Old Egyptian Multiword Expressions Consisting of a Head Word and ib “Heart”

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of multiword expressions (MWEs) consisting of the noun ib “heart” with a metonymic or figurative meaning in Old Egyptian. It has the following parts: (§ 1) a theoretical approach, which provides a definition of “multiword expression” according to studies on Natural Language Processing and a typology of MWEs; (§ 2) an explanation of the semantic uses of ib in Old Egyptian; (§ 3) a syntactic and semantic analysis of 65 Old Egyptian MWEs containing the word ib and an annotation of 115 instances (4–118); and (§ 4) a typology of MWEs containing the word ib and a formulation of the rules involved in their formation.