Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian

Rating:
Summary: Is this a joke?
Review: Can anyone please tell me why this book appears to have been HANDWRITTEN? Maybe someone thought it would just look cool to publish an entire book by photocopying Faulkner's notes. The book is somewhat useful and is good for translating certain stubborn Egyptian texts, but frankly I expected much more. The book seems literally thrown together. Add to this the fact that there is NO English to Egyptian cross-reference. You have to buy the supplemental reference at additional cost (review on that coming soon).

An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary is the single most important tool a student can possess. Either the publishers have some specific copyright that prevents someone else from writing a similar dictionary, or there is simply no market for one because professors receive a kickback for requiring Faulkner's book. I recommend this book for one reason: It is the only one that exists.

Rating:
Summary: This one is the best
Review: I learned to read Middle Egyptian using primarily Alan Gardiner's Middle Egyptian Grammar, Adrian deBuck's Reading Book, and this dictionary. Unfortunately, Amazon does not seem to carry deBuck, which is too bad, because deBuck is a book of hieroglyphic texts for the student, containing all the important Middle Egyptian stuff: The Story of Sinuhe, the Story of the Eloquent Peasant, etc. To show you how well Faulker and deBuck go together, I need only say that when Faulkner gave a reference for the particular definition of the word I was looking up out of deBuck, as often as not the reference turned out to be the very text I was reading - a pretty clear indication that I was on the right track!

Use Miriam Lichtheim's delightful translations to keep you on the track as far as the overall sense goes, but for the right word at the right time, Faulkner and deBuck go together like ham on rye.

deBuck is from Ares Publisher Inc. Google for Ares Publishers and you'll find them. Also, one reviewer complained that there is no reverse English-to-Egyptian index in Faulkner. True, but there's one published independently, and Amazon has that. I don't have the reference at hand but a little Amazon searching will turn it up.

Rating:
Summary: This one is the best
Review: I learned to read Middle Egyptian using primarily Alan Gardiner's Middle Egyptian Grammar, Adrian deBuck's Reading Book, and this dictionary. Unfortunately, Amazon does not seem to carry deBuck, which is too bad, because deBuck is a book of hieroglyphic texts for the student, containing all the important Middle Egyptian stuff: The Story of Sinuhe, the Story of the Eloquent Peasant, etc. To show you how well Faulker and deBuck go together, I need only say that when Faulkner gave a reference for the particular definition of the word I was looking up out of deBuck, as often as not the reference turned out to be the very text I was reading - a pretty clear indication that I was on the right track!

Use Miriam Lichtheim's delightful translations to keep you on the track as far as the overall sense goes, but for the right word at the right time, Faulkner and deBuck go together like ham on rye.

deBuck is from Ares Publisher Inc. Google for Ares Publishers and you'll find them. Also, one reviewer complained that there is no reverse English-to-Egyptian index in Faulkner. True, but there's one published independently, and Amazon has that. I don't have the reference at hand but a little Amazon searching will turn it up.

Rating:
Summary: The Egyptian Language Dictionary par excellance
Review: I love this book--and let me tell you why. If you get the chance, pick it up. Feel that? It's light, easy to carry, and nicely transportable. If you've ever had to use the Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache (Dictionary of the Egypian Language) by Erman with its seven lovely volumes (minus 'Belegstellen') you know what I mean. And best of all it's in English, elliminating the need to turn to the useless Budge dictionary if you don't happen to speak German. While Faulkner's dictionary will not have every single word you seek as you translate (hence 'A Concise Dictionary'), it contains more than enough to get you through a text. And most importantly there are citations within each entry as well as occasional examples of words within idiomatic contexts. Overall, highly recommended, as this is the best and most accessible Egyptian language dictionary around.

Rating:
Summary: Still the best Egyptian dictionary around
Review: The Faulkner's is still the best Egyptian dictionary around. In my opinion it's more concise, more organized, more accurate, and more objectively supported by epigraphic research than the Budge. My only complaint, and it's a minor one at that considering the use to which it's most commonly put, is that there is no English to Egyptian section. Who knows? I might want to write letters in Egyptian, and searching for just that "right" word would be so much easier with an English to Egyptian portion!

Rating:
Summary: More Accurate than Budge....
Review: This book is decidedly more accurate than the Budge compendium, which I don't recommend to anyone who wants to study the ancient Egyptian language as all it will do is teach you hieroglyphs the wrong way. Faulkner, however, gives you accurate translations, and while his handwriting makes this book a little hard to study -- and really, a typeface overhaul of this book is long overdue -- he's the best bang for your buck. This book is Egyptian-English; the companion book by David Shennum handles the English-Egyptian side of things, and is essential for anyone who wants to get the most out of this book. Costs a lot compared to the Budge stuff, but at least it won't leave you misreading glyphs and misunderstanding the wonder that is ancient Egypt.

Rating:
Summary: Best Middle Egyptian dictionary in English around!
Review: This dictionary offers almost the entire corpus of vocabulary of Middle Egyptian literary texts that a student will encounter. No, it is *not* a complete corpus of ALL Middle Egyptian words, but it does cover the standard texts that are used in learning the language (Story of Sinuhe, the Shipwrecked Sailor, etc.). Even advanced students and professionals use this one volume work when the standard multi-volume dictionary (written in German) is a bit much.

Some reviewers here have complained bitterly that the book is autographed (i.e., written by hand, not typeset). This book appeared first long before computers and computer typesetting. At that time (and often even today) it was standard for books with huge sections of Egyptian hieroglyphs to be written by hand, including the five volume German dictionary mentioned above. Yes, hot metal type was available, but with a press set-up fee of several thousand British pounds, it was rarely used. Moreover, not every hieroglyph is available in type (even in computer fonts). Fortunately Faulkner and his assistants have a very clear and legible hand and offer no problem in this regard.

The only minor draw back is that the book is somewhat dated by today's standards (originally published in 1962), but not overly so. A few words have different transliterations today, and of course new meanings and newly discovered words are not given. However, unless you can read German, this book is well worth its price and will certainly handle the sorts of texts serious students will be presented with. It is by far better than Budge's horrendously out of date -- and down right inaccurate -- dictionary.