Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Compared to Selected Nahuatl Word-Concepts

(Alfonso Caso’s "The Aztecs, People of the Sun")

Complete Version: ancient_egyptian_hieroglyphs

Charles William Johnson

For the past few years, I have been comparing the linguistic correspondence between the Egyptian [Kemi] hieroglyphs and some of the Native Indian languages of the Americas [Johnson, 2004 for Maya and Nahuatl; Johnson, 2006 for Atakapa, Chitimacha, and Tunica; Johnson 2006, for Taino; and, Johnson 2007, for Purepecha]. Much of this work may be viewed on the web-site, Earth/matriX, Science in Ancient Artwork: www.earthmatrix.com.

In these studies, my research shows that the different Native Indian languages of the Americas relate in different ways to ancient Egyptian. With regard to Nahuatl specifically, I find it significant that if the letter “L” is dropped from many of the words of the Nahuatl language of the ancient Aztecs [Nahuas or Mexicas], then similar/same word-concepts appear that resemble the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the language of the Kemi. In fact, it would appear as though ancient Nahuatl without the letter "L" is actually ancient Egyptian. Consider a brief selection of phonemic and morphemic examples in this regard.

[Note.- I employ a combination of capital and small letters throughout this study for emphasis only; they are not presented as such in the original source material.]

The word-concept NAHUATL itself is often interpreted as "something that makes an agreeable sound, or someone who speaks well" [Karttunen: 157]. Further analysis is offered regarding the root NAHUA-, which is said to reflect meanings of "audible, intelligent, clear" having to do with sorcery and spells as well as with language itself. [Karttunen: Ibid]

In ancient Egyptian, Na represents a prefix meaning a negative "no" or "not". In ancient Egyptian one could say Na-HuTR for the meaning of no doubt, as in clear, with the corresponding roots, NaHuaTL [liquid R ~ L]. Other options exist in ancient Egyptian as in Na HuaT, not filth; Na Ha-T, not obscure, also suggesting clear.

I have the impression that the word-concept NAHUATL itself may represent some kind of disguise in the language. The root of the word Nahuatl may be based on the word-concept NAHUAL, whose meaning is given as "a disguise or mask". NAHUALLI = sorcerer; NAGUAL = witch. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs do not contain many word-concepts with the letter "L", while in ancient Nahuatl there exists a widespread use of the letter "L", so much so that it would appear to be a conscious addition to the language itself. Other options to consider for ancient Egyptian: Na Ha-t, no place to hide; Na Ha, no retreat, no going back; Na Ha-t, no land, among others.

With methodological procedures based solely on syntax and grammar, one would not be able to make comparative linguistic studies. In order to explain linguistic correspondence among languages, one must necessarily begin with the word-concepts, whether it be in regard to the Latin languages, the Indigenous languages of the Americas or, to ancient Egyptian (hieroglyphs). The study of language structure, syntax and grammar, is based precisely on word placement in writing and speaking.

Some students in comparative language studies propose to research syntactical and grammatical parallelisms between languages, and not the lexical or phonetic aspects when comparing languages among themselves. [www.celtiberia.net/verrespuesta.asp?idp=6997&pagina=1]. However, I am unable to imagine how one would examine the parallel syntax and grammatical aspects of two languages, without examining the word-concepts that make of the syntax and grammar of those languages. The word-concepts form the basis of structure and word placement in a language’s syntactical use and grammatical practice. The proposal to carry out comparative linguistic studies without reference to the word-concepts represents an impossibility in my view.

Most languages are based on word-concepts that reflect syntactical and grammatical aspects, such as composite verbal declinations and such: voltéaselo in Spanish, to cite an elementary example. Voltéaselo is not a word as such, but rather a word-concept, a syntactical and grammatical expression, involving the subject (tú/se) | verb (voltea) | object (lo) relationship of a statement-event. In fact the word-concept "Voltéaselo" represents a complete imperative sentence, a complete structure in syntax and grammar.

In my mind, both aspects, word placement and word-concepts, are prerequisite in comparative linguistic studies. One cannot privilege one aspect over the other, for both make up a language as such. I realize that it is very tedious and tiresome to have to examine each and every word-concept in comparing two languages, while it is probably less demanding to compare syntax and grammar. But that is what is required in a blow-by-blow analysis of as many word-concepts as possible. That is what I have been carrying out in the Earth/matriX essays on the comparative linguistics between the Native Indian languages of the Americas and the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

In this essay, I offer additional examples of similarities between the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and selected word-concepts from the Nahuatl language.

