Hieroglyphics

Hieroglyphic [Gr.,=priestly carving], type of writing used in ancient Egypt. Hieroglyphics are conventionalized pictures used chiefly to represent meanings that seem arbitrary and are seldom obvious. Egyptian hieroglyphics were already perfected in the first dynasty (3110-2884 B.C.), but they began to go out of use in the Middle Kingdom and after 500 B.C. were virtually unused. There were basically 604 symbols that might be put to three uses (although few were used for all three purposes): as an ideogram, as when a sign resembling a tree meant "tree"; as a phonogram, as when an owl represented the sign m, because the word for owl had 'm' as its principal consonant; or as a determinative, an unpronounced symbol placed after an ambiguous sign to indicate its classification (e.g., an eye to indicate that the preceding word has to do with looking or seeing). The phonograms provided a basis for the development of the alphabet. (see right for samples)