Exercises on Egyptian Hieroglyphics

It is known that the writing developed in ancient Egypt was called hieroglyphics, or hieroglyphic writing. The name hieroglyph, however, is of Greek origin and means:

a) “Writing the papyrus”

b) “Praise to Pharaoh”

c) “Stone inscription”

d) “Sacred inscription”.

e) “Word of the Sun”.

Hieroglyphics have a very different structure from other languages, both Eastern, such as Mandarin, and Western, whose structure is predominantly alphabetical (such as Portuguese). Regarding this structure of hieroglyphics, it can be said that:

a) is entirely ideographic.

b) does not have animal images in its composition.

c) is threefold:ideographic, phonographic and, above all, pictographic.

d) has no phonemes.

e) could never be translated into other languages.

The unraveling of ancient Egyptian writings, engraved in hieroglyphics, was only possible in the 19th century through the interpretation undertaken by Jean-François Champollion. Champolion's interpretation was made from the Rosetta Stone, which included:

a) a complete outline of hieroglyphic grammar.

b) the Egyptian alphabet and the Phoenician alphabet.

c) the Latin, Greek and hieroglyphic alphabets.

d) the same message in three languages:hieroglyphic, demotic and ancient Greek.

e) the work of the Greek poet Homer, called Odyssey, entirely in hieroglyphics.

Hieroglyphics gained, in ancient Egyptian society, a simplified derivation, which became known as:

a) low hieroglyph.

b) numismatic writing

c) mimiographic writing

d) demotic writing

e) hieratic writing

Letter D

The name “hieroglyph” comes from two Greek roots:“hiero” (sacred) and “glyfein” (inscription), meaning, therefore, “sacred inscription”. However, the Egyptians themselves had an expression of their own to designate their writing:medjunetjer, which means something close to the "word of God".

Letter C

The structure of hieroglyphs is triune, as it has both a phonetic scheme (with pronunciation of symbols, intonation, inflection, etc.) and an ideogrammatic semantic scheme (that is, the meaning is transmitted by ideas that are sketched in the composition of the pictograms, that is, in the drawings that dominate the language and organize its way of functioning.

Letter D

After the discovery of the Rosetta Stone by Napoleonic troops in 1799, the artifact was taken to France. Decades later, archaeologist Jean-François Champollion examined the stone's inscriptions and established criteria for translating the hieroglyphs from ancient Greek (which he mastered), thus creating an interpretive standard for Egyptian writing.

Letter E

Hieratic writing was a variant of hieroglyphics that had a more flexible functionality because it was more cursive and less emblematic than hieroglyphics.