May6] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [189athe passage maybe read alliteratively: sebaa-k em fa xer Seb, " thou
art contemptuously spittenuponthe earth, in presence of Seb."
In his new work(p. 172) Dr. Brugsch referswith satisfactionto
his letter in these Proceedings, andthengivesanotherinstancefrom
the Pyramid of Merenra I, col. 126.akabkabab en mut-ek her-ekem ren-ek en Seb, which I translate :
" the heart of thy mother wailsovertheein thy name of Seb ;" and
I do not see what possibleobjectioncan be raised eitherto my
transcriptionor to my version. Brugschtakesno notice of ^ " the
heart." ^ffljfflj akabkab is the regular reduplicated form of
^aJ^J akab, which every one can see in Brugsch's Lexicon
signifies'wail, cry.' My learned opponentconjectures"bent"as
the meaning of akabkab, andrefersto his work on Egyptian Religion
and Mythology for an explanation, upon which I have already
spoken at length. Theverbal alliteration which he sees in the
above passage presupposesas proved somethingwhich is yet in
question. And it must be remembered that rhyme as well as
alliterationhad a large partin the Egyptian playuponwords.
Butwhat surprisesme most in this discussion is the apparent
inabilityof my learned friendto see that a cartload of "striking
instances," everyone of which is in perfect harmony with what
I myself havewritten,will not advance his case untilhe has disposed
of the difficulties which beset it. Is it not certain thatthe god's
name is written A, and that the star -^ has the value Seb? Is it
not certain thatthe god's name is also written\i\S\,and that the
number./foehas the phonetic valueSeb ?\ Do not the signs 55and
- Proceedings, Feb.,1887,p. 94. SinceI wrote that paper my attention was
attractedby what M. Maspero callsa new determinativeof fp "awakening,"
Recueil,III,p. 198. Thatdeterminativefullyexplainsthe picture of Seb at
sunrise.
t Proceedings, 1887,p. 87. To the proofs theregivenlet me add another
whichis interesting for its own sake. Oneof the gods in the Book of the Tuat Is
called"'ci^seb-tu(Lefebure,Tombeaude Seti I, pt. IV, pi. 33). Theword
means"armedwiththe knife called [) JO sbd," cf. Brugsch, Lexicon,p. 11S8.
I suspect that sba is the name of the 22nd Nomeof Upper Egypt^s,which
Brugschfirst called Seft,and later on Atatennu.
3<M