Agyptische Grammatik : mit Schrifttafel, Literatur, Lesestucken und Worterverzeichnis. by ERMAN, Adolf (1854-1937) - 1894

Berlin:: Reuther und Reichard, 1894., 1894. Series: Porta linguarum orientalium. 15. Small 8vo. XVI-270 pp. Contemporary half black pebbled cloth, marbled paper over boards, gilt spine title. Scarce. Handsome copy. Johann Peter Adolf Erman (1854-1937) was a renowned German Egyptologist and lexicographer. He became associate professor of Egyptology at the University of Berlin in 1883 and full professor in 1892. In 1885 he was appointed director of the Egyptian department at the royal museum. "The Neuagyptische Grammatik (1880) dealt with texts written in the vulgar dialect of the New Kingdom (Dyns. XVIII to XX). Next followed, in the Zeitschrift fur agyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde, studies on the Old Kingdom inscription of Unas, and the Middle Kingdom contracts of Assiut, as well as on an Old Coptic text of the 3rd century CE. At this point a papyrus of stories written in the popular language of the Middle Kingdom provided Erman with a stepping-stone from Old Egyptian to the Late Egyptian of the Neuagyptische Grammatik, and gave the connections that would bind solidly together the whole structure of Egyptian grammar (see Sprache des Papyrus Westcar, 1889). The very archaic pyramid texts enabled him to sketch the grammar of the earliest known form of Egyptian (Zeitschrift d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellschaft, 1892), and in 1894 he was able to write a little manual of Egyptian for beginners (Agyptische Grammatik, 4th ed., 1928), centering on the language of the standard inscriptions of the Middle and New Kingdoms, but accompanying the main sketch with references to earlier and later forms." [Wikip.]