Representing an owl. This is the only bird hieroglyph that is depicted face-on, perhaps because of its distinctive gaze. The reversible hind toe is not drawn. The precise species of owl varied by time period; in the Protodynastic Period it was the pharaoh eagle owl (Bubo ascalaphus), and this was also used sporadically throughout dynastic times. Since the 3rd Dynasty the owl was more commonly a barn owl (Tyto alba alba). In hieratic the owl is long-eared (‘horned’) since the earliest times. Conventionally, it is colored yellow.
The phonetic value of m is presumably derived from some word (probably for an owl), but this word may have been lost in archaic times; numerous hypotheses have been put forward about what it might have been:
- A Proto-Egyptian *mwlḏ (“owl”), cf. Demotic ꜣmwlḏ, ꜥmwlḏ (“eagle owl”)
- An Old Egyptian *mz (“owl”), cf. Hausa múúǯììyáá (“owl”), Gwandara múǯìya (“owl”)
- An Old Egyptian *jmw (“owl”, literally “the mourner”), cf. Egyptian jm (“lament, mourn”), Late Egyptian jm (“name of a bird”)
- An Old Egyptian *mꜣ (“owl”, literally “the seeing one”), cf. Egyptian mꜣꜣ (“to see”)
- Related to Semitic *būm- (“owl”)
(m)
- Uniliteral phonogram for m.
- Takács, Gábor (2007) “m”, in Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, →ISBN
- Gardiner, Alan (1957) Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, third edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 469
- Henry George Fischer (1988) Ancient Egyptian Calligraphy: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Hieroglyphs, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, →ISBN
- Betrò, Maria Carmela (1995) Geroglifici: 580 Segni per Capire l'Antico Egitto, Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., →ISBN
- Peust, Carsten (1999) Egyptian Phonology: An Introduction to the Phonology of a Dead Language[1], Göttingen: Peust und Gutschmidt Verlag GbR, page 48
