Saturday, April 12, 2008

Mdu Ntr Translations!

Revisiting:
 -

...for translation:
With regards to the image in the piece above, wherein the figures "" & "" (together—meaning Km.t[feminine]) are followed by the figures of a seated male and female, and then a vertical line of three dotted figures [an ensemble of figures representing the determinative for "rmt"—to denote "people"], we are told...

In French
C’est le term le plus fort et le plus explicite qui existe en language pharaonique pour designer la noirceur, et les Égyptiens ne l’ont pas appliqué aux Nubiens mais à eux-mêmes.

In English it reads:
It is the most definite (precise) and strongest term which exists in Pharaonic language for determining blackness, and the Egyptians did not apply it to Nubians but to themselves.

Next line...

In French
C'est un colletif formé en mettant l'adjectif noir au féminin singulier suivi du déterminatif composé de l'homme, la femme et les trois traits du pluriel.

In English it reads:
It is a collective (ensemble) formed by putting the black adjective in feminine singular followed by the determinative composed of the man, the woman and the three figures representing the plural.

And then...

In French
Ce terme est attesté dans le papyrus de Kahoun (lexique, p. 347).

In English it reads:
This term [presumably Km.t, since it was the term being discussed in the text] is attested to in the papyrus of Kahun (lexicon, p. 347).

With regards to the image showing the same figures of "" & "", followed this time around by the figure of a circle enclosing a cross (determinative for "nwt"—to denote "nation", "country", or "city" ), we are told...

In French
La Noire, l’Égypte, le pays des Noirs. Remarquons qu’Afrique Noire et Afrique Blanche sont des expressions où l’on fait allusion à la couleur des hommes et nom du sol.

In English it reads:
Black [in feminine singular], Egypt, the country of Blacks. Let us point out that Black Africa and White Africa are expressions where they make allusion to the color of the people [men] and name of the land.
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*References:
C.A. Diop, The African Origin of Civilization, referencing Worterbuch.