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Egyptian Alphabet, circa Early July–circa November 1835–C
Source Note
Source Note
Egyptian Alphabet, [, Geauga Co., OH, ca. early July–ca. Nov. 1835]; English in the handwriting of and ; hieratic and unknown characters in unidentified handwriting (likely Phelps); four pages; Kirtland Egyptian Papers, CHL. Includes archival markings.
Four leaves, each measuring 12⅜ × 7¾ inches (31 × 20 cm). Each leaf is ruled with about thirty-nine lines that are mostly faded. The second and third leaves bear matching irregularities in their cut, indicating they were at one point a single sheet that was then cut in two. Each leaf was inscribed on one side, while the other side was left blank. Phelps added the title “Egyptian Alphabet” to the first leaf. On the recto of each leaf, three hand-drawn, vertical lines divide the page into four columns of varying width. These lines were presumably drawn by , who wrote the headings for the columns. On the first leaf, Phelps added the column headings “Character”, “lett[e]r”, “Sound”, and “Explanation”. In addition to the title and these column headings, Phelps added the words “first degree” at the top of the first leaf. The headings and “first degree” appear to have been written at the same time. The title, “Egyptian Alphabet”, is written more deliberately, with broadly inscribed strokes and very little slope, which suggests that Phelps added it at a different time. On subsequent leaves, Phelps provided column headings only for the “character” and “sound” columns. The “character” column is consistently larger than needed, and the sound column is frequently too small for the lengthy words inscribed there. One horizontal line forms a rule on the first leaf, separating the first and second parts of the first degree. On subsequent leaves, parts are set off only by headings. Phelps also paginated each leaf on the upper right corner.
Following the production of this document, the four leaves were attached together with as many as three pins. Pinholes along the right side of the rectos of the leaves align with one another. Green oxidation and impressions from pinheads on the first leaf indicate it was placed first in this attached collection of leaves, suggesting that the leaves were arranged in the order in which they were paginated. Pinholes in the same location on the Egyptian Counting document indicate that document was attached to and stored with this one. Significant staining is present on the left side of the recto of the first leaf; foxing, wear, and other staining are present throughout the leaves. By the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, most of the leaves of the Egyptian Alphabet documents were docketed in blue ink with letters of the alphabet from A through I and T through X. Egyptian Alphabet–C bears the letters C through F on the upper right corner of each recto side of the leaves. The handwriting in which this labeling is inscribed is similar to that of early-twentieth-century apostle James E. Talmage. This document was presumably stored with the Egyptian material mentioned in periodic inventories of the Historian’s Office, which suggests continuous institutional custody.
Footnotes
- [1]
See Source Note for Egyptian Counting, ca. Early July–ca. Nov. 1835.
- [2]
“Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1]; “Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th. April 1855,” [1]; “Historian’s Office Inventory, G. S. L. City March 19, 1858,” [1]; “Historian’s Office Catalogue Book March 1858,” [7], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL; see also Historian’s Office, Journal, 17 Oct. 1855.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
Unlike the scribes of the other Egyptian Alphabet documents, apparently tried to anticipate how many pages he would need for his version. The four leaves of Egyptian Alphabet–C are of similar paper type and size, and the page numbers, number of columns, and size of columns for each leaf are fairly consistent. While Phelps may have designed the formatting of the columns from the beginning, he quickly moved past his original design. The “lett[e]r” column fell into almost immediate disuse. This change probably reflected the move away from an attempt to create a document that correlated ancient characters with modern English letters. Eventually, Phelps stopped including data in the explanation column and then the sound column. The eventual focus was on copying the characters from the papyri onto this document.
Egyptian Alphabet–C was likely begun before the other versions, as evidenced by the consistent formatting of the document and the inclusion of the “lett[e]r” column. In many cases, the characters and definitions found at the beginning of the other Egyptian Alphabet versions appear to draw from those in Egyptian Alphabet–C.
Footnotes
| Egyptian Alphabet | first degree | Explanation <D> | |
| Character | lett[e]r | Sound | <C> |
| ✦ [1.1] | a x | ah | The first Being, who exercises supreme power |
| ✦ [1.2] | x | Pha=e | The first man, or one who has Kingly power, or king |
| ✦ [1.3] | x | Pha | a more universal reign, having greater dominion, or power |
| ✦ ✦ [1.4a, b] | Pha=ho=e=oop | Royal family, Royal blood, or Pharaoh, or supreme power, or King | |
| ✦ [1.5] | Ho-oop-hah | Crown of a princes, or signifies Queen. | |
| ✦ [1.6] | Zi | virgin, unmarried, virtuous, n◊ or the principle of virtue. | |
| ✦ [1.7] | Kah=tou<=>mun | The name of the <a> royal family, in the female line | |
| ✦ [1.8] | Zi=oop-hah | An unmarried woman, & a virgin, a princes[s] | |
| ✦ [1.9] | Ho=e=oop | A young unmarried man—a prince. | |
| ✦ [1.10] | Zip=zi | a woman, married or unmarried,= daughter | |
| ✦ [1.11] | Ho-e=oop=hah | crown of a prince, or King | |
| ✦ [1.12] | Oan, <or> ah=e <oh=e> | The earth | |
| ✦ [1.13] | Tus, toan, tahe ta<,>e or tou=es= | beneath, below, under, water | |
| ✦ [1.14] | ◊◊ta Iota | Eye=to see=sight, sometimes Me, myself | |
| ✦ [1.15] | Iota tou=es Zipzi= | Egypt. The land first seen, by a woman, under water | |
| ✦ [1.16] | Su=e=eh=ni | What other person is that? Who? | |
| ✦ [1.17] | Ho=e=oop hah=Pha=e— | Reign, government, <power> right, Kingdom | |
| ✦ [1.18] | Zub-zool=oan | The begining,= first, before appointing to | |
| ✦ [1.19] | Zub=zool oan=eh. | In the beginning of the earth, or Creation | |
| ✦ [1.20] | Zub=eh— | To be in—as light in the earth | |
| ✦ [1.21] | Zub | The first creation of any thing or <or first institut[io]n> | |
| ✦ [1.22] | Zub zool | from the fi[r]st to any stated period after | |
| ✦ [1.23] | Zool | From a <any> fixed period of time back to the begining |
Second part of the first degree.
| ✦ [2.1] | ✦ | Alpha-om◊gas Ah me os - | God without beginning or end |
| ✦ [2.2] | ✦ | Aleph | In the beginning with God the Son or first born |
| ✦ [2.3] | ✦ | Albeth | Angels or disembodied spirits or Saints. |
| ✦ [2.4] | ✦ | Alkabeth | Angels in an unalterable state, men after they are raise <from the dead> |
| ✦ [2.5] | ✦ | Alchebeth | Ministers of God, high priests, Kings |
| ✦ [2.6] | ✦ | Alchobeth <Alchibeth> | Ministers of God, und◊r less than high priests— |
| ✦ [2.7] | ✦ | Alkubeth <Alkobeth> | Ministers not ordained of God, sinful |
| ✦ [2.8] | ✦ | Alki◊beth <Alkubeth> | Ministers who are less sinful for want of power |
| ✦ [2.9] | ✦ | Ba=eth | The name of all Mankind—man or men |
| ✦ [2.10] | ✦ | Ba=eth=ka | Adam or the first man, or first King |
| ✦ [2.11] | ✦ | Ba-eth kee | The next from Adam, one ordained under him. |
| ✦ [2.12] | ✦ | Ba-eth ki | The line <third> ordained under Adam |
| ✦ [2.13] | ✦ | Ba-eth ko | The fourth from Adam |
[p. 1]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
William W. Phelps handwriting begins.
This letter and the canceled “D” above were written in blue ink in unidentified handwriting.
- [1]
TEXT: “a” possibly a false start to write “ah”. Egyptian Alphabet–B also has “a” in this position in the letter column.
- [2]
TEXT: Possibly “<a>”.
- [3]
TEXT: Possibly “<✦> ✦”.
- [4]
TEXT: Egyptian Alphabet–A and –B have “crown of a princess or queen or Stands for queen” and “Crown of a pri[n]cess, or queen, or signifies queen”, respectively.
- [5]
TEXT: “n◊” possibly “no”.
- [6]
TEXT: This sound is also present in the notebooks of copied characters. (See “Valuable Discovery,” ca. Early July 1835, 3, and Notebook of Copied Egyptian Characters, ca. Early July 1835, 1.)
- [7]
TEXT: “a” likely meant to replace “the” in the line above. Egyptian Alphabet–A has “a”, and Egyptian Alphabet–B has “the a”.
- [8]
TEXT: Possibly “<in the female line>”.
- [9]
TEXT: Possibly “<&>”.
- [10]
TEXT: Possibly “<,= daughter>”.
- [11]
TEXT: Or “to<,>e”. Possibly “t◊<,>e ta<,>e” or “t◊<,>e to<,>e”.
- [12]
TEXT: Possibly “ton=es”, “toa=es=”, or “taa=es=”. Phelps’s “u” and “n” are not always distinguishable.
- [13]
TEXT: This character is a composite character made up of characters 1.10, 1.13, and 1.14. The composite nature is also evident in both the sound and the explanation.
- [14]
TEXT: Egyptian Alphabet–A and –B have “pointing to” and “pointing <to>”.
- [15]
TEXT: Neither Egyptian Alphabet–A nor Egyptian Alphabet–B has “oan” in the sound for this entry.
- [16]
TEXT: “any” likely intended to replace “a”, though that letter is not overwritten, stricken, or otherwise canceled. Egyptian Alphabet–A has “any or some fix<ed> peried”.
- [17]
TEXT: Egyptian Alphabet–A and –B have “begining <of the creation>” and “begin<ning or creation>”, respectively.
- [18]
TEXT: It is unclear why the scribe repeated the characters on this page. It is possible that Phelps wrote the characters in the “lett[e]r” column first and then corrected himself by placing them in the “Character” column.
- [19]
TEXT: “◊” likely “e”.
- [20]
TEXT: The similar sounds and explanations for this line and the previous four lines resulted in revisions in all three versions of the Egyptian Alphabet. Egyptian Alphabet–A and –B made similar revisions in capturing the different sounds. The similarity of the revisions hints that the scribes of the three versions attempted to standardize the pronunciation as they were creating the texts.
- [21]
TEXT: Egyptian Alphabet–B has “The lineage <third ordaind> King under Adam. third patriarck”.