Gardiner lists only the 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. In contrast, for example, the Budge Reference has about 1,000 hieroglyphs listed in 50 pages, but with no size variations.
Gardiner does not cross-index signs; once put on the list, other significant uses may be overlooked. One example of this is G16, nbtỉ, the ideogram for the Two Ladies, goddesses Wadjet as the cobra and Nekhbet as the white vulture. These are the protective and patron goddesses of the separate Egyptian kingdoms that joined into ancient Egypt, who were both then displayed on the uraeus of Wadjet when the unification occurred and afterward considered jointly to be the protectors of Egypt and the pharaohs. This ideogram is listed only in the bird list (G), and overlooked on the deity list (C) and the reptile list (I).
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.
Categories
A. Man and his occupations
56 signs in Gardiner (1957:242–247), with A59 "man threatening with stick" inserted after A25 "man striking with left hand hanging behind back", and two variants A14* "blood interpreted as ax" of A14 "man with blood streaming from his head"; and A17* "child sitting with arms hanging down" of A17 "child sitting with hand to mouth".
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
A7
A8
A9
A10
A11
A12
A13
A14
A15
A16
A17
A18
A19
A20
A21
A22
A23
A24
A25
A26
A27
A28
A29
A30
A31
A32
A33
A34
A35
A36
A37
A38
A39
A40
A41
A42
A43
A44
A45
A46
A47
A48
A49
A50
A51
A52
A53
A54
A55
A56
A57
A57
A58
A58
A59
A60
A60
B. Woman and her occupations
7 signs in Gardiner (1957:448).
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
B10
B11
B12
C. Anthropomorphic deities
11 signs in Gardiner (1957:448f.) with the addition of five 19th Dynasty signs, C12 Amun, C17 Mont, C18 Tjanen, C19 and C20 Ptah.
42 signs in Gardiner (1957:485–492).
N3 is an Old Kingdom variant of N2.
N11 "moon" has vertical (increscent and decrescent) variants, N12 is a 19th-Dynasty variant of N11.
Usually depicted with three rays, older variants may also have four rays.[1] Determinative for e.g. pḥḏ "to shine, illumine" and wbn "rise"; from this latter case, it can also take the phonetic value of wbn when standing on its own, e.g. in wbn "wound". Alternatively, it is either a determiner or ideogram for ḥnmmt, the name of the "sun folk" of Heliopolis (Gardiner p. 486).
A depiction with four rays is found on an ivory wand of c. 2100 BC: The "Sun with rays" hieroglyph is shown once, placed upon the head of a ram. It has a central dot, like the "Sun" hieroglyph (N5), with four elongated, undulating vertical rays.[2] See also Aten.
N9
𓇷 U+131F7
psḏ
moon with its lower half obscured
18th Dynasty
N10
𓇸 U+131F8
as N9
variant of N9
18th Dynasty
N11
𓇹 U+131F9
crescent moon
N12
𓇺 U+131FA
variant of N11
18th Dynasty
N13
𓇻 U+131FB
half of N11 + N14
"half-month festival"
N14
𓇼 U+131FC
star
N15
𓇽 U+131FD
star in circle
N16
𓇾 U+131FE
N18 + 3 x N33
"earth, land" (flat alluvial land with grains of sand)
adze on block stp "cut", "choose" (stp-n-rꜣ "chosen of Ra")
U21
U22
U23
U24
U25
U26
U27
U28
U29
U30
U31
U32
U33
U34
U35
U36
U37
U38
U39
U40
U41
V. Rope, fiber, baskets, bags, etc.
40 signs (38 in Gardiner 1957).
V39 is the Tyet or "Knot of Isis".
V40 is the numeral 10 in dates.
V1
V2
V3
V4
V5
V6
V7
V8
V9
V10
V11
V12
V13
V14
V15
V16
V17
V18
V19
V20
V21
V22
V23
V24
V25
V26
V27
V28
V29
V30
V31
V32
V33
V34
V35
V36
V37
V38
V39
V40
V40
W. Vessels of stone and earthenware
25 signs.
W1
W2
W3
W4
W5
W6
W7
W8
W9
W10
W11
W12
W13
W14
W15
W16
W17
W18
W19
W20
W21
W22
W23
W24
W25
X. Loaves and cakes
8 signs.
X1
t feminine
X2
X3
bread
X4
X5
bread, food
X6
loaf (pAt)
X7
half-loaf (gSw)
X8
conical loaf; "give" (di, imi)
Y. Writings, games, music
8 signs.
Y1
Papyrus roll-tied
Y2
Y3
Scribe equipment
Y4
Y5
Y6
board game piece
Y7
Y8
Sistrum
Z. Strokes, signs derived from Hieratic, geometrical figures
11 signs.
Z1
Z2
Z3
Z4
Z5
Z6
Z7
Z8
Z9
Z10
Z11
Aa. Unclassified
31 signs in Gardiner (1957).
Aa1
Aa2
Aa3
Aa4
Aa5
Aa6
Aa7
Aa8
Aa9
Aa10
Aa11
Aa12
Aa13
Aa14
Aa15
Aa16
Aa17
Aa18
Aa19
Aa20
Aa21
Aa22
Aa23
Aa24
Aa25
Aa26
Aa27
Aa28
Aa29
Aa30
Aa31
Aa32
Aa33
Aa33
Aa34
Aa34
Aa35
Aa35
Aa36
Aa36
Aa37
Aa37
Aa38
Aa38
Aa39
Aa39
Aa40
Aa41
Aa42
Aa42
Aa43
Aa43
Aa44
Aa44
Aa45
Aa45
Aa46
Aa46
Aa47
Aa47
Aa48
Aa48
Aa49
Aa49
Aa50
Aa50
Unicode
𓁄
A059: man threatening with stick
In Unicode
U+013044𓁄EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPH A059 (HTML 𓁄)
These hieroglyphs have unicode code points and so, given a suitable font, can be displayed or printed. The block starts at U+013000 for A001.
See also
Egyptian hieroglyphs
List of Egyptian hieroglyphs
Transliteration of Ancient Egyptian
List of cuneiform signs
References
^Betrò, 1995. Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt, Sun with Rays, p. 152.
^Fleming; Lothian; (and Fletcher), 1997. The Way to Eternity: Egyptian Myth, Fergus Fleming, Alan Lothian, and consultant Dr. Joann Fletcher. c 1997, Duncan Baird Publishers. (hardcover, ISBN 0-7054-3503-2), 124-126.
Bibliography
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.)
A.H. Gardiner, Catalogue of the Egyptian hieroglyphic printing type, from matrices owned and controlled by Dr. Alan (1928).
A.H. Gardiner, "Additions to the new hieroglyphic fount (1928)", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 15 (1929), p. 95.
A.H. Gardiner, "Additions to the new hieroglyphic fount (1931)", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 17 (1931), pp. 245–247.
A.H. Gardiner, Supplement to the catalogue of the Egyptian hieroglyphic printing type, showing acquisitions to December 1953 (1953).
A.H. Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. 3rd Ed., pub. Griffith Institute, Oxford, 1957 (1st edition 1927), pp. 438–548 (pdf).
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.
Reading list
Betrò, Carmelo (1996). Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt (1st ed.). Abbeville Press Pub. pp. 251. ISBN 9780789202321.: A primer based on Gardiner's sign list, focussing on major signs in seven categories.
