mwt

See also: MWT

Translingual

Symbol

mwt

(international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Moken.

Egyptian

Etymology 1

Likely a babble word in origin, like many of its Afroasiatic parallels.^[1] Militarev and Stolbova derive it from a supposed Proto-Afroasiatic form instead, but also note it may be a nursery word.^[2] If not, perhaps cognate with Proto-Semitic *ʔimm-.

Pronunciation

(reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈmiʔwat/ → /ˈmiʔwaʔ/ → /ˈmeʔwə/ → /ˈmeʔw/

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /muːt/
- Conventional anglicization: mut

Noun

f

mother
- c. 1900 BCE, The Instructions of Kagemni (pPrisse/pBN 183) lines 1.11–1.12:
  
  ḫr (tw)r n(j) ḥr r dfꜣ jb jmꜣ n.f kꜣhs r mwt.f
  One who is averted of face against feeding the heart (i.e. one who doesn’t indulge himself), the harsh man has to be more kindly to him than his (own) mother.

Inflection

Declension of *mwt* (feminine)
singular	mwt
dual	mwtj
plural	mwwt

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mwt

mwt

mt

mjt

Derived terms

Descendants

Demotic: mwt
- Akhmimic Coptic: ⲙⲟ (mo), ⲙⲱ (mō)
- Bohairic Coptic: ⲙⲁⲩ (mau)
- Fayyumic Coptic: ⲙⲉⲉⲩ (meeu), ⲙⲉⲟⲩ (meou), ⲙⲏⲟⲩ (mēou)
- Lycopolitan Coptic: ⲙⲉⲉⲩ (meeu)
- Old Coptic: ⲙⲉⲟⲩ (meou)
- Sahidic Coptic: ⲙⲁⲁⲩ (maau), ⲙⲁⲩ (mau)

Proper noun

f

(Egyptian mythology) the primordial waters [Old Kingdom]
Mut, the vulture goddess worshipped as part of the Theban Triad

Derived terms

mwt-nfr.t

Descendants

→? Meroitic: 𐦨𐦴 (mt /⁠mata⁠/)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Afroasiatic *mawVt- (“to die, to kill”). Cognate with Proto-Semitic *mawut-, Central Atlas Tamazight ⵎⵎⵜ (mmt) and Hausa mutù.

Pronunciation

(reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːwat/ → /ˈmaːjaʔ/ → /ˈmaːʔə/ → /ˈmoːʔ/

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /muːt/
- Conventional anglicization: mut

Verb

3-lit.

(intransitive) to die
- c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 122–123:
  
  šm.k ḥnꜥ.sn r ẖnw m(w)t.k m nwt.k
  You will go home with them, and you will die in your (own) town.
(intransitive, figuratively, of ships) to sink
- c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 37–39:
  
  ꜥḥꜥ.n dpt m(w)t(.tj) ntjw jm.s nj zp wꜥ jm
  Then the boat died, and of those in it, not one of them survived.
(intransitive, figuratively) to die inside, to despair
- c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 131–132:
  
  ꜥḥꜥ.n.j m(w)t.kw n.sn gm.n.j st m ẖꜣyt wꜥt
  Then I died for them, having found them as a single heap of corpses.

Inflection

Conjugation of mwt (triliteral / 3-lit. / 3rad.) — base stem: mwt, geminated stem: mwtt

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive¹	singular	plural
mwt	mwtw, mwt	mwtt	mwt	mwt

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective²		periphrastic prospective²
mwt	ḥr mwt	m mwt	r mwt

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	contingent
aspect / mood	active	aspect / mood	active
perfect	mwt.n	consecutive	mwt.jn
terminative	mwtt	consecutive	mwt.jn
perfective³	mwt	obligative¹	mwt.ḫr
imperfective	mwt	obligative¹	mwt.ḫr
prospective³	mwt	potentialis¹	mwt.kꜣ
subjunctive	mwt	potentialis¹	mwt.kꜣ

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms	participles
aspect / mood	active	active	passive
perfect	mwt.n	—	—
perfective	mwt	mwt	mwt, mwtw⁵, mwty⁵
imperfective	mwt, mwty, mwtw⁵	mwt, mwtj⁶, mwty⁶	mwt, mwtw⁵
prospective	mwt, mwttj⁷	mwttj⁴, mwtt⁴

¹ Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian.
² Used mostly since Middle Egyptian.
³ Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective.
⁴ Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. ⁵ Only in the masculine singular.
⁶ Only in the masculine.
⁷ Only in the feminine.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mwt

mt

Descendants

Demotic: mwt
- Akhmimic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩ (mou), ⲙⲟⲩⲧ (mout)
- Bohairic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩ (mou), ⲙⲱⲟⲩⲧ (mōout)
- Fayyumic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩ (mou)
- Lycopolitan Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩ (mou), ⲙⲟⲩⲟⲩⲧ (mouout)
- Old Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩ (mou)
- Sahidic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩ (mou), ⲙⲟⲩⲟⲩⲧ (mouout)

Noun

m

death

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of mwt

mt

Descendants

Demotic: mwt
- Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩ (mou) (Akhmimic, Bohairic, Fayyumic, Lycopolitan, Old Coptic, Sahidic)

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /muːt/
- Conventional anglicization: mut

Noun

f

(physics) weight

Inflection

Declension of *mwt* (feminine)
singular	mwt
dual	mwtj
plural	mwwt

References

Hoch, James (1997) Middle Egyptian Grammar, Mississauga: Benben Publications, →ISBN, page 97
Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN

^ Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 193–195, →ISBN
^ Militarev, Alexander and Stolbova, Olga (2007) “*ˀVma/*ma(y)”, in Afroasiatic etymology database at StarLing‎^[1]
^ Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 245: “*/ˈmeʔwat/”

[1] Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 193–195, →ISBN

[2] Militarev, Alexander and Stolbova, Olga (2007) “*ˀVma/*ma(y)”, in Afroasiatic etymology database at StarLing‎^[1]

[3] Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 245: “*/ˈmeʔwat/”

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