ; often changes to d, Coptic 7 ; otherwise in Coptic Z . ROOTS Egyptian roots consist of consonants and semi-consonants only, the inflexion being effected by internal vowel-change and the addition of consonants or vowels at the beginning or end . The Egyptian system of writing, as opposed to the Coptic, showed only the consonantal skeletons of words: it could not record internal vowel-changes; and semi-consonants, even when radicals, were often omitted in writing .