История письма и чтения. Асафова Г.К. - 109 стр.

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the writing is immediately ascertainable because the signs almost always face the

beginning of the row. Occasionally, some signs are turned around in the row,

presumably so that two human figures can face one another and thus avoid

standing with their backs toward each other. These rotations of signs are

infrequent, however, and are found almost exclusively in the names of kings.

Royal names were enclosed in a ring, the so-called cartouche. This ring, originally

a rope, was supposed to protect the bearer of the enclosed name from injury and, in

particular, from harmful magic.

Egyptian pedagogical traditions

To understand hieroglyphic writing, one must know about its tradition

within Egypt. The Egyptian student of writing, who brought with him a knowledge

of the spoken language as his mother tongue, began by learning the script picture

corresponding to each word without having isolated its elements; i.e., its individual

signs. Through centuries this pedagogical tradition in the schools helped Egyptian

words retain the original established spelling, with only minor–usually stylistic–

changes, even when the phonetic form had radically changed. Hieroglyphic writing

thus conceals historical sound changes.

The mistakes in hearing made by pupils in the writing schools have helped

scholars to understand the phonetic changes that occurred in the development of

the Egyptian language. When the pupil who was learning to write the hieroglyphic

script did not recognize a word dictated to him, he wrote it badly–that is, just as he

heard it. Because he had not yet learned to spell in the orthodox manner, what

appeared on his papyrus was usually a word that sounded similar to the dictated

but misunderstood term and whose word picture was familiar. Thus, although

Egyptian writing was originally composed of symbols that represented a phonetic

value, the system was transmitted in the form of word pictures–that is, closed or

indivisible groups, generally of several signs per word.