Ankh wedja seneb

ankh wedja seneb ꜥnḫ wḏꜢ snb in hieroglyphs

Ankh wedja seneb (𓋹𓍑𓋴 ꜥnḫ wḏꜢ snb) is an Egyptian phrase which often appears after the names of pharaohs, in references to their household, or at the ends of letters. The formula consists of three Egyptian hieroglyphs without clarification of pronunciation, making its exact grammatical form difficult to reconstruct. It may be expressed as "life, prosperity, and health", but Alan Gardiner proposed that they represented verbs in the stative form: "Be alive, strong, and healthy".

Components

Egyptian hieroglyphs did not record vowel values, making the exact pronunciation of most words unknowable. The conventional Egyptological pronunciations of the words ꜥnḫ, wḏꜢ, and snb are ankh, wedja and seneb respectively.

• Ankh means "life" and "to have life", "to live", particularly with regard to the longevity and resurrection of the ancient Egyptian deities and pharaohs
• Wedja means "to be whole" or "intact", with connotations of "prosperity" and "well-being"
• Seneb means "to be sound", "to be well", "to be healthy"

Rosetta Stone

On the Rosetta Stone (196 BCE), the gods are said to reward the Ptolemaic pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes:

"...The gods and goddesses have given him victory, and power, and life, and strength, and health [A.U.S.], and every beautiful thing of every kind whatsoever..."

ΔΕΔΩΚΑΣΙΝ ΑΥΤΩΙ ΟΙ ΘΕΟΙ ΥΓΙΕΙΑΝ ΝΙΚΗΝ ΚΡΑΤΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΑΛΛ ΑΓΑΘ[Α…]

See also

• Ankh

References

Bibliography

• Erman, Johann Peter Adolf; et al., eds. (1926–1953), Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien, Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichsschen Buchhandlungen, reprinted at Berlin by Akademie-Verlag GmbH in 1971. (in German)
• Budge, E.A. Wallis (1929), The Rosetta Stone.