This sequence was found in several Egyptian words, including the words meaning 'mirror', 'floral bouquet', and 'life'. It was used in writing as a triliteral sign, representing a sequence of three consonants, књ¤-n-бё«. The origins of the symbol are not known, although many hypotheses have been proposed. 1901), and the words of de Laurences Infinite Wisdom (1923) to Organic.The ankh has a cross shape but with a teardrop-shaped loop in place of an upper bar.

In the Egyptian language, these consonants were found in the verb meaning 'live', the noun meaning 'life', and words derived from them, such as sкњ¤nбё«, which means 'cause to live' or 'nourish'. The ankh stood for the sequence књ¤-n-бё«, where n is pronounced like the English letter n, књ¤ is a voiced pharyngeal fricative, and бё« is a voiceless or voiced velar fricative (sounds not found in English). The ankh came into widespread use in Western culture in the 1960s, and it is often used as a symbol of African cultural identity, Neopagan belief systems, and the goth subculture.In ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, the ankh was a triliteral sign: one that represented a sequence of three consonant sounds. Coptic Christians adapted it into the crux ansata, a shape with a circular rather than oval loop, and used it as a variant of the Christian cross. It was especially commonly held in the hands of ancient Egyptian deities, or being given by them to the pharaoh, to represent their power to sustain life and to revive human souls in the afterlife.The ankh was one of the most common decorative motifs in ancient Egypt and was also used decoratively by neighbouring cultures.

The Egyptologists Battiscombe Gunn and Alan Gardiner, in the early 20th century, believed these objects to be sandal straps, given that they appear in pairs at the foot of the coffin and the accompanying texts say the objects are 'on the ground under his feet'. The three consonants also compose the word for a looped rope-like object found in illustrations on many coffins from the Middle Kingdom (c. The same consonants were found in the word for 'mirror' and the word for a floral bouquet, so the sign was also used in writing these words. The Egyptian word for 'oath' was also књ¤nбё«, because oaths in ancient Egypt began with a form of the word 'live'. For example, a phrase meaning something like 'may you be healthy and alive' was used in polite contexts, similar to the English phrase 'if you please', and the phrase књ¤nбё« wбёЏкњЈ snb, meaning 'alive, sound, and healthy', was used as an honorific for the pharaoh when he was mentioned in writing. One of the common uses of the word књ¤nбё« was to express a wish that a particular person live.

Hieroglyphic writing used pictorial signs to represent sounds, so that, for example, the hieroglyph for a house could represent the sounds p-r, which were found in the Egyptian word for 'house'. For these reasons, the Egyptologists Heinrich SchГ¤fer and Henry Fischer thought the two signs had a common origin, and they regarded the ankh as a knot that was used as an amulet rather than for any practical purpose. These early versions bear a resemblance to the tyet symbol, a sign that represented the concept of 'protection'. Many scholars believe the sign is a knot formed of a flexible material such as cloth or reeds, as early versions of the sign show the lower bar of the ankh as two separate lengths of flexible material that seem to correspond to the two ends of the knot. There is little agreement on what physical object the sign originally represented.

Gardiner's list of hieroglyphic signs labels the ankh as S34, placing it within the category for items of clothing and just after S33, the hieroglyph for a sandal. He pointed out that the sandal-strap illustrations on Middle Kingdom coffins resemble the hieroglyph, and he argued that the sign originally represented knots like these and came to be used in writing all other words that contained the consonants књ¤-n-бё«. Gardiner believed the ankh originated in this way.

Some have suggested that it had a sexual meaning. Various authors have argued that the sign originally represented something other than a knot. Allen, in an introductory book on the Egyptian language published in 2014, assumes that the sign originally meant 'sandal strap' and uses it as an example of the rebus principle in hieroglyphic writing.

In Egyptian belief semen was connected with life and, to some extent, with 'power' or 'dominion', and some texts indicate the Egyptians believed semen originated in the bones. According to this hypothesis, the form of each sign is drawn from a part of the anatomy of a bull, like some other hieroglyphic signs that are known to be based on body parts of animals. Andrew Gordon, an Egyptologist, and Calvin Schwabe, a veterinarian, argue that the origin of the ankh is related to two other signs of uncertain origin that often appear alongside it: the was-sceptre, representing 'power' or 'dominion', and the djed pillar, representing 'stability'. A problem with this argument, which Loret acknowledged, is that deities are frequently shown holding the ankh by its loop, and their hands pass through it where the solid reflecting surface of an ankh-shaped mirror would be. Victor Loret, a nineteenth-century Egyptologist, argued that 'mirror' was the sign's original meaning.

Sustaining life was thus the central function of the deities who governed these natural cycles. Life came into existence at the creation of the world, and cyclical events like the rising and setting of the sun were thought of as reenactments of the original events of creation that maintained and renewed life in the cosmos. Individual living things, including humans, were manifestations of this force and fundamentally tied to it. Use in religion and art In Egyptian belief, life was a force that circulated throughout the world.

In artwork, gods hold the ankh up to the nose of the king: offering him the breath of life. By extension of the concept of 'life', the ankh could signify air or water. The pharaoh to some extent represented Egypt as a whole, so by giving the sign to him, the gods granted life to the entire nation. As the sign represented the power to bestow life, humans other than the pharaoh were rarely shown receiving or holding the ankh before the end of the Middle Kingdom, although this convention weakened thereafter. For this reason, the gods were often depicted in tombs giving ankh signs to humans, usually the pharaoh. The Egyptians also believed that when they died, their individual lives could be renewed in the same manner as life in general.

The Egyptians wore amulets in daily life as well as placing them in tombs to ensure the well-being of the deceased in the afterlife. Amulets made in the shape of hieroglyphic signs were meant to impart to the wearer the qualities represented by the sign. Some deities, such as Ptah and Osiris, could be depicted holding a was scepter that incorporated elements of the ankh and djed. In some decorative friezes in temples, all three signs, or the ankh and was alone, were positioned above the hieroglyph for a basket that represented the word 'all': 'all life and power' or 'all life, power, and stability'. In contexts such as these, the sign often appeared together with the was and djed signs, which together signified 'life, dominion, and stability'. The sign appeared very commonly in the decoration of architectural forms such as the walls and shrines within temples.

2700 to 2200 BC) and continued to be used into the late first millennium BC, yet they were rare, despite the importance of the symbol.

Kemetic Words Of Power