I have selected Nahuatl word-concepts from a book by the legendary Alfonso Caso, entitled, The Aztecs, People of the Sun. This selection is a reasonable one as Alfonso Caso offered not only a significant range of Nahuatl word-concepts treating the religious and philosophical beliefs of the Aztecs or Nahuas, but he also offered detailed and extensive explanations of many of those word-concepts. I encourage all to read these explanations in Alfonso Caso’s work.

Much debate exists whether to refer to the people who spoke/speak Nahuatl as Mexicas, Nahuas or Aztecs. Given the title of the Caso’s book, I will generally speak about the Aztecs, but often reference the Nahuas regarding the Nahuatl language itself.

The Nahuatl words selected in Caso’s book constitute an excellent selection of word-concepts related to some of the most meaningful ideas and beliefs of the ancient Aztecs. Certain criteria exist behind the selection made by Alfonso Caso in his study. Therefore, one may consider the group of word-concepts that he has selected to constitute a micro-universe of relevant philosophical and religious ideas. Further, one may consider his selection responds to an analytical purpose in his work.

The explanations assist me in understanding possible relationships between the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and the Nahuatl word-concepts. For example, even though a specific word-concept might reflect the meaning of the Sun [TONATIUH], Caso goes on to offer elements in the explanation that assist in understanding related concepts, such as the Sun shines [TONA] or, the concept of warmth [TONA] related to the sun. The additional explanations help in searching for word-concepts in the Egyptian hieroglyphs that not only speak to a linguistic correspondence to the Sun, but to other word-concepts, such as to shine or warmth. These expanded comparisons will become obvious throughout the following essay.

Additionally, I have used Frances Karttunen’s work, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl [University of Oklahoma, 1983]. The explanatory texts offered by professor Karttunen also allow for expanded comparisons that further demonstrate possibilities of linguistic correspondence between the Nahuatl word-concepts and ancient Egyptian.

For the references to the word-concepts in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, I continue to use the work by E.A. Wallis Budge, An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary [Dover, 1978; original publication date 1920]. In spite of the critiques leveled against Budge’s work, I have found that the correspondence between Budge’s dictionary and the Native Indian languages of the Americas is amply confirmed. When I search for a word-concept similar to a Nahuatl word-concept in Budge’s dictionary, I often find the same/similar combination of phoneme and morpheme; the same/similar consonants and vowels.

In this manner, the Nahuatl word-concepts confirm the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs as to their root consonants and vowels; and, vice versa, the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs generally confirm the phonemic and morphemic expressions of the Nahuatl word-concept.

In the first case, TEQ = TEQ, the main root is confirmed both as consonants [T, Q] and as vowel [e]. In the second case, confirmation for both is revealed in the initial K-consonantal sound and the initial vowel [a]. These two cases are representative of numerous comparisons of two word-concepts between Nahuatl and ancient Egyptian ---not to mention various other Native Indian languages of the Americas as my research and writing have shown. ........

Sound of Meaning: Ancient Egyptian, Maya and Nahuatl

THE SOUND OF MEANING: COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN, MAYA AND NAHUATL In the book Sounds, Symbols, and Meaning: Ancient Egyptian, Nahuatl and Maya, we examine the possible linguistic correspondences among these languages. Interestingly enough, one can identify ancient Egyptian in innumerable words of the Nahuatl language simply by dropping the letter "l" in the latter. Or, one may add the letter "l" to many ancient Egyptian words, and the similarity with Nahuatl becomes striking. Many words between ancient Egyptian and these Mesoamerican languages share a linguistic correspondence on three levels: phonemes, morphemes and even the symbolic or graphic (glyphs and hieroglyphs) level. We discuss the possibility of there having existed a Mesoamerican-Kemi proto-lingua possibly in the past, before these language groups were formed. Purchase in Amazon Sound of Meaning: Ancient Egyptian, Maya and Nahuatl Author: Charles William Johnson PDF file 154 pages ISBN 0.9755482-04 Price: $3.99 US