Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs

Rating:
Summary: Gardiner's "Egyptian Grammar"
Review: This book (which I cut my teeth on over 30 years ago), remains the standard text for students of Early-Middle Kingdom Hieroglyphics. Certainly not for the faint-of-heart-- but Gardiner makes a rather complicated subject _much_ easier to deal with. This, with Faulkner's Dictionary, should be in any Egyptologist's Library.

Rating:
Summary: Essential, but you gotta really be interested
Review: This book is essential to any study of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. It is the standard reference book. The classification numbers Gardiner assigned to the signs are used in "all" books and articles on Egyptology. It is heavy and expensive, and you would do better to buy a cheaper introductory book before making the investment.

Rating:
Summary: A seminal text on an intriguing subject
Review: When I was a little girl I wanted to learn Egyptian hieroglyphics in the worst way. In 1970 I had that opportunity, and I've always treasured the experience. Gardiner's grammar was the book we used, and it's still one of the most seminal texts on the subject. It includes gradually more complex grammar and exercises that train the student to transliterate and translate from the Egyptian to English and from English into Egyptian. For the professional, or the amateur enthusiast, sidebars give additional information on unusual word forms and make textual references to epigraphic data/research to be found in journal sources, most particularly the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. The appendicies include extensive sign lists in catagorical form that are easy to use. They also include a fairly extensive vocabulary which, along with Faulkner's Dictionary, makes a useful resource for translating the more common texts. This is no small amount of work, however, the volume is several hundred pages long and gets into some very arcane phrases and usages. The person more intrigued than enthused by heiroglyps should probably look for a book called Egyptian Hieroglyphics by Patrick F. O'Mara. For the person who really gets into it, I'd suggest the book Middle Egyptian Stories by Aylward M. Blackman, a truely delightful book of short stories in hieroglyphic form.

Rating:
Summary: A seminal text on an intriguing subject
Review: When I was a little girl I wanted to learn Egyptian hieroglyphics in the worst way. In 1970 I had that opportunity, and I've always treasured the experience. Gardiner's grammar was the book we used, and it's still one of the most seminal texts on the subject. It includes gradually more complex grammar and exercises that train the student to transliterate and translate from the Egyptian to English and from English into Egyptian. For the professional, or the amateur enthusiast, sidebars give additional information on unusual word forms and make textual references to epigraphic data/research to be found in journal sources, most particularly the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. The appendicies include extensive sign lists in catagorical form that are easy to use. They also include a fairly extensive vocabulary which, along with Faulkner's Dictionary, makes a useful resource for translating the more common texts. This is no small amount of work, however, the volume is several hundred pages long and gets into some very arcane phrases and usages. The person more intrigued than enthused by heiroglyps should probably look for a book called Egyptian Hieroglyphics by Patrick F. O'Mara. For the person who really gets into it, I'd suggest the book Middle Egyptian Stories by Aylward M. Blackman, a truely delightful book of short stories in hieroglyphic form.