CARTOUCHE

In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a 'cartouche' is an oblong enclosure with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu. The Ancient Egyptian word for it was ''shenu'', and it was essentially an expanded shen ring. Of the five royal titularies it was the throne name, also referred to as prenomen, and the "Son of Re" titulary, the so-called nomen, i.e. the name given at birth, which were enclosed by a cartouche.^[1]

Contents

Etymology

References

Footnotes

External links

Etymology

It is said that the label ''cartouche'' was first applied by soldiers who fancied that the symbol they saw so frequently repeated on the pharaonic ruins they encountered resembled a gun cartridge (''cartouche'' in French).^[2]
In demotic, the cartouche was reduced to a pair of parentheses and a vertical line.

References

★ James Peter Allen, ''Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs'', Cambridge University Press 2000

★ Jon Manchip White, ''Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt'', Courier Dover 2002

Footnotes

1. Allen, ''op.cit.'', p.65
2. White, ''op.cit.'', p.175

External links

★ List of all Egyptian Cartouches

★ Cartouche-inscribed Object. Cosmetic palette, Egypt, burial V21, Abydos. (Click on picture.)