Gardiner's Sign List

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Gardiner's Sign List is a list of common Egyptian hieroglyphs compiled by Sir Alan Gardiner. It is considered a standard reference in the study of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Gardiner lists only the most common forms of Egyptian hieroglyphs, but he includes extensive subcategories, and also both vertical and horizontal forms for many hieroglyphs. He includes size-variation forms to aid with the reading of hieroglyphs in running blocks of text. (The Budge Reference has about 1000 hieroglyphs listed in 50 pages, but with no size varieties.)

Other subcategories included by Gardiner are abbreviations and personalized forms, and also a complete subset, used on papyrus, specifically for the Book of the Dead.

Contents 1 Categories in the "sign list" 2 Examples 3 The alphabet 4 Egyptian art–philosophy, profiled by the list 4.1 Sets A–D 4.2 Sets E–F 4.3 Sets G–L 4.4 Sets M–S 4.5 Sets V–Unclassified 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Categories in the "sign list"

1–A Man and his occupations. A1-A56, (+A59 Man w/Club).

2–B Woman and her occupations. B1-B7. [also B8-B12; see hieroglyphs.]

3–C Anthropomorphic deities. C1-C20.

[edit] Examples

Examples A[last] –I[last] in hieroglyphs

A57 A58 A60 B13 C21

Set 1 and 2:

Set 2(cont.) in hieroglyphs

D64 E35 F53 G55 H9 I16

4–D Parts of the human body. D1-D63.

5–E Mammals. E1-E34. Ox -Rabbit.

6–F Parts of Mammals. F1-F52.

7–G Birds. G1-G54.

8–H Parts of Birds. H1-H8.

9–I Amphibious animals, reptiles, etc. I1-I15.

K(last) –Buildings(last) in hieroglyphs

K8 L8 M45 N44 O52

10–K Fishes and parts of fishes. K1-K7.

11–L Invertebrata and lesser animals. L1-L7.

12–M Trees and plants. M1-M44.

13–N Sky, earth, water. N1-N43.

14–O Buildings, parts of building, etc. O1-O51.

P{last) –Crowns–(last) in hieroglyphs

P12 Q8 R26 S46

15–P Ships and parts of ships. P1-P11.

16–Q Domestic and funerary furniture. Q1-Q7.

17–R Temple furniture and sacred emblems. R1-R25.

18–S Crowns, dress, staves, etc. S1-S45.

T(last) –Vessels(last) in hieroglyphs

T36 U42 V40 W26

19–T Warfare, hunting, butchery. T1-T35.

20–U Agriculture, crafts, and professions. U1-U41.

21–V Rope, fibre, baskets, bags, etc. V1-V38.

(V39 is Knot of Isis). See Isis.

22–W Vessels of stone and earthenware. W1-W25.

X(last) –Unclassified(last) in hieroglyphs

X9 Y9 Z12 Z13 Aa33

23–X Loaves and cakes. X1-X8.

24–Y Writings, games, music. Y1-Y8.

25–Z Strokes, signs derived from hieratic, geometrical fiqures. Z1-Z11.

26–Aa Unclassified. Aa1-Aa31.

(Aa32 is also in Warfare.)

[edit] The alphabet

A, a– through D, d in hieroglyphs

AAA aaa B bbb C c DDD ddd

A– A or G1

a– a or D36

b– b or D58

D– D or I10

d– d or D46

– No B, C, c.

f– through H, h in hieroglyphs

E e F fff G ggg HHH hhh

f– f or I9

g– g or W11

H– H or V28

h– h or O4

– No E, e, F, G.

I, i– through k, and K31(rev.), l in hieroglyphs

I iii K kkk K31 L lll

i– i or H6

k– k or K30 or K31 (reversed)

– No I, K, L .

M, m– through N, n in hieroglyphs

MMM mmm NNN nnn O o

M– M or Aa15 (also Aa13)

m– m or G17

N– N or S3

n– n or N35

– No O, o; Extra M: Aa13.

P, p– through R, r in hieroglyphs

P ppp Q qqq R rrr

p– p or Q3

q– q or X7

r– r or D21 ( r =Renenet ( ren = "Name" )

– No P, Q, R.

S, s– through T, t in hieroglyphs

SSS sss TTT ttt U u

S– S or N37

s– s or S29

T– T or V13

t– t or X1

– No U, u, (V13=V14).

V, v– through X, x in hieroglyphs

V vvv WWW www XXX xxx

W– W or V1

w– w or G43

X– X or F32

x– x or Aa1

– No V, v (x is [Kh] ).

Y, y– through Aa1,Aa32 in hieroglyphs

Y yyy Z zzz Z2Z2Z2 Z2ssZ2ssZ2ss Aa33

y– y or Z4

z– z or O34

(+Z2, Z2ss).

Aa32– (Aa32 is also in warfare)

– No Y, Z .

[edit] Egyptian art–philosophy, profiled by the list

Wilkinson's, Reading Egyptian Art, profiles about ( 1/10th ), one tenth of Gardiner's Sign List. The following (in 2 - 6 Egyptian art-objects/ per page), are profiled:

[edit] Sets A–D

Men, Women, Anthropomorphic in hieroglyphs

Selections (only): Men, Women, Antrhopomorphic: A1(se), A22(khenty), A28(hai), A30(dua), A40(netcher)(See Block statue (Egyptian)), C10(maat)(Ma'at) (plus H6(shut)), C11(Heh)( with/M4) (See Huh (god)).

D1(Head)– through D49 in hieroglyphs

Major ( + Wiki): D1(tep)(See also Canopic jar), D10(wedjat)-Eye of Horus, D18(mesedjer), D27(menedj)(See also Situla (Egyptian)), D28(ka)-Ka, or Ba, (Egyptian soul), D32(hepet), D39(derep)(see also Sphinx, D49(khefa).

[edit] Sets E–F

Mammals, etc. in hieroglyphs

E1,E2(ka)(see Apis (Egyptian mythology))(also Narmer Palette).

E4(hesat), E10(ba), E13(miu)(see Bast (goddess)), E15,E16,E17(Ienpu)(See Anubis).

Set/(Seth) –Baboon in hieroglyphs

E20,E21(Setekh)(Set (mythology), E22,E23 (mai, ru) (Sphinx), E25(deb)(See Tawaret), E32(ian)(Baboon=Scribe God: Thoth).

F, –Goddess Mut in hieroglyphs

F24(khepesh), Orion, F34(ieb), F35(nefer)(See Nefertiti).

F36 (sema= "Union") (See Upper and Lower Egypt), G5(bik) Horus, G14(neret), Mut.

[edit] Sets G–L

Birds (cont.) –/Parts of Birds -Crocodile in hieroglyphs

G29(ba), Saddle-billed Stork (erroneously called "jabiru" sometimes)

G31, G32(benu), (See heron->Bennu->Phoenix), G53(ba), Egyptian soul.

H6(shut)(+ C10), Shu (Egyptian deity), (See Ma'at– "Feather of Truth" ).

I3,I4,I5(meseh) Sobek.

Tadpole –Lotus in hieroglyphs

I7(kerer) Heget, I12,I13(iaret) Uraeus, K1(ienet), L1(kheper) Khepri, M4(renpit)(+C11), See Huh (god).

M9(seshen) "Lotus", Nymphaea, Blue Lotus Nymphaea caerulea, Tiger Lotus Nymphaea lotus.

[edit] Sets M–S

Papyrus –Horizon in hieroglyphs

M15,M16(mehyt) Papyrus, M20(sekhet), see Aaru.

N5,N6,N8(ra) Ra, N27(akhet), (see Akhenaten).

Sed festival –Was or UAS in hieroglyphs

O23(sed) Sed festival, O33(serekh) Serekh, P3(wia) Solar barge.

R11(djed) Djed, S34(ankh) Ankh, S40(was) Was.

[edit] Sets V–Unclassified

Shen ring –Sistrum (End of Examples) in hieroglyphs

V9(shen) Shen ring, V10(shenu) Cartouche, V39(tiet) Knot of Isis.

W3 (shes, heb) ( Sed festival ), Y3(menhed), see Scribe, Y5(senet) Senet, Y8(sesheshet) Sistrum.

[edit] See also

"Aa11"(Horiz) — "P8"(Vert) in hieroglyphs

• Alan Gardiner
• Egyptian hieroglyphs
• Transliteration of ancient Egyptian
• List of hieroglyphs (with vertical, horiz-rt, horiz-left). All horizontal hieroglyphs have to be represented in both a 'right' and 'left' form, since texts always read: 1–down, 2–horizontal-right, or 3–horizonatal-left. An example: The "funeral" term after a deceased Eyptians name: "True of Voice", or the equivalent "Venerable", cannot now be represented from Gardiner's List. Character No. Aa11 (a Plinth), is only horizontal, and P8 (a "ships paddle"), is only vertical. For the term "Venerable", they need to be represented, side-by-side, either vertically or horizontally. See the hieroglyphic box.

[edit] References

• Budge, Sir E.A.Wallis. An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, in Two Volumes, Sir E.A.Wallis Budge, (Dover Publications, Inc. New York), c 1920, Dover Edition, c 1978. (Large categorized listings of Hieroglyphs, Vol 1, pp. xcvii-cxlvii (97-147) (25 categories, 1000+ hieroglyphs), 50 pgs.)
• Wilkinson, Richard. Reading Egyptian Art, A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture, Richard H. Wilkinson, with 450 Illustrations, (Thames & Hudson Ltd, London), c 1992.