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Commentary on WENI, AEL PAGE 3,
Lines 17-22
This discusses AEL page 3 . Transliteration is here.
Go to Line: 17-18, 19, 20, 21, 22
 
 
 LINE 17-18   [next | prev | top]
 
sT Hat.y.w-aA sT sDA.w-bit.y sT smr.w-wa.t.y-Hw.t-aA
sT Hr.i.w-tp HqA.w-Hw.t n.i.w Sma.w tA-mH.w
smr.w aw.w [18] im.i.w-rA Hmw.w-nTr n.i.w Sma.w tA-mH.w
im.i.w-rA gs.i.w-prw Xr.i-HAt TAz.w.t n.i.w.t Sma.w tA-mH.w
Hw.w.t HqA.w.t=sn nHs.i.w n.i.w xAs.w.t iptn
 
[Mark Vygus, 22/6/1998; AEL Weni L17-18]
(There were) Counts, Seal-Bearers of the King, Sole-companions of the Palace
Chieftains, Mayors of Upper & Lower Egypt
Friends, Caravan leaders, Overseers of Priests of Upper & Lower Egypt
Members of the Administration at the head of the troops of Upper & Lower Egypt
Administrative Districts, cities that they governed, Nubians of these foriegn lands
[Mark Wilson, 22/6/98; AEL Weni P3, 17-19]
Mayors, royal seal bearers, unique confidants of the palace,
Chiefs, district governors of upper and lower Egypt,
Friends, caravan leaders, chief priests of upper and lower Egypt,
Overseers of administrative districts, chiefs of upper and lower Egypt,
Estates and cities which they govern, and Nubians of those foreign lands.
 
[MDS, 25/7/1998; Re: AEL Weni P3, 17-19]
im.i.w-rA gs.i.w-prw Xr.i-HAt TAz.w.t .....
Faulkner is a bit dubious about the meaning of gs.i-pr, and lists 'administrative district, or temple'. Both with question marks.
R. Hannig's definitionof imi-rA gsw-prw, (translation courtesy of M. Wilson) is 'Head of manufacturing', or (2) 'portable shrine'.
Xr.i-HAt, a compound preposition, consisting of a preposition+noun, lit. 'under the front', but meaning in english 'at the front of', 'in front of'.
 
 
 LINE 19   [next | prev | top]
ink wn iri(=i) n=sn sxr [*]
sT iA.t(=i) m im.i-rA xnt.i.w-Si prw-aAi
n mtr n.i As.t(=i)
ir nfr n.i wdd wa im m sn.w=f [**]
 

[Mark Wilson, 22/6/98; AEL Weni P3, 17-19]

I did command them,
my position being (only) that of overseer of palace personnel,
for exactness of position/duty?
that (each) one therein did not do harm to his (number) 2 (i.e. his fellow).
 
Questions:
* What is going on in this sentence? It seems a bit strange with the verbs wn and iri, one right after the other.
** What is the meaning of nfr here?
 
[Serge Rosmorduc, 23/7/1998; Re: AEL Weni.P3, 17-19] (responding to Yves Dupont)
Perhaps "wn" stands for "wnt" (Gardiner par 127,4) "indeed", and the whole is to be translated "ink wn(t) ir n=sn sxr", cleft-sentence, with "ir" being a perfective participle : "It was indeed me who commanded them".
 
 
[Gerald Kadish, 24/7/1998; Re: AEL Weni.P3, 17-19]
The passage at Urk. I, 102:9 under discussion is treated by Edel in his _Altägyptische Grammatik_ II, § 897. He understands the passage as part of a past formation he labels wnf sDmf (i.e. wn=f sDm=f). He transliterates
our example as: (converting j to i) ink wni irii n=sn sxr and translates "ich machte für sie die Planung". As much as i tend to admire Edel's views, I would modify his reading a bit. I would agree that it is wn=i; wn(t) requires an emendation (to be avoided unless driven to it). I take ink wn=i as an emphasizing structure: "As for me, I was . . . ." The suggestion that ir is a perfective active participle seems right to me, so I would translate "As for me, I was the one who devised the plan for them." Perhaps an alternative rendering would be: 'I, I was the one who ...."
 
[MDS, 25/7/1998, Re: AEL Weni P3, 17-19] (my naive attempt, but perhaps of some use)
Looks like a bipartite nominal sentence, but the second nominal phrase (wn iri..... sxr) is not typical. 'wn' is the verb 'wnn', and must be nominal in that position in the sentence, so is probably a participle (past/completed, active). So something like, (lit.) 'It is I who was the one who made plans for them' (ie. directed the army's strategy). If iri also a participle, then a suffix pronoun is not needed.
 
 LINE 20   [next | prev | top]
ir nfr n.i nHm wa im xAD Tb.w.t.i m-a Hr.i wAi.t
ir nfr n.i iTT wa im dAiw m ni.t nb.t
 
[Jenny Carrington, 14/7/98; AEL Weni. L19-28]
so that no one there took away dough or sandals from one who was upon the road,
so that no one there stole a loincloth from any town
 
ir, preposition
nfr-n, (eg. see Gardiner section 351) denies an occurrence of something. Predicate adjective 'nfr', but with a negative meaning. Followed by the dative, so refers to a 'contingent accidental qualification' rather than some intrinsic property.
nHm, verb (infinitive?).
 
Subject of the verb nHm is wa im, "one there(in)". The determinative on wa indicates it is a person. The context indicates Weni is talking about one of his army. The first object of the verb is the noun, xAD, 'dough, or bread'. The second object is sandal. The determinative is double, so is Tb.w.t.y, dual, for (two) sandals.
m-a, prepsn., 'from' as well as other meanings (lit. in the hand)
Hr.i wAit: a noun "one who was on the road".
 
 
 
 LINE 21   [next | prev | top]
ir nfr n.i iTT wa im wa.t.i nb m-a zi.w nb.w
mAa.ki sn m iw mH.w.t.i sbA n.i ii-Htp war.t n.i.t Hrw-nb-mAa.t
sT wi m iA.t t(n) ///////
 
[Jenny Carrington, 14/7/98; AEL Weni. L19-28]
so that no one there stole any goat from anyone.
I led them from the Northern Island, the Gate of Yihotep, the desert plateau of Horus-Lord of Truth,
while I was in this office ///
 
 LINE 22   [next | prev | top]
/////////////////////////////////
ix.t nb.t [w]bA n(=i) Tnw TAz.w.t iptn
ni zp [w]bA.ti (i)n bAk nb
 
[Jenny Carrington, 14/7/98; AEL Weni. L19-28]
////// anything. I revealed the number of these troops. Never before had it been revealed by any servant.
 
[Gerald Kadish, 16/7/1998; Re: AEL Weni. L19-28]
What you think `to reveal' (as an interpretation of wb3) means. What is Weni actually telling us? The verb wb3 fundamentally means `to open'. `Reveal' is not an unlikely extended meaning, but it has never made much sense to me. As you apparently recognized, Weni lays claim to doing something not normally done by someone of his standing or rank with respect to a military contingent. All sorts of solutions have been suggested. My own is to be found in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 52 (1966):23-33. It has not gained much acceptance, but you might find it of interest.
 
[J. Carrington, 18/7/98; Re: AEL Weni. L19-28]
I must admit I wasn't sure about this word but I used it in the sense of making known the number of troups. Gardiner gives its meaning as 'to open', and Faulkner has 'to reveal' as well as open. I felt that Lichtheims translation as 'determined' implies merely counting the troops and does not contain the full meaning of wbA. Perhaps 'reviewed' the number of these troops would fit better in a military situation, after the king had assembled the army and put Weni in command.
 
[M. Tilgner, 21/7/1998; AW: Re: AEL Weni. L19-28]
 
Edel discussed in this paragraph the ellipse (omission) of the pronominal subject: "the suffixes of the 3rd person can be omitted which, however, occurs rarely. Such for the passives sDmtif and sDmwf:" and translated "I found out/determined the number of these troops"
n zp wbAti[f] n bAk nb "It (the number) had never been found out/determined by any servant." wbA to find out, to determine (German: feststellen) Another example of wbA is in paragraph 696, wbA Hrst msiww nSd "to pierce pearls by jewellers" wbA to pierce (German: durchbohren)
The "Lexikon der Aegyptologie" translated several examples as follows wbA to unlock, to open (German: aufschließen)
Rainer Hannig, "Grosses Handwoerterbuch Aegyptisch-Deutsch (2800-950 v. Chr.)", Mainz, 1995, p. 186/7 wbA
(1) to open (door, part of the body)
(2) to open, to make accessible, passable (unknown or inaccessible location); to explore, to walk on (way); to make navigable (lakes and rivers); to open up, to clear (way)
(3) [medical] to have an orifice, a way out
(4) [figurative] to reveal, to disclose
(5) to drill, to drill out, to pierce (stone, pearl of carnelian); to sink (well)
(6) wbA-ib (a) clever (b) to open the heart, to betray, to confide
(7) wbA-Hr (a) to be able to see (again) (also in the sense of: to realize, to become aware of) (b) to be skillful, experienced (m in work) wbAw-Hr scholars, experts
(8) [medical] to improve vision.
I think meaning (4) fits well in the context.
 

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