Middle Egyptian Grammar

by James E. Hoch

This is a practical, modern introductory grammar for classroom and self-instruction. Unlike Alan Gardiner's monumental Egyptian Grammar , this is not intended as a reference work, and it is designed to be as user-friendly as possible by, for example, presenting simplified forms of genuine texts rather than diving straight into the originals. It is suggested the the 16 lessons be spread over about 30 weeks study. The book is widely used in North American courses.

Genres: Egyptology, Egypt, Language, Nonfiction

307 pages, Plastic Comb

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Patrick Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who seriously wants to learn Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphs needs to start with this book. It is expensive, hard to get, and absolutely worth it.

This was the text I used during my first two years of studying Middle Egyptian, and it is a fantastic introduction to the grammar and vocabulary that you will need to proceed with your translations. I recommend you study it in pairs to get the best results.

[André · Rating 4 out of 5]

It really is a good grammar of Middle Egyptian, even though it's not as famous as Gardiner's or Allen's. And just like them, it's a textbook rather than an actual (reference) grammar. The approach is very similar between the three, with grammatical topics whose complexity increases as the reader goes on. I liked the way Hoch explained the points and illustrated them with actual examples from original texts. At the end of each of the 16 lessons is a vocabulary list and exercises. The vocabulary sometimes doesn't include all the words found in the example sentences, but then you have to look those up yourself in the word list at the end of the book. Something I disliked was that the answer key to the lessons' exercises only included around half the answers. That left me stranded quite a few times and I had to ask more advanced Egyptologists for correction or answers. All in all, a very good book for learning the language — 4/5 stars.

[Katy Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

More readable than Gardiner, but not as much fun.