The Ancient Egyptian language comes from a family of languages in Africa and the Near East that have many similarities. Due to the similarities in both grammar and vocabulary, it is believed that a common ancestor existed. In scientific circles this is referred to as the Afro-Asiatic language group. The Ancient-Egyptian language was one of six branches in the group, the others being Semitic, Berber, Tsjadic, Koesjitic and Omotic. (newton)
             Ancient-Egyptian was a living language, which continuously evolved throughout the centuries. The oldest written form was hieroglyphic script, a pictorial design. Even though it uses a pictorial format, hieroglyphics are not a primitive script; it is a completely developed writing system that clearly communicates many aspects of the Egyptian culture. As such, the script is no less developed than our own alphabet. (shaman)
             The script itself evolved over time, from about 700 in the Old Kingdom to over 6000 in the Ptolemaic period. The earliest documented hieroglyphic inscriptions date back to the pre-dynastic period. Most scripts were in the form of short descriptions on pottery and stone objects (friesan). The latest know occurrence of the script is found in the temple of Philae, and dates from 394 AD.
             The Egyptians proved to be very flexible when using hieroglyphs, they "wrote" it horizontally in rows as well as vertical columns. They also were able to write from left-to-right, as well as from right-to-left. To determine the beginning of the text, one needs to look for a sign with an obvious front and backside, i.e. a human or animal, these figures always looked at the beginning (friesan).
             Hieroglyphs can be divided into ideograms, signs with a pictorial value or phonograms, signs with a phonetic value. Ideograms depict objects or concrete concepts. In order to more fully explain language nuances and inferences, Egyptians used phonograms.
             Egyptian hieroglyphics were not readable u...