7/25/2019 The Use of the Egyptian Word Ht 'House' in the Sense of 'Stanza'

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The Use of the Egyptian Word ht 'House' in the Sense of 'Stanza'Author(s): A. M. BlackmanSource: Orientalia, NOVA SERIES, Vol. 7 (1938), pp. 64-66Published by: GBPress- Gregorian Biblical PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43581191

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7/25/2019 The Use of the Egyptian Word Ht 'House' in the Sense of 'Stanza'

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64

The Use of

the

Egyptian

Word

ht

*

House

'

in

the Sense

of

'

Stanza

'

A.

M.

Blackman

-

Liverpool

Dr.

A.

H. Gardiner

in

Chester

Beatty

Papyri

No.

I,

p.

27,

discusses

the

use of

the word

ht

'

house

written

Q

,

and

meaning

stanza

,

pointing

out

at the same

time that

though

a more

literal

ranslation

f

the

headings

of

the

poems

withwhich

he is

dealing

would

be

'

House

the

second

,

'

House

the

third

,

&c.,

nevertheless

the

rendering

sta?iza

9

is

the more

acceptable,

ince

ts own

etymolo-

gical

meaning,

s

the

present-day

talian

use

and the

Spanish

estancia

both

bear

witness,

was

none

other

than

house*

or

'

abode* .

However,

in note 1 on the same page he expressessome doubt as to whether

the

parallel

is

a fair one.

In the

Egyptian

the

word

for

stanza

or

'

chapter

,

he

says,

is

definitely

metaphor

from

dwelling-

place

which the

words inhabit

and

by

which

they

are

cut off

from

other

stanzas

or

chapters.

Is this

the case

with

the Italian

word

'

stanza

? The

etymological

meaning

s

'

stopping-place

and

it

might

well be that

the.

erm

was used

in reference

o

poetry

olely

on

account

of

the

pause

at the

end

.

Dr. Gardiner

oncludes

the note

by

stating

that

I

had

remarked

o

him

that

bet

house

is

used

in

Arabic

in

in the sense of ' stanza exactly ike the Egyptian equivalent.

It will

be of

interest o

ascertain

how

far back

this

use

of

t

can

be

traced

in

Egyptian,

nd whether

word

for

house

is

employed

with the

meaning

*

stanza

by any

Mediterranean

nd

Near

Eastern

peoples

other

than

the

ancient

Egyptians

and

the

Arabs.

Dr. Gardiner

notes

that

t

withthe

meaning

1

stanza

occurs

not

only

in

the

group

o

love-songs

upon

which

he

is

commentating,

ut

in

the

Hymns

to

Amon

from

a Leiden

PaPyrus

which

he

published

in

A.

Z.,

42,

12 ff. Further

nstances

known

to

me

are to

be found

in the Songs of Isis and Nephthysand the Book of Overthrowing

eApep

=

Pap

. Bremner

Rhind Brit

Mus.

Pap

.

No.

10188,

1,1;

1, 5;

24,

21

;

Chester

Beatty

apyri

No.

IX,

rt.

14,

4;

and

Teaching

of

Amenemdpe

on

of

Kanakht

Brit.

Mus

Pap.

No.

1047

,

3,

8

; 4,

3.

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7/25/2019 The Use of the Egyptian Word Ht 'House' in the Sense of 'Stanza'

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The

Use

of

he

Egyptian

Word

ht

House in

theSenseof

Stanza 65

Though

I have come across no instanceof t

meaning

stanza*

in

any

Old- or

Middle

Egyptian

exts,

yet

this

use

of the

word must

actually

go

back to at

least the

beginning

f the Sixth

Dynasty.

The

basis for

this statement

s the fact that a

very large

number

f

the

Utterances

inscribed n

the walls of the

underground

hambers

and

passages

of

the

pyramids

of

Teti,

Pepi

I,

Merner6,

nd

Pepi

II

(but

not

of

Unis)

are

enclosed

n

elongated

Q

-signs

(see,

7/25/2019 The Use of the Egyptian Word Ht 'House' in the Sense of 'Stanza'

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66 A.

M. Blackman

The Use

of he

Egyptian

Word

ht

House

etc.

Langdon

also stated that the Sumerianshad another word for

stanza

,

ki-sub-g,

often

written

merely

gii,

which is

more

common

than

,

and which

the

Babylonians

borrowed,

translating

t

by

m.

So far

s I

can

see he

went

on

to

say,

btu is not

used

in

this

sense,

lthough,

f

the Sumerians o

used

theword for house

,

naturally

the

Accadians,

Babylonians

nd

Assyrians

must

also have

so

used

it.

That is all

the

more

probable

as the word

for

house

,

bait,

is used

in

Syriac

as is bt

in

Arabic.

It

is

curious,however,

hat this

usage

is unknown

n Hebrew

and Rabbinical

literature

.

According

to

Langdon

the versionsof the Sumerian texts in

which

1

house

occurs

with he

meaning

stanza

,

all

date from

he

twenty-

econd

century

B.

C.

Consequently,

ince the use

of

Q

in

the

Pyramid

Texts,

even

if

Scharff's

chronology

s

adopted,

cannot

be later

than 2400

B.

C.,

one

feels

tempted

to

suggest,

either that

the Sumerian

use

of the

word

'

house

in the sense of

'

stanza is

due to

direct

r indirect

gyptian

nfluence,

r

that

both

the

Egyptians

and

Sumerians

owe

the

use to

some

common

cultural source

*).

Howeverthatmaybe, thefactthat the word for house

,

means

'strophe',

'verse',

or

'chapter'

in

Egyptian,

Sumerian,

Syriac

and

Arabic,

makes

it

difficulto

believe

that

the

similar

use

of

the Italian

word

'

stanza

arose

independently.

On

the

contrary,

n

view of

the

close

relations

f the

Arabs in

mediaeval

times

with

Sicily

and southern

Italy,

t

is

only

natural o

suppose

that

stanza

is

simply

translation

of

bt,

the two

words

having,

as

a

matter

f

fact,

dentically

he same

meaning,

abode

,

'

chamber

(2).

If

this use

of the word

4

house

originated

n

Egypt,

it could

have found ts way into Babyloniaby way of Byblos, a port which

was

in

contact

with

Egypt

and

subject

to

Egyptian

nfluences

s

early,

possibly,

s the

reign

of

Sneferu

3),

but

certainly

o

during

the

Fifth

and Sixth

Dynasties 4).

Though,

as

Langdon

has

observed,

he use

is not

known

n Hebrew

and Rabbinical

literature,

t

may

have

been

current

mong

the Phoenicians

nd

Syrians

and

have been

eventually

transmitted

y

the latter to

the

Arabs,

who,

in their

turn,

passed

it

on to the

Sicilians

and

Italians.

f1)

Cf.

A. M.

Blackman, ourn.

f

Egypt.

Archaeology

10,47:

see

also

EduardMeyer,Geschichtees AltertumsBerlin, 913), 229.

(2)

See

Ha

va,

Arabic-English

ictionary

Beyrut,

899),

50

,

(3)

See

J.

H.

Breasted,

History

f Egypt

London,

1906),

115.

(4)

Eduard

Meyer,

p.

cit.,

356f.

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