Zur Sonderentwicklung des Ayin neben Het

Abstract

“On the special development of Ayin near Het” The consonant represented by ‹o› (so-called oAyin, but originally a voiced dental stop or spirant) shows graphic peculiarities after the Old Kingdom if the same root contains a ‹H› (Oet). This paper presents all words hitherto known to display this feature and attempts to provide a phonetic interpretation. It is argued that the regular shift of the sound represented by ‹o› towards a pharyngeal spirant was suppressed under the said condition. Instead, the consonant either preserved its original dental articulation throughout the Middle Kingdom (at the end of a syllable, as well as immediately following ‹H›), or else it was lost altogether (at the beginning of a syllable unless immediately following ‹H›). Building upon these conclusions, some additional proposals concerning the historical phonology of Egyptian are advanced.