Mar.6] PROCEEDINGS. [1894.i ^ffl. the hieratic tL ( Kahun) , represents pictoriallythe
divisionintofourparts. | l l 1 is , so that the direct equivalent
of ^ff*t in hieratic wouldhave coincidedwith. * 40. In the
Ramessidewritinga meaningless spotwas placed overthe symbol,
x , by " false analogy." £ has the form E E (ligatured), simplifiedto
= (ligatured) in later texts.— is 1/ at Kahun, correspondingto || or 1 1.Thereis nothing furtherto note in the hieratic fractions, the
remainderbeingformedby placing the spot overthe corresponding
numeral: even -^ is : with a second spotaddedto that of the
integer.
Thefractionalformative<=>.
In Coptic ojOJULT is 3, peajOJULT is £: CTTfJUOnr is 4
peCTTtOOIf is ^, etc. Theformativeis therefore pe re, probably
the tonlos formof a word po,whichis rarely foundin the sense of
a constituent part: this may be a derived meaning.
In Egyptian the formative <=r=>is certainly foundas an inde
pendentword<=^>ra, plural p^ ], designating the "fraction" par
excellencein the /O measures of capacity, viz., fa, unitingthe
decimalseriesot divisions withthatof the quarter cubed(^ and
Jy),as their greatest common measure.* I do not know what
root-meaningto give to this wordra, but I should be inclined to
connectit with the preposition <rr>. ppf^can hardly be rendered
literally"fourthpart." As a preposition <=>means"to"in the
senseof (1) motion to, (2) amounting to, (3) rest at, (4) accordance
with,(5) comparison to. Thelast appears in several curioususages.
When the Egyptians wished to express that a book was more
pleasantthananythingon earth, theysaidit was " pleasant in comparisonto anything fT <=» r-^ J on earth. " I ^, | Jv^-A <=-
is to "go awayin regard to" that is to "depart from,"etc. With
us the notionof such expressionsas \, §, etc., is a division by* Proceedings, XIII,p. 535. I have wronglywrittenp(JOrt, instead of po
ra. In the mathematical Papyrusthe word for a numerical fractionis tat or tat
kebt,probablymeaning"part."
169 P