> I am reading "Ancient Egypt, Light of the World" by Gerald Massey. Amongst
> other things, he explores the roots of words tracing back through the
> hieroglyphs. When I look in our dictionaries, however, I find few if any
> references to the root words as Egyptian. For the most part we get Latin,
> Greek, French, German, English, American Indian, etc. I'd guess that this
> is a cultural bias of Western Civilization. I'm wondering if there is an
> Egyptian dictionary and what it would have to say about the derivation of
> words.
>
>
>
> To give you an idea of Massey's extensive work I will include the following
> excerpt concerning the word Totem which is to be found in its entirety in
> this link:
> [1]Book 2- Totemism, Tattoo and fetishism as forms of sign-language - Part
> of Ancient Egypt - The Light of the World by Gerald M.
>
> Totemism originated in Sign-language rather than in Sociology, the Signs
> being afterwards applied for use in Sociology as they were in Mythology and
> Fetishism. The name "Totem" is supposed to have originated in the language
> of the North American Indians. The word Totem exists in the Ojibway language
> for a sign, a symbol, mark, or device of the group, Gens, or Tribe. The Rev.
> Peter Jones, an Ojibway, spells the word "Toodaim". Francis Assikinack, an
> Ottawa Indian, renders it by Ododam. The Abb¨¦ Thavenet, quoting from the
> Algonkin language, gives nind Otem for "my tribe", and kit Otem for "thy
> tribe". The root of the word as here rendered is Tem or Dem. The name and
> things thus denoted are found to be universal for a group, a gathering, a
> collection, a total of persons, animals, huts or houses. The Magar Thum is
> the Phratry or Clan, of which there were twelve altogether. The Attic
> township was called a Dem. The Sanskrit Dama is the home; Greek Domos, Latin
> Domus, Sclavonic Domu, English Dome. Itembe = the dome is the roof in
> Niamwezi. In Zulu the Tumu is an assemblage. In Maori, the Tamene is a
> collection of people. Also the Toma is a cemetery like the Scottish Tom, and
> the Tumuli where the dead were gathered together. Tomo, in archaic Japanese,
> denotes a gathering of persons who are companions. In Assyrian, likewise,
> the Timi are the companions. As is usual in the present work, we turn to
> Egypt to see what the great Mother of Civilisation has to say concerning the
> Tem and the Totem.
> ¦³¦Ø¦̀ (Tom) in Coptic signified joining together as in the Tem. The word
> "Tern" has various applications in Egyptian. It signifies Man, Mankind,
> Mortals, also to unite, be entire or perfect. Moreover it is a name for
> those who are created persons, as in making young men and young women in the
> Totemic ceremonies, of which more hereafter. If ever the word "created"
> could be properly applied to the Making of Men and to those who were grouped
> together, it is in Totemism. In Egyptian, Tem, or Tem-t, is not only a Total
> and to be totalled.The sign of Tem-t in the Hieroglyphics is the figure of a
> total composed of two halves; [EgyptOne53.gif] thus the Tern is one with the
> Total, and the Total comprised two halves at the very point of bifurcation
> and dividing of the whole into two; also of totalling a number into a whole
> which commences with twofold unity. And when the youths of the Aborigines on
> the River Darling are made men of in the ceremonies of puberty - that is,
> when they are created Men - they are called Tumba. (F. Bonney.) It would
> seem as if the word ,¡±Tem¡± for the total in two halves had been carried by
> name as well as by nature to the other side of the world, for two classes in
> St. George's Sound are universally called Erinung and Tern. The whole body
> of natives are divided into these two moieties. The distinctions, says Nind,
> are general, not tribal. They agree, however, with the Arunta division into
> two classes of the Churinga at the head of the Totems which represent the
> sub-divisional distinctions. (Scott Nind, Journal of Royal Geographical
> Society, Vol. I., 1832.) The Egyptian Tem is also a place-name as well as a
> personal name for the social unit, or division of persons. The Temai was a
> District, a Village, a Fortress, [Page 54] a Town or a City, on the way to
> becoming the Dom, as we have it in the heirdom and the kingdom, for the
> whole or total that is governed by a King. But the group-name for people
> preceded the group-name for a collection of dwellings, whether for the
> living or the dead. Here the "Tern" is a total, as we have it in English for
> a "team" of horses, a brood of ducks, a litter of pigs. Egypt itself had
> passed out of the Totemic stage of Sociology in monumental times, but the
> evidences for its prehistoric existence are visibly extant in the
> place-names and in the mirror of Mythology which reflects aloft a
> pre-monumental past of illimitable length. In Egypt the Zootypes of the
> Motherhoods and Companionships had become the Totems of the Nomes
>
> I'd appreciate your comments.
>
> Joe Lamando
>
> References
>
> 1. http://www.theosophical.ca/Book2AncientEgypt.htm