# mḥ
## Egyptian
### Etymology 1
#### Pronunciation

* (reconstructed) IPA: /maːħ/ → /maːħ/ → /maːħ/ → /moːħ/
* (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA: /maːħ/
* (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA: /maːħ/
* (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA: /maːħ/
* (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA: /moːħ/
* (modern Egyptological) IPA: /mɛh/
** Conventional anglicization: meh

#### Verb

2-lit.
* (transitive) to fill
** (transitive) to physically fill (a container, vessel, granary, ship, etc.) (+ m or (occasionally) ẖr: with)
** (transitive, of people) to fill (a space), to crowd
** (transitive, with m or ẖr) to fill (one’s hands or arms) with (something); also, to embrace (someone)
** (transitive, with m or ẖr) to fill (a person, one’s body, or one’s mouth) with (food)
** (transitive, with m or ẖr) to fill (a place) with (beauty, joy, scent, etc.)
* (transitive) to complete, to make complete with all members or a full complement, to make whole
* (transitive) to pay in full
* (transitive) to inlay (+ m: with) [since the end of the Middle Kingdom]
* (intransitive) to be(come) full
** (intransitive, of containers, one’s arms, etc.) to be(come) physically full (+ m or ẖr: of)
** (intransitive, with m or ẖr) to be(come) replete with, full of, abounding in
** (intransitive, of animals) to be(come) pregnant, gravid
* (intransitive) to be(come) complete with all members, full, whole, fully assembled
* (intransitive with m or transitive) to hold or seize
** (intransitive with m or transitive) to seize with one’s hand, grasp, lay hold of
** (intransitive with m or transitive) to hold fast, to grasp
** (intransitive with m or transitive) to seize (something) for oneself, to take
** (intransitive with m or transitive) to capture (a person), to hold (someone) captive
** (intransitive with m or transitive) to capture, to conquer (a city)
** (intransitive with m or transitive) to hold fast to (orders, plans, etc.), to not deviate from
* (catenative, with r and following infinitive) to begin, to set about (doing something)

##### Usage notes

The ‘seize, hold’ senses were originally used with the preposition m and developed from the ‘fill, be(come) full’ senses: ‘become full of’ → ‘become complete with’ → ‘take’. Later the preposition began to be omitted.

##### Alternative forms

| mḥ | mḥ | mḥ | mḥ | mḥ | mḥ | mḥ | mḥ | mḥ |
| [Old Kingdom] | [Old Kingdom] | [Old Kingdom] | [Old Kingdom] | [Old Kingdom] | [since the Old Kingdom] | [19th and 20th Dynasties] | [Greco-Roman Period] | [Greco-Roman Period] |
| | | | | rare | | in hieratic |
Starting in the 18th Dynasty, the senses relating to ‘seize, hold, capture’ are usually written with a different determinative:
mḥ :
[since the 18th Dynasty] :
in senses relating to ‘seize, hold, capture’ :
Similarly, the sense of ‘inlay’ starts taking on different determinatives around the same time:
| mḥ | mḥ | mḥ |
| [New Kingdom] | [Greco-Roman Period] | [Greco-Roman Period] |
| in sense ‘inlay’ | in sense ‘inlay’ | in sense ‘inlay’ |

##### Derived terms

* mḥw
* mḥ nfr (“pay or satisfy in full”)
* mḥ rdwj (“hurry, run”)

##### Descendants

* Demotic: mḥ
** Akhmimic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩϩ (mouh)
** Bohairic Coptic: ⲙⲟϩ (moh)
** Fayyumic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩϩ (mouh)
** Lycopolitan Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩϩ (mouh)
** Sahidic Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩϩ (mouh)
(From the imperative:)
* ⇒ Demotic: mḥṱ, ꜣmḥṱ
** Akhmimic Coptic: ⲁⲙⲁϩⲧⲉ (amahte), ⲁⲙⲁϩⲉ (amahe), ⲁⲙⲁϩⲓ (amahi)
** Bohairic Coptic: ⲁⲙⲁϩⲓ (amahi)
** Fayyumic Coptic: ⲁⲙⲉϩⲓ (amehi), ⲉⲙⲉϩⲓ (emehi), ⲙⲉϩⲓ (mehi)
** Lycopolitan Coptic: ⲉⲙⲁϩⲧⲉ (emahte)
** Sahidic Coptic: ⲁⲙⲁϩⲧⲉ (amahte), ⲁⲙⲁϩⲉ (amahe)

### Etymology 2

From a form of the verb mḥ (“to fill, to be(come) full”) above; the original sense may have been the number ‘brought to fullness’, ‘made complete’.

#### Pronunciation

* (reconstructed) IPA: /maħ/ → /maħ/ → /maħ/ → /maħ/
* (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA: /maħ/
* (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA: /maħ/
* (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA: /maħ/
* (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA: /maħ/
* (modern Egyptological) IPA: /mɛh/
** Conventional anglicization: meh

#### Prefix

* (Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian) Forms ordinal numbers greater than nine from cardinal numbers.
* (Late Egyptian) Forms ordinal numbers greater than one from cardinal numbers.
* (Late Egyptian) Also forms the ordinal number for one (‘first’). [Greco-Roman Period]

##### Alternative forms

mḥ :

##### Descendants

* Akhmimic Coptic: ⲙⲁϩ- (mah-)
* Bohairic Coptic: ⲙⲁϩ- (mah-)
* Fayyumic Coptic: ⲙⲉϩ- (meh-), ⲙⲁϩ- (mah-)
* Lycopolitan Coptic: ⲙⲁϩ- (mah-)
* Sahidic Coptic: ⲙⲉϩ- (meh-), ⲙⲁϩ- (mah-)

### Etymology 3
#### Pronunciation

* (reconstructed) IPA: /maħjVw/ → /maħjVw/ → /maħjə/ → /maħi/
* (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA: /maħjVw/
    where V represents an unknown short vowel.
* (Middle Egyptian, c. 1700 BCE) IPA: /maħjVw/
    where V represents an unknown short vowel.
* (Amarna-period Late Egyptian, c. 1350 BCE) IPA: /maħjə/
* (latest Late Egyptian, c. 800 BCE) IPA: /maħi/
* (modern Egyptological) IPA: /mɛh/
** Conventional anglicization: meh

#### Noun

m
* forearm

##### Alternative forms

| mḥ | mḥ | mḥ |
| [Old Kingdom] | [Old Kingdom] | [Late Egyptian and Greco-Roman Period] |

#### Noun

m
* a cubit, a measure of length equivalent to 28 ḏbꜥw (“digits”) or 7 šzpw (“palms”) (about 52.5 centimetres).
** c. 2000 BCE – 1900 BCE, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pHermitage/pPetersburg 1115) lines 24–28: hꜣ.kw r wꜣḏ-wr m dpt nt št-mḏwtj mḥ m ꜣw.s ḥmw mḥ m sḫw.s št-mḏwtj sqd jm.s m stp n(j) kmtI had gone down to the sea in a boat of a hundred twenty cubits in length and forty cubits in breadth, with a hundred twenty sailors in it of the choice of Egypt.
* cubit rod, rod the length of a cubit

##### Alternative forms

| mḥ | mḥ | mḥ | mḥ | mḥ |
| abbreviation | abbreviation |

##### Derived terms

* mḥ-nswt
* mḥ šrr
* mḥ-tꜣ

##### Descendants

* Demotic: mḥ
** Akhmimic Coptic: ⲙⲁϩⲉ (mahe)
** Bohairic Coptic: ⲙⲁϩⲓ (mahi)
** Fayyumic Coptic: ⲙⲉϩⲓ (mehi), ⲙⲁϩⲓ (mahi)
** Sahidic Coptic: ⲙⲁϩⲉ (mahe)

### References

* “mḥ (lemma ID 73290)”, “mḥ (lemma ID 73320)”, and “mḥ (lemma ID 73330)”, in Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae‎, Corpus issue 18, Web app version 2.1.5, Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning by order of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils by order of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, 2004–26 July 2023
* Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1928) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎, volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 116.6–118.10, 119.5–119.21, 120.1–120.7
* Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 113
* James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 103, 105, 174, 208–209, 257, 269, 461.
* Hoch, James (1997) Middle Egyptian Grammar, Mississauga: Benben Publications, →ISBN, page 83
* Junge, Friedrich (2005) Late Egyptian Grammar: An Introduction, second English edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, page 68
* Vycichl, Werner (1983) Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Copte, Leuven: Peeters, →ISBN, page 130