Cobra-at-rest (hieroglyph)

Cobra Cobra-at-Rest in hieroglyphs

The Ancient Egyptian Cobra hieroglyph is Gardiner sign listed no. I10 for the cobra-at-rest. The Cobra-enraged in defensive posture, is the famous pharaonic Uraeus, (portrayed with Gardiner's nos. I12, I13, G16, and other Gardiner unlisted varieties).

The cobra-at-rest hieroglyph is used in the Ancient Egyptian language hieroglyphs for the alphabetic consonant letter dj,^[1] (not an Egyptian biliteral).

Cobra, in hieroglyph word blocks

Forever Eternal-(Eternity) in hieroglyphs

A variety of hieroglyph composition blocks use the space beneath the cobra-at-rest hieroglyph. In relief scene iconography, the pharaoh is often: "given life, power, dominion, ra-like, forever", in Egyptian: di ankh, usr, djed, ra-ma, djet.

Other example phrases below the cobra are the Egyptian word for "behold!", and the hieroglyph for "speech", or "word", the Gardiner hieroglyph S43, a 'walking stick', or 'cane'.^[2]

The Egyptian hieroglyph alphabetic letters

The following two tables show the Egyptian uniliteral signs. (24 letters, but multiple use hieroglyphs)

a	i	y	'	(w,u)	B
P	F	M	N	R	H1
H2	Kh1	Kh2	S	(Sh)=Š	Q/K2
K	G	T	Ch—Tj	D	Dj
L/(R) (special) (Ptolemaic, etc)	--	--	--	--	--

a	i (ee)	y ii	' ah, (aïn)	w, (u) (oo)	B
P	F	M	N	R	H1
H2	(Kh)1	(Kh)2	S	Sh (Sh)	K emphatic
K	G	T	Tj Ch Tsh	D	Dj
(additionally 4 for vert/horiz)	--	--	--	--	--
M (horiz) M2-Plinth	N (vert) (see: N (red crown))	S (vert) S (folded cloth)			M (3rd-M -2nd-vert) M3-Baker's tool
(additionally 3 for equivalents)	--	--	--	--	--
(2-reeds) is— (2-strokes) y2-Two strokes	(quail) is— (coil) letter w, u (see w2-Coil)		T (no. 2) T2-Pestle

See also

• Gardiner's Sign List#I. Amphibious Animals, Reptiles, etc.
• Uraeus

References

1. ^ Schumann-Antelme, and Rossini, 1998. Illustrated Hieroglyphics Handbook, uniliteral: U5, ("Erect Cobra"), p. 26-27.
2. ^ Betrò, 1995. Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt, Walking stick, cane, p. 187.

• Betrò, 1995. Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt, Betrò, Maria Carmela, c. 1995, 1996-(English), Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, London, Paris (hardcover, ISBN 0-7892-0232-8)
• Schumann-Antelme, and Rossini, 1998. Illustrated Hieroglyphics Handbook, Ruth Schumann-Antelme, and Stéphane Rossini. c 1998, English trans. 2002, Sterling Publishing Co. (Index, Summary lists (tables), selected uniliterals, biliterals, and triliterals.) (softcover, ISBN 1-4027-0025-3)