How does the hieroglyphic writing system work?
In Egyptian hieroglyphs some of the pictures (called
ideograms, or sense signs) represent the actual object, such as the words for
"land," "offering," and "scepter." However, many words--such
as "life," "power," "justice," "understand," and
"protect" - cannot be expressed by pictures. To write such words the Egyptians
employed the rebus method, which uses the pictures of things not to denote these things
themselves but to stand for other words, or parts of words, that sound the same (such
signs are called phonograms, or sound signs). For example, the hieroglyph that looks like
a duck is the sound for the word that means "son," the picture of a basket is
the sound that means "lord," and a scarab beetle represents the sound that means
"to come into existence." When these glyphs are meant to represent an actual
duck, basket, or scarab instead of sounds, usually they are followed by a single stroke.
Twenty-four hieroglyphs represent single sounds and were
used by the Egyptians the way the letters of our alphabet are used. They are all
consonants. Other glyphs represent the combination of two or three consonants.
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Hieroglyphs and Art
