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Coptic ⲖⲀⲀⲨ (“nothing”) as a Transformation of iry (“any” < “doing”), with Implications Including Possible Semitic-like Vocalization and Demotic-like /l/-Representation

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The following has been written to gather feedback, in preparation for a fuller scholarly article. Part of this thinking was previewed at the 48 th North Atlantic Conference for Afroasiatic Linguistics (Mihalyfy 2025b).   . . . A simple thesis: Coptic ⲖⲀⲀⲨ “nothing” is a cross-linguistically expected descendant of the sequence transliterated iry – typically translated “thereof,” but actually an “any” word grammaticalized from a participle “doing.” Quite interestingly, this etymology may indicate historic Egyptian vocalization matching the first long vowel in the reconstructed Proto-Semitic active participle C 1 a:C 2 iC 3 (Huehnergard 2019: 57). It may also support reinterpreting the Demotic script’s representation of /l/ as a ligature of I + R (vs. other traditional derivations like that found in Johnson 2000: 3 and Richter 2023: 10, for example). Some steps of argumentation, and then some “lagniappe” raising other possible connections across different eras of Egyptian. ...
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On Resystematizing Major Aspects of the Egyptian Verb: A Dialogue with the Recent Work of Marwan Kilani

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The following consolidates interrelated aspects of both past work and some ongoing research that will be submitted for peer review.  . . . As can happen in scholarship, research projects can converge and produce similar ideas. To some extent, this has occurred with recent work attempting to resystematize major aspects of the Egyptian verb, in particular heightened recognition of a verbal noun found in Coptic as C 1 C 2 VC 3 / C 1 C 2 VC 2 (e.g. ⲞⲨⲂⲀϢ “white” or ⲔⲘⲞⲘ “black”).  On the one hand, there stands the work of Marwan Kilani (2025; 2026b; 2026c; 2026d), which arose from a “four-year… project on Egyptian-Coptic linguistics” that “[i]nitially focused on dialectal variation in Late Egyptian” but ended up producing “a new model of Proto-Coptic” (2026a). On the other hand, there stands my own work (Mihalyfy 2025a-b). There, what began as recognition of more-widespread survival of Afroasiatic N-stems in Egyptian than previously thought (Mihalyfy 2022a-b; 2022-23; 2024b...
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Does the NSW-BITY Mean “Exalted” and “Mighty”?: A Verbal Theory with Possible Confirmation from Animal Naming Practices, Including with B3

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The following has been written to gather feedback, in preparation for an article to be written and submitted to peer review. Part of this thinking was presented at the North Atlantic Conference for Afro-Asiatic Linguistics (Mihalyfy 2025), as well as circulated in a December 2025 conference proposal. . . .  Careful attention to verb forms supports interpreting the Egyptian royal title transliterated as nsw-bity as two verbal nouns meaning “Exalted” and “Mighty” – that is,  “Exalted” as an N + S-stem of ‘ 3 “be great”; and  “Mighty” as a geminated C(V?)CV(:)C adjectival formation related to b3 “be powerful.” Quite interestingly, animal naming practices appear to support the latter half of this interpretation, and these practices could also shed light on why b3 is applied to not only the word for “soul,” but also multiple animals (e.g. stork, ram, leopard).   Pathways of Interpretation are Constrained by Phonetic and Orthographic Evidence. Phonetically, the Py...
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