Pick (hieroglyph)
Introduction Pot, with Pick hieroglyph at bottom, middle column (reads from right-to-left, Columns 3-2-1).The ancient Egyptian '''Pick hieroglyph''', Gardiner sign listed nos. U17, U18 is a portrayal of a 'pick upon the side view of a block'; it is in the Gardiner subset for ''agriculture, crafts, and professions''.In the Egyptian language, the ''pick hieroglyph'' is used as an ideogram or determinative for ''grg'', the verb "to pick through", or for other related words.
Verb: to settle, found, establish; (also dismantle) Though the ''pick hieroglyph'' shows: 'use of a pick, upon a surface', the verb "to choose" is not implied. The Egyptian language verb for 'to pick or select' is used by "to choose", the commonly used ''stp'' hieroglyph, an adze, or specifically the 'adze-on-block (hieroglyph)', Gardiner no. U21, U21, also in the Gardiner subset of ''agriculture, crafts, and professions''.The pick hieroglyph in Budge's two volume dictionary has twelve entries, the final three dealing with "lies" and using the determinative of the sparrow (hieroglyph), for 'bad', 'evil', Gardiner no. G37 G37, (and ''not'' a swallow hieroglyph, virtually identical). The main definition of the ''pick hieroglyph'' seems to be ''to pick at (earth)'', implying use of the pick as a tool for creating a townsite, and 'constructing'; it translates as a verb, ''to found, establish, settle''; also ''to make ready to be habitable, equip, furnish,'' and ''prepare''. Budge's dictionary sources are c. 150 authors, and c. 200 sources: papyri, steles, literature, reliefs, etc. For ''grg'', "to settle", "to establish", etc. he uses: 1.funerary texts of Pepi I, (and 2.texts of Pepi II), 3.texts of King Teta, 4.Gaston Maspero's 1880 ''Recueil...'', vol 1. (in progress), 5.an ''El-Bersheh'', London document-(undated), 6.and "A. Z. ", German ''Zeitschrift fur...'', 1863, vol. 1, (a work in progress).
Example usage: 24th century BC, Palermo Stone From circa 2392 BC (24th to 23rd century BC), the Palermo Piece-(obverse) of the 7—piece Palermo Stone contains two uses of the ''pick hieroglyph''. They occur as a pair in Row III (of VI rows) for a ''"King Year Register"'' for Pharaoh, King Den.They are used above 2 rectangular blocks, with the names of cities inside, and the determinative for town: O49.They are similar to the symbol for "Horus in a Chamber", Gardiner no. O10, O10, but replaced by hieroglyphs that name the 2 townsites.
See also * List of Egyptian hieroglyphs
References *Betrò, 1995. ''Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt,'' Betrò, Maria Carmela, c. 1995, 1996-(English), Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, London, Paris (hardcover, )*Budge, 1920, (1978). ''An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary,'' E. A. Wallis Budge, (Dover Publications), c 1978, (c 1920), Dover edition, 1978. (In two volumes, 1314 pp. and cliv-(154) pp.) (softcover, )*Schulz, Seidel, 1998. ''Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs,'' Editors, Regine Schulz, Matthias Seidel, Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Cologne, English translation version, 538 pages. (hardcover, )