jmj

See also: JMJ

Egyptian

Etymology 1

From m (“in”) +‎ -j (nisba ending). For the initial j-, compare the adverbial and pre-pronominal form of m, jm.

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /jaˈmij/ → /jaˈmij/ → /ʔəˈmeʔ/ → /ʔəˈmeʔ/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /jaˈmij/
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /jaˈmij/
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʔəˈmeʔ/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ʔəˈmeʔ/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /imi/
  • Conventional anglicization: imi

Adjective

1. being in, inherent (in)
2. being among, of, out of (a quantity or group)
3. (in reverse nisba constructions) in which (something) is
4. (after an adjective) -est of, -est among; forms the superlative

Inflection

Declension of jmj (nisba adjective)

	masculine	feminine
singular	jmj	jmt
dual	jmjwj, jmwj	jmtj
plural	jmjw, jmw	jmwt1, jmt2

¹ Archaic in Middle Egyptian when modifying a noun.
² From Middle Egyptian, this feminine singular form was generally used for the plural.
In Late Egyptian, the masculine singular form was used with all nouns.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jmj  

jm	jm	jm	jm	jm

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jmj  

m	jmj	jmj	jmj	jmj	jmj
[Old Kingdom]	[Medical papyri]	[Medical papyri and New Kingdom]	[New Kingdom]
				cryptic writing	cryptic writing

Derived terms

• jmj jb
• jmj-jz
• jmj-ꜥ
• jmj-ꜥḥ
• jmjw-jꜣwt.sn
• jmj wrt
• jmj-wt
• jmjw-tꜣ-mw
• jmj bꜣḥ
• jmj-r
• jmj-rn.f
• jmj hrw.f
• jmj ḥꜣt
• jmj-ḫnt
• jmj-ḫt
• jmj-sꜣ
• jmj-st-ꜥ
• jmj-tꜣ
• jmj-dwꜣt
• jmj-ḏw
• jmw
• jmw-mw
• jmw-ḥꜣt
• jmt wrt
• jmt-pr
• jmt nḏst
• jmt-r
• jmt ḥꜣt
• jmt-ḥꜣt.f

Noun

 m

1. what is within, contents, insides
2. interior, inside
3. inhabitant, person living in a place

Inflection

Declension of jmj (masculine)

singular	jmj
dual	jmjwj, jmwj
plural	jmjw, jmw

Alternative forms

See under the adjective above.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈjiːmit/ → /ˈjiːmiʔ/ → /ˈʔiːma/ → /ˈʔiːmə/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈjiːmit/
• (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈjiːmiʔ/
• (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈʔiːma/
• (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA^(key): /ˈʔiːmə/

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /imi/
  • Conventional anglicization: imi

Verb

 3ae inf.

1. (transitive) to not be
2. (catenative, with a verb in the negatival complement) to not do; (in the subjunctive) may it not be that…; lest…; so that… does not…
3. (Old Egyptian, with a following verbal adjective) there is none that is; introduces an independent negated adjectival existential clause [Pyramid Texts]

Inflection

Conjugation of jmj (third weak / 3ae inf. / III. inf.) — base stem: jm, geminated stem: jmm

infinitival forms imperative infinitive negatival complement complementary infinitive1 singular plural jmt, jmj jmw, jm jmt, jmwt, jmyt jm jm, jmy ‘pseudoverbal’ forms stative stem periphrastic imperfective2 periphrastic prospective2 jm8, jmm8 ḥr jmt, ḥr jmj m jmt, m jmj r jmt, r jmj suffix conjugation aspect / mood active passive contingent aspect / mood active passive perfect jm.n jmw, jm, jmy consecutive jm.jn active + .tj1, .tw2 active + .tj1, .tw2 terminative jmt, jmyt perfective3 jm active + .tj1, .tw2 obligative1 jm.ḫr active + .tj1, .tw2 imperfective jm, jmy active + .tj1, .tw2 prospective3 jmw, jm, jmy jmw, jm, jmy potentialis1 jm.kꜣ active + .tj1, .tw2 active + .tj1, .tw2 subjunctive jm, jmy active + .tj1, .tw2 verbal adjectives aspect / mood relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms participles active passive active passive perfect jm.n active + .tj1, .tw2 — — perfective jmw1, jmy, jm active + .tj1, .tw2 jm jmy, jm imperfective jmm, jmmy, jmmw5 active + .tj1, .tw2 jmm, jmmj6, jmmy6 jmm, jmmw5 prospective jmw1, jmy, jm, jmtj7 — jmwtj1 4, jmtj4, jmt4 1 Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. 2 Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. 3 Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective. 4 Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. 5 Only in the masculine singular. 6 Only in the masculine. 7 Only in the feminine. 8 Third-person masculine statives of this class often have a final -y instead of the expected stative ending.

In Middle Egyptian this is a defective verb, used only in the subjunctive and imperative. The imperative in this case becomes usually written as simply or m.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jmj  

jmj	jmj	jmj	jmj
[Middle Kingdom]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]
in hieratic

Derived terms

• m-jr
• m-jr-djt
• m-dyt

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /imi/
  • Conventional anglicization: imi

Verb

1. imperative of rḏj (“to give, to set, to cause”)
2. emphasizes a following imperative
3. (Late Egyptian, with following verb in the subjunctive-prospective) forms the causative imperative

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of jmj  

jmj	jmj	jmj	jmm	jmmtw	jmm	jmm	jmy	jwmy
	[Old Kingdom]	[Old Kingdom]	[since the New Kingdom]	[since the New Kingdom]	[since the New Kingdom]	[since the New Kingdom]	[Late Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]

The writing with two s is conventionally transliterated jmm but in fact likely represents only a single m; one of the signs was originally a phonetic complement to biliteral standing for jm, but later took on a uniliteral value m and so became considered interchangeable with , resulting in the new writing with two s.

Descendants

• Demotic: my, mꜥy, jw.my
  • Coptic: ⲙ- (m-)

References

• “jm.j (lemma ID 25130)”, “jm.j (lemma ID 25120)”, “jmi̯ (lemma ID 25170)”, “m (lemma ID 64410)”, and “jmi̯ (lemma ID 851706)”, in Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae‎, Corpus issue 18, Web app version 2.1.5, Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning by order of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils by order of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, 2004–26 July 2023
• Erman, Adolf; Grapow, Hermann (1926), Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎, volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 72.13–75.22, 76.10–77.11
• Erman, Adolf; Grapow, Hermann (1928), Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎, volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 3.3–3.8, 4.1–4.2
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962), A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, pages 18–19
• James P[eter] Allen (2010), Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 91, 160, 190–191, 260, 415.
• Junge, Friedrich (2005), Late Egyptian Grammar: An Introduction, second English edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, pages 78–79