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Egypt Exploration Society

On the Structure of the Expressions Denoting Existence and Non-Existence in MiddleEgyptianAuthor(s): T. W. ThackerSource: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 35 (Dec., 1949), pp. 31-37Published by: Egypt Exploration SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3855204.

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8/10/2019 Egypt - Existence and Non-Existence

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(3I)

ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE EXPRESSIONS

DENOTING EXISTENCE

AND

NON-EXISTENCE

IN

MIDDLE

EGYPTIAN

By

T.

W.

THACKER

I.

qS~

and

S A

f-fP

without

conception,

without

birth'

(Adm.

5,

I4).

Perhaps

the

n

of

the

construc-

tion

n

sdmtf

'he

has/had

not

(yet)

heard' is best

explained

in this

way

i.e. as

meaning

'there

is/was

not

the fact that he

has/had

heard', or,

when

it

occurs

after

a main

clause,

as

it

normally

does,

'there not

being

the fact

that he

has/had

heard'.2

Gardiner,

op.

cit.,

307,

I.

2

Cf.

ibid.,

405

and

Gunn,

op.

cit.,

I74

ff.

The

sdmtf

form is

perhaps

derived

from a relative form

which

bears

the same relation

to the Perfective

sdmf

form as

the

Imperfective

relative

form bears to the

Imperfective

gdm-f

orm. So far as I know

the existence of such a relative form has not been

recognized

by

the

grammarians,

but

I have not

yet

seen M. Clere's

paper

on a new relative form which he read

at the

Congress

of

Orientalists

in Paris

in

July I948.

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