What language did pharaohs speak?

What language did pharaohs speak?

What language did pharaohs speak? The giant-sized pyramids, golden tombs, and everlasting hieroglyphic inscriptions seemed to cast heavy spells on historians and wanderlust scholars. What truly fascinated them was: What language did pharaohs speak? To be able to speak the language of the pharaohs would also mean to hold in one’s hand the culture, religion, and life of one of the most wonderful civilizations ever known to history. For these reasons, this present article is meant to shed some light on the origin of the language of the pharaohs, how this language developed in time, and finally, what is left of the language at the present time.

What language did pharaohs speak? The Language of the Pharaohs: Ancient Egyptian

What language did pharaohs speak? Ancient Egyptian was a spoken language considered one of the oldest language systems ever constructed. It was spoken over a period of more than four millennia and was hence one of the very few languages that would qualify to be considered continuously in use for such a long period. Having Egyptian as an Afro-Asiatic language meant that it was related to the ancient languages spoken around the Near East and parts of North Africa.

For most of Egyptian history-from the period of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2686 BCE) to that of the last period of native Egyptian rulership (ca. 332 BCE)-Egyptian was the language of administration, religion, royal decrees, and legal inscriptions. The language was employed to record kings’ orders to officials, to recount victories of Pharaohs, or even to pray to the gods.

Stages of the Ancient Egyptian Language

What language did pharaohs speak? Because the culture lasted for millennia, the language went through several stages. Knowledge of these periods in turn provides insight into how the pharaohs and their courts had to continuously adapt themselves so as to remain in step with unfolding change:

Old Egyptian (c. 2600–2000 BCE)

The period of Old Egyptian was that of the Old Kingdom era when massive pyramids were being built. Being an Old Kingdom language, it was mostly inscribed in hieroglyphs on tomb walls and monuments. Pharaohs like Djoser, Khufu, and Pepi II must have spoken and commissioned texts in this very first and oldest type.

Middle Egyptian (c. 2000–1350 BCE)

It is commonly referred to as the “Classical” stage, and Middle Egyptian went on to serve as the language of literary texts, religious writings, and monuments for some hundred years afterwards. While the new dialects were spreading, scribes continued to write official texts and correspondence in Middle Egyptian; standing to logic, it was similar in use to Latin, wherein it was still being spoken formally in Europe for some centuries after the fall of Rome. It was also during this period that Hatshepsut, Thutmose III and Amenhotep III reigned.

Late Egyptian (c. 1350–700 BCE)

Spoken language, as well as written language, continued to be changed. In particular, Late Egyptian, by this change, was closer to the spoken language and hence useful in the majority of administrative texts and letters. It is quite likely that pharaohs of the New Kingdom, Ramesses II, and Tutankhamun spoke a variant of Late Egyptian.

Demotic (c. 700 BCE–400 CE)

In the Late Period came into existence a simple form of script and language used by Demotic for immediate practical needs. It became the chief script-country under foreign rule. Thereafter, it coexisted with Greek following the conquest of Alexander the Great.

Coptic (c. 200 CE onwards)

The latest stage of the Egyptian language is Coptic, written in the Greek alphabet with some additions for sounds found in Egyptian. This was the language of the early Egyptian Christians and still survives today as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Conclusion: What language did pharaohs speak?

What language did pharaohs speak? Egyptian was ultimately from the need to recreate the language that the ancient pharaohs used for their speech. They corresponded with one another through Ancient Egyptian languages-old, middle, and late-into hieroglyphs, hieratic, demotic, and then into Coptic. It was the language in which administration, religion, and culture flourished: with its aid, pharaohs commanded, build, and proclaimed!

Hence, some knowledge of the language of the eastern pharaohs could enrich the travelling experience in Egypt or along the Nile. Every inscription upon temple and tomb walls is indeed a direct communication from the monarchs who once trod those passages and laid the foundation of this civilization by their spoken language.