Sail (hieroglyph)
Introduction The ancient Egyptian '''Sail hieroglyph''' is Gardiner sign listed no. P5 for the ''sail of a ship''. The hieroglyph shows a hoisted sail, curved because of wind filling it. It is  used in Egyptian hieroglyphs as a determinative for words related to ''wind, air, breath, sailors,'' (as "nefu"), ''floods-(of the Nile), etc.'' Also an ideogram in 'puff', 'wind', Egyptian ''ṯꜣw''.
Breath, in the Book of the Dead Because of the use of the word 'winds', the 'breath' concept became an equally important usage of the sail hieroglyph. The Nile current carried ships downstream-(north), but sometimes prevailing, or advantageous winds allowed upstream travel on the Nile.A replacement of the sekhem scepter held in the hand in vignettes from the Books of the Dead refers to obtaining life-giving 'breath' in the afterlife. An example is Nakht, (Papyrus of Nakht, 18th-19th Dynasty), holding a large mast-on-a-staff, referring to Spell 38A, ''for living by air in the realm of the dead.'' Other stick figured caricature examples show the mast and an ankh in each hand, both signifying a "breath (of) life".Other spