Lost Languages of the past .

My interest in ancient history and lost civilizations has also lead to a desire to understand the lost languages of the past , to find out just what they were writing down in the original .

I stumbled across a book called , Teach yourself Hieroglyphics . The book , about half way through it , is pretty good . As good as it is its nothing more then an entry level step into Egyptian Hieroglyphics .

I was hoping that someone out there may be able to provide information , in the form of a book or website that provides information that will help teach one how to read an ancient , lost language of the past .

Civilizations of the past hold many mysteries , what would be greater then to actually be able to read some of what they have written down .

My personal favorite for beginners is Collier & Manley's How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphics (available for about $5, used, at Amazon.com)

I've had "Egyptian Grammar (Egyptology: Griffith Institute)" by Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner recommended.

One basic problem is that Egyptian as a language existed for over 3,000 years. Even experts such as Zahi Hawass can read only one era of the language and need to run off to dictionaries for other periods. So you can learn Middle Egyptian grammar (as he did) and still struggle with the very Early Egyptian.

It takes years to learn this stuff well, but you can get a pretty decent grasp of it just borrowing books from the library and practicing (and checking to see if it's right.)

One thing that helps is learning other languages... ANY other language. You see, it's the grammar and verb and noun forms that do everybody in -- other languages may have verb tenses and concepts that simply don't exist in English. So if you know about these in other languages and have practiced them and understand them (French is great for learning this stuff)... even a VERY little bit (like... listen to some language tapes and practice for a few weeks. I get my language CDs (the "travel to whatever country CD) second hand at Half Price Books)) it will help.

While you're at it, you might want to pick up Latin (even on a very simple level) and Greek. Those are unbelievably useful languages to know... even just a few simple sentences and some words and phrases.

One online source that you may not have thought of is www.blueletterbible.com...

The Bible is pretty familiar to us (even agnostics, athiests, and Pagans) and you can check the various English versions against Koine Greek and the Vulgate Latin. It helps familiarize you with sentence structure.

...and you can try out the Hebrew, too.

Always useful in theological debates.

Is it possible you could take just a paragraph or two to explain the basic principles of Hieroglyphics, as you understand them?

I have heard it is quite simple, that it is simply a case of drawing a picture of something whose first syllable or sound is part of the phrase, such as "bird" "orange" "tiger" being used to spell the word "boat" (in ancient Egyptian language, of course.)

Can you put down some basic principles? Or is the grammer and syntax just way to involved? Any info would be appreciated.

a quick search turned these up


www.sembase.org...
www.crystalinks.com...
www.wmcarey.edu...

Originally posted by Buck Division
Is it possible you could take just a paragraph or two to explain the basic principles of Hieroglyphics, as you understand them?

They're written right to left and left to right and top to bottom. There are no dividing spaces between sentences and individual words.

I have heard it is quite simple, that it is simply a case of drawing a picture of something whose first syllable or sound is part of the phrase, such as "bird" "orange" "tiger" being used to spell the word "boat" (in ancient Egyptian language, of course.)

There are about 200 signs, divided into what they look like (body part, animal, humans, birds, bread, vessels, etc, etc.) They may represent a one syllable sound or a two syllable sound or a three syllable sound. In addition, they can have more than one meaning. Sometimes they are used as "determinants." There are masculine and feminine forms.

You can start here online: www.thekeep.org...

...but I'd really recommend a book so you can do exercises and see things in context. In many cases they are describing a scene, which makes it easier to read (sort of.)

Can you put down some basic principles? Or is the grammer and syntax just way to involved? Any info would be appreciated.

don't forget cuniform ,so much needs to realized in translating this

but the texts themselves are fascinating

this site is just a gift of the internet so interesting I often spend hours and hours here sumerian literature and cuniform