Explaining the Strange b in the Egyptian Negative Transliterated bn: An Innovative Orthographic Norm Derived from bw- (> -ⲞⲨ-) and bw nb (> ⲞⲨⲞⲚ ⲚⲒⲘ)
[6/29/2026 - N.B. - this material has now appeared in more-developed form in the #OpenAccess, peer-reviewed Biblioth è que ouverte d' é gytpologie article “ Explaining the Odd Foot Sign of Gardiner D58 in the Egyptian Negator Transliterated bn: A Case for Innovative Orthographic Reuse Based on the Phonetic Reduction of the Nominalizer bw (> -ⲞⲨ-) and the Non-Etymological Writing bw nb for wn nb (> ⲞⲨⲞⲚ ⲚⲒⲘ) ," which should be cited instead of this blogpost.] The following has been written to gather feedback, in preparation for an article to be written and submitted to peer review. . . . The initial portion of the Egyptian negative transliterated bn has long struck scholars as strange. For example, it was recently remarked that this orthography began being used “[f]or reasons that are still unclear” (Oréal 2022: 200). A proposal to solve this mystery: With the negative transliterated bn , the foot sign of Gardiner D58 is actually a ne...