How do I prepare for an Egyptology Major?

pwar
Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:33:17 +0000

nefer: I completely understand your point. However, I find it very unlikely that anyone is going to learn a significant amount of ME before university (cf Arabic). I also find it even more unlikely that anyone is going to learn it out of Allen’s book, which is meant for an aid in formal classes (despite the “do it yourself” tone in which he writes).

I don’t think we’re on the same wavelength with Arabic. Learning Arabic takes a lot longer than German and French, and, unlike the latter two languages, gets you into the mindset of how Afro-Asiatic languages work. In my experience, students really have problems with the basic functioning of the language, namely the transformation of root/stem to the modified word and clauses. People get so obsessed with “Hieroglyphs” that they stop treating what you see as a language which functioned sort of under the script. For the same reason, many universities also like Egyptology students to do Hebrew, although they also add the fact that Hebrew and its closely-related languages records some historical events relating to Egypt.

More and more, though, I think teachers are realising that Arabic can help students the same way as Hebrew, whilst at the same time helping them should they chose to actually practice archaeology. I cbfed discussing it more; point out one successful Egyptologist who now hasn’t made Arabic a priority, and I’ll concede the point. If you think that Arabic is easier to learn than German/French in the long run, then bleh… The bottom line is that when I was working in Egypt, and when I’ve gone to a few conferences, Egyptologists will even converse with each other in the language.

And by the by, if you pick up Peust’s book on Egyptian phonetics and phonology, you’ll see a very well-accepted phonological reconstruction for the word nfr.

ccTransfer10: They would certainly help you with regards to study, but I’m unfamiliar with the application procedure, so I can’t help there. :(