Ancient Egyptian word for sister

Answer 1

In hieroglyphs: 𓌢𓈖𓏏𓁐 (Gardiner's code: T22-N35-X1-B1)

Transliterated as: snt (consonants only)

Meaning and Translation:

1. sister

2. wife

Pronunciation with reconstructed vowels in several stages of Ancient Egyptian (using IPA):

/ˈsaːnat/ - Old Egyptian (c. 2500 B.C.E.)

/ˈsaːnaʔ/ - Middle Egyptian (c. 1700 B.C.E.)

/ˈsoːnə/ - Late Egyptian (c. 800 B.C.E.)

Coptic and its dialects (from 325 B.C.E. to now):

ⲥⲱⲛⲉ (sōne) (Sahidic, Akhmimic), ⲥⲱⲛⲓ (sōni) (Bohairic, Fayyumic)

Answer 2

In the ancient Egyptian language the word for "sister" is a feminine form of the word for "brother". In hieroglyphs (which did not record any vowels, only the consonants), the word brother is spelled out sn plus the "man" determinative sign; sister has the feminine -t ending added to this: snt plus the "woman" determinative.

Modern Egyptologists use the vowel e to replace the unknown missing vowels, so these words are seen written today as sen and senet, but we can not know how they were said in ancient times.

The Egyptians used the term "sister" to refer to people who were not their sisters but friends and other family members; one Egyptian queen wrote to a Hittite princess and called her "sister".

Answer 3

Our knowledge of the ancient Egyptian language is limited to the consonants only, because hieroglyphs did not write any vowels. The word for sister was written snt + the determinative for a woman. This is simply the feminine form of the word sn (a brother). We can never know how these words were said.

Answer 4

Khala

Answer 5

Snotia