zft

See also: zfṯ

Egyptian

Etymology 1

Related to zf (“to slaughter, cut up”), zfṯ (“to slaughter”). Also compare Arabic سيف (sayf), Amharic ሰይፍ (säyf), Ancient Greek ξίφος (xíphos).

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ˈzuːfat/ → /ˈsuːfaʔ/ → /ˈsuːfa/ → /ˈseːfə/

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

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

Noun

 f m

1. (feminine) (metal) sword [since the 18th Dynasty]
2. (masculine) knife [since the 18th Dynasty]

Inflection

Declension of zft (feminine)

singular	zft
dual	zftj
plural	zfwt

Declension of zft (masculine)

singular	zft
dual	zftwj
plural	zftw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of zft  

sft	sft	zft	zt
	[19th-20th Dynasty]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]

Descendants

• Demotic: ⁠⁠⁠ (sfy)
  • Coptic: ⲥⲏϥⲉ (sēfe) (Sahidic, Akhmimic, Lycopolitan), ⲥⲏϥⲓ (sēfi) (Bohairic, Fayyumic)
• → Ancient Greek: ξίφος (xíphos)

Etymology 2

zf (“to be(come) mild, merciful”) +‎ -t.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

 f

1. (hapax legomenon) clemency, mercy, gentleness

References

• “zf.t (lemma ID 133420)” and “sf.t (lemma ID 133500)”, 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 (1929), Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎, volume 3, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 442.7–442.10
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962), A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 224
• Černý, Jaroslav (1976), Coptic Etymological Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN