This fascicule was published in 2010 when I was supposed to direct the dictionary programme of th... more This fascicule was published in 2010 when I was supposed to direct the dictionary programme of the University of Montpellier. It was intended for a limited circulation as well as a ground for thoughts and a test for different ideas I had about dictionary making over the past decades. Though presented in a paper format, it was clear at the outset that the final result will be a complex lexical data base. The administrative informations it gives are now obsolete and do not correspond to the present situation. The technical issues are also widely outdated as it is also the case of the bibliographical data. From a lexicographical point of view it gives mainly a selection of references and do not correspond to the actual mass of collected data. It should be considered as a another landmark (with the Année Lexicographique Égypte ancienne, 1980-1982) in my personnal progress toward the expected final goal. The main basic ideas it contains are however included in the lexical data base I developed and that I am currently filling in. I corrected some misprints but left untouched some mistakes and inacuracies, all of wich are corrected by now.
Publishes and translates a mythological papyrus dating to the 7th century B.C. A lengthy commenta... more Publishes and translates a mythological papyrus dating to the 7th century B.C. A lengthy commentary reconstructs and develops many little known or completely unknown myths of ancient Egypt
The so called Egyptian « enigmatic » writing has captured the attention of egyptologists since t... more The so called Egyptian « enigmatic » writing has captured the attention of egyptologists since the origins of their discipline. Over the past two decades its study has known a considerable development under the impulse of some devoted scholars, providing all interested in hieroglyphs, including non egyptologists, with an important overview of their discoveries and progresses. Their efforts give new insights about the complex mechanisms involved in the creation of new signs and new cryptic values. The problems the contributors were confronted with concern first the use, over generations, of typographic types unable to capture all the details the hieroglyphs show on monuments. Details, however, prove to be of real importance when it comes to decipher enigmatic texts and current digital fonts could only partly overcome this shortcoming. Facsimiles are not used systematically, usually for technical reasons. This has an impact on the final scientific publications. Another difficulty is raised by the fact that hieroglyphs are supposed to be a gift of gods to humans. Each sign has a philosophical and theological backgrounds which are not quite obvious at first sight. Such backgrounds are significantly at stake in the resolution of the correct reading and understanding of enigmatic texts. As the two volumes presented here represent the first overall synthesis of what is known and what was recently discovered about this type of writing, they offer an essential groundwork for future researches.
Stéphane Pasquali (éd.), Tant que nous y sommes pour les lire. Des Égyptiens auteurs aux égyptologues lecteurs. 27 ans après « Auteur et société » de Philippe Derchain, TDENiM 3, Montpellier, 2023
The hieroglyphic sign of the “hôné” represents an open hand holding an ovoid object supposed to p... more The hieroglyphic sign of the “hôné” represents an open hand holding an ovoid object supposed to picture the egg whence Re is born. However numerous taxonomic variants, including those replacing the egg by a fish, allow a developped analysis of the sign. Using different textual and iconographic evidences it is possible to highlight its deep connection with an hydrologic reality illustrated at the best by the Fayum and its lake, underlying a specific conception of the rebirth of Re and consequently of the dead. A grammatological approach based on palaeography and cultural anthropology leads to unveil the complex mythological network which the sign symbolically embodies. To carry on with a reflexion of Philippe Derchain, this approach permits to decipher the untold in each hieroglyph.
S. Gerhards, N. Gräßler, S.A. Gülden et al. (éd), Schöne Denkmäler sind entstanden. Studien zu Ehren von Ursula Verhoeven, Propylaeum, Heidelberg, ebook-1085, 2023
Les influences réciproques entre hiératique et hiéroglyphes sont bien connues et, sans avoir été ... more Les influences réciproques entre hiératique et hiéroglyphes sont bien connues et, sans avoir été étudiées en détail, ont fait l’objet de diverses contributions qui en illustrent certains aspects. Ce que je voudrais illustrer ici ce sont quelques problèmes soulevés par les transcriptions des textes hiératiques en hiéroglyphes. Le hiératisant peut se trouver confronté à des signes qui lui semblent n’avoir aucun équivalent hiéroglyphique. En autographie, il peut aisément dessiner le signe qui lui convient, en inventer un à sa convenance pour que sa transcription corresponde le plus exactement possible au cursif original. En typographie, il se trouve limité par ce que les fontes métalliques anciennes ou numériques aujourd’hui lui proposent comme signes existants. En fait le papyrus des signes de Tanis, bien que d’époque tardive, montre que selon la conception égyptienne chaque hiéroglyphe avait un équivalent hiératique. La présentation matérielle du catalogue suggère que le hiératique était considéré comme un dérivé du hiéroglyphe. La présente contribution veut illustrer cette étroite association et montrer qu’à chaque caractère hiératique devait correspondre un caractère hiéroglyphique.
Grammatology as a field of study in Egyptology, though having by now quite old roots, remains dif... more Grammatology as a field of study in Egyptology, though having by now quite old roots, remains difficult to define. It is commonly confused with palaeography. The latter, however, is limited to the formal aspects of a hieroglyph and its variations. Setting aside the theories developed by Ignace Gelb and Jacques Derrida, Egypto-grammatology addresses all cultural aspects of the writing system and its components. The present article summarises the main difficulties the grammatological process should address and gives some examples of what one can expect from it. Relying first on philological, lexicographical and palaeographical analyses in a diachronic perspective, the aim of Egypto-grammatology is to recover what was the cultural meaning of a hieroglyph for the ancient Egyptians. To reach this goal, it uses all possible information given by iconography and archaeological remains and, whenever possible, the theological signification embedded in the hieroglyphic image. This approach makes it possible to identify correctly what a hieroglyph represents and thence to give it its proper place in a taxonomic system. Ultimately, Egypto-grammatology brings into the validity of some principles and limitations imposed by the Unicode Standard for the implementation of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
L’étude d’un signe isolé, fut-il aussi emblématique que le signe ânkh, a généralement été considé... more L’étude d’un signe isolé, fut-il aussi emblématique que le signe ânkh, a généralement été considérée comme relevant de la simple paléographie et donc comme une pratique relativement marginale au sein de l’égyptologie. La paléographie hiéroglyphique, si elle permet parfois de dater un texte ou de reconnaître la main d’un graveur particulier ouvre en fait la voie, par comparaison entre diverses formes, à un examen grammatologique d’autant plus détaillé que l’on dispose d’exemples nombreux et répartis sur le plus de périodes chronologiques possibles. La grammatologie peut discerner les origines d’un hiéroglyphe, définir ce qu’il représente et comprendre pourquoi il a été utilisé pour représenter tel concept. Pourquoi ce signe, qui a connu un tel succès au point d’être toujours reconnu aujourd’hui comme une “clé de vie”, a-t-il servi justement à symboliser la vie ? Depuis les débuts de l’égyptologie on a cherché à percer ce petit mystère, “mystère” servant essentiellement à qualifier dans la recherche ce que l’on ne comprend pas, ce que l’on ne peut élucider, faute de réflexion ou d’éléments d’analyse suffisants.
The connections of the pharaonic civilisation with nilotic and sub-saharan african cultures are i... more The connections of the pharaonic civilisation with nilotic and sub-saharan african cultures are in debate since long in egyptology. Since the end of the 19th century ethnologists and anthropologists lead surveys bringing to light, in traditional societies, cultural facts linking them to Ancient Egypt. Archaeologists, especially prehistorians, stepped behind them. Their results were taken over and discussed even if it never constituted a mainstream approach in egyptology. Decolonisation lead Africans of the continent and of the diaspora to question their past independently from the demeaning image the occidental colonisation wanted to hand them down. Afrocentrism became interested in pharaonic Egypt supposed to be the ultimate ancestor of african cultures. It was based upon two fundamentals considered as unavoidable : ancient Egyptians were Blacks and were speaking the oldest of all known african languages just like a kind of african sanskrit, compared to what the sanskrit was to the indo-european languages. This moved the debate from the scientific ground to the ideological one. This article shows that these two principles are questionable and that we can study the africanity of the pharaonic civilisation on more solid grounds. This is because - as Souleyman Bachir Diagne quoted in the conclusion puts it - afrocentrism is mimetic of the euro-centred mind. The africanity of the pharaonic civilisation is the subject of fruitfull scientific researches, permanently progressing, that no « centred » mind should hamper.
Egyptians perceived their country as a privileged space at the very core of the Universe: what wa... more Egyptians perceived their country as a privileged space at the very core of the Universe: what was outside the center was potentially dangerous. However, in a culture where religion and the conception of the world it structures has a reference value, it was unavoidable that contacts abroad had to find their justification in Egyptian theological elements. Hathor and Seth offer a possibility to understand how these keys, opening to the word outside, were working and what were the presuppositions giving a theological logic to exchanges with the outside.
Chronique d’Égypte XC (2015), p. 40-67 (open access)
In defence of the philological and grammatological approaches in egyptology. With many thanks to ... more In defence of the philological and grammatological approaches in egyptology. With many thanks to the Publishing manager of Brepols publishing for giving open acces to this article.
This fascicule was published in 2010 when I was supposed to direct the dictionary programme of th... more This fascicule was published in 2010 when I was supposed to direct the dictionary programme of the University of Montpellier. It was intended for a limited circulation as well as a ground for thoughts and a test for different ideas I had about dictionary making over the past decades. Though presented in a paper format, it was clear at the outset that the final result will be a complex lexical data base. The administrative informations it gives are now obsolete and do not correspond to the present situation. The technical issues are also widely outdated as it is also the case of the bibliographical data. From a lexicographical point of view it gives mainly a selection of references and do not correspond to the actual mass of collected data. It should be considered as a another landmark (with the Année Lexicographique Égypte ancienne, 1980-1982) in my personnal progress toward the expected final goal. The main basic ideas it contains are however included in the lexical data base I developed and that I am currently filling in. I corrected some misprints but left untouched some mistakes and inacuracies, all of wich are corrected by now.
Publishes and translates a mythological papyrus dating to the 7th century B.C. A lengthy commenta... more Publishes and translates a mythological papyrus dating to the 7th century B.C. A lengthy commentary reconstructs and develops many little known or completely unknown myths of ancient Egypt
The so called Egyptian « enigmatic » writing has captured the attention of egyptologists since t... more The so called Egyptian « enigmatic » writing has captured the attention of egyptologists since the origins of their discipline. Over the past two decades its study has known a considerable development under the impulse of some devoted scholars, providing all interested in hieroglyphs, including non egyptologists, with an important overview of their discoveries and progresses. Their efforts give new insights about the complex mechanisms involved in the creation of new signs and new cryptic values. The problems the contributors were confronted with concern first the use, over generations, of typographic types unable to capture all the details the hieroglyphs show on monuments. Details, however, prove to be of real importance when it comes to decipher enigmatic texts and current digital fonts could only partly overcome this shortcoming. Facsimiles are not used systematically, usually for technical reasons. This has an impact on the final scientific publications. Another difficulty is raised by the fact that hieroglyphs are supposed to be a gift of gods to humans. Each sign has a philosophical and theological backgrounds which are not quite obvious at first sight. Such backgrounds are significantly at stake in the resolution of the correct reading and understanding of enigmatic texts. As the two volumes presented here represent the first overall synthesis of what is known and what was recently discovered about this type of writing, they offer an essential groundwork for future researches.
Stéphane Pasquali (éd.), Tant que nous y sommes pour les lire. Des Égyptiens auteurs aux égyptologues lecteurs. 27 ans après « Auteur et société » de Philippe Derchain, TDENiM 3, Montpellier, 2023
The hieroglyphic sign of the “hôné” represents an open hand holding an ovoid object supposed to p... more The hieroglyphic sign of the “hôné” represents an open hand holding an ovoid object supposed to picture the egg whence Re is born. However numerous taxonomic variants, including those replacing the egg by a fish, allow a developped analysis of the sign. Using different textual and iconographic evidences it is possible to highlight its deep connection with an hydrologic reality illustrated at the best by the Fayum and its lake, underlying a specific conception of the rebirth of Re and consequently of the dead. A grammatological approach based on palaeography and cultural anthropology leads to unveil the complex mythological network which the sign symbolically embodies. To carry on with a reflexion of Philippe Derchain, this approach permits to decipher the untold in each hieroglyph.
S. Gerhards, N. Gräßler, S.A. Gülden et al. (éd), Schöne Denkmäler sind entstanden. Studien zu Ehren von Ursula Verhoeven, Propylaeum, Heidelberg, ebook-1085, 2023
Les influences réciproques entre hiératique et hiéroglyphes sont bien connues et, sans avoir été ... more Les influences réciproques entre hiératique et hiéroglyphes sont bien connues et, sans avoir été étudiées en détail, ont fait l’objet de diverses contributions qui en illustrent certains aspects. Ce que je voudrais illustrer ici ce sont quelques problèmes soulevés par les transcriptions des textes hiératiques en hiéroglyphes. Le hiératisant peut se trouver confronté à des signes qui lui semblent n’avoir aucun équivalent hiéroglyphique. En autographie, il peut aisément dessiner le signe qui lui convient, en inventer un à sa convenance pour que sa transcription corresponde le plus exactement possible au cursif original. En typographie, il se trouve limité par ce que les fontes métalliques anciennes ou numériques aujourd’hui lui proposent comme signes existants. En fait le papyrus des signes de Tanis, bien que d’époque tardive, montre que selon la conception égyptienne chaque hiéroglyphe avait un équivalent hiératique. La présentation matérielle du catalogue suggère que le hiératique était considéré comme un dérivé du hiéroglyphe. La présente contribution veut illustrer cette étroite association et montrer qu’à chaque caractère hiératique devait correspondre un caractère hiéroglyphique.
Grammatology as a field of study in Egyptology, though having by now quite old roots, remains dif... more Grammatology as a field of study in Egyptology, though having by now quite old roots, remains difficult to define. It is commonly confused with palaeography. The latter, however, is limited to the formal aspects of a hieroglyph and its variations. Setting aside the theories developed by Ignace Gelb and Jacques Derrida, Egypto-grammatology addresses all cultural aspects of the writing system and its components. The present article summarises the main difficulties the grammatological process should address and gives some examples of what one can expect from it. Relying first on philological, lexicographical and palaeographical analyses in a diachronic perspective, the aim of Egypto-grammatology is to recover what was the cultural meaning of a hieroglyph for the ancient Egyptians. To reach this goal, it uses all possible information given by iconography and archaeological remains and, whenever possible, the theological signification embedded in the hieroglyphic image. This approach makes it possible to identify correctly what a hieroglyph represents and thence to give it its proper place in a taxonomic system. Ultimately, Egypto-grammatology brings into the validity of some principles and limitations imposed by the Unicode Standard for the implementation of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
L’étude d’un signe isolé, fut-il aussi emblématique que le signe ânkh, a généralement été considé... more L’étude d’un signe isolé, fut-il aussi emblématique que le signe ânkh, a généralement été considérée comme relevant de la simple paléographie et donc comme une pratique relativement marginale au sein de l’égyptologie. La paléographie hiéroglyphique, si elle permet parfois de dater un texte ou de reconnaître la main d’un graveur particulier ouvre en fait la voie, par comparaison entre diverses formes, à un examen grammatologique d’autant plus détaillé que l’on dispose d’exemples nombreux et répartis sur le plus de périodes chronologiques possibles. La grammatologie peut discerner les origines d’un hiéroglyphe, définir ce qu’il représente et comprendre pourquoi il a été utilisé pour représenter tel concept. Pourquoi ce signe, qui a connu un tel succès au point d’être toujours reconnu aujourd’hui comme une “clé de vie”, a-t-il servi justement à symboliser la vie ? Depuis les débuts de l’égyptologie on a cherché à percer ce petit mystère, “mystère” servant essentiellement à qualifier dans la recherche ce que l’on ne comprend pas, ce que l’on ne peut élucider, faute de réflexion ou d’éléments d’analyse suffisants.
The connections of the pharaonic civilisation with nilotic and sub-saharan african cultures are i... more The connections of the pharaonic civilisation with nilotic and sub-saharan african cultures are in debate since long in egyptology. Since the end of the 19th century ethnologists and anthropologists lead surveys bringing to light, in traditional societies, cultural facts linking them to Ancient Egypt. Archaeologists, especially prehistorians, stepped behind them. Their results were taken over and discussed even if it never constituted a mainstream approach in egyptology. Decolonisation lead Africans of the continent and of the diaspora to question their past independently from the demeaning image the occidental colonisation wanted to hand them down. Afrocentrism became interested in pharaonic Egypt supposed to be the ultimate ancestor of african cultures. It was based upon two fundamentals considered as unavoidable : ancient Egyptians were Blacks and were speaking the oldest of all known african languages just like a kind of african sanskrit, compared to what the sanskrit was to the indo-european languages. This moved the debate from the scientific ground to the ideological one. This article shows that these two principles are questionable and that we can study the africanity of the pharaonic civilisation on more solid grounds. This is because - as Souleyman Bachir Diagne quoted in the conclusion puts it - afrocentrism is mimetic of the euro-centred mind. The africanity of the pharaonic civilisation is the subject of fruitfull scientific researches, permanently progressing, that no « centred » mind should hamper.
Egyptians perceived their country as a privileged space at the very core of the Universe: what wa... more Egyptians perceived their country as a privileged space at the very core of the Universe: what was outside the center was potentially dangerous. However, in a culture where religion and the conception of the world it structures has a reference value, it was unavoidable that contacts abroad had to find their justification in Egyptian theological elements. Hathor and Seth offer a possibility to understand how these keys, opening to the word outside, were working and what were the presuppositions giving a theological logic to exchanges with the outside.
Chronique d’Égypte XC (2015), p. 40-67 (open access)
In defence of the philological and grammatological approaches in egyptology. With many thanks to ... more In defence of the philological and grammatological approaches in egyptology. With many thanks to the Publishing manager of Brepols publishing for giving open acces to this article.
The Unicode standard for Egyptian hieroglyphs was validated in 2009 after years of debate, though... more The Unicode standard for Egyptian hieroglyphs was validated in 2009 after years of debate, though the whole community of egyptologists was not associated to the process. As to the present time, Unicode validates the most common 1200 characters of the classical period. No extension is planned in a near future. However, if one needs to work on hieroglyphic texts as a whole, conspicuously more than 10 000 characters are needed, a goal Unicode certainly do not intend to achieve. I am currently working on a dictionary of ancient Egyptian, taking on the form of a lexical data base, and on another data base inventorying all the hieroglyphs. Both are based upon the lexical and palaeographical documentation I collected over the past fourty years, the last being intended to produce a catalogue as exhaustive as possible of all hieroglyphs presently known from publications in photographs or facsimiles. This work was never undertaken by egyptology since the decipherment of hieroglyphs by Champollion in 1822. Once completed it will serve as a source for a new digital font meeting all the requierements of the research, no matter which period of the writing is taken into account. This font will ultimately be used for the editorial work on the dictionary.
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Books by Dimitri MEEKS
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Papers by Dimitri MEEKS
http://www.ifao.egnet.net/publications/catalogue/MIFAO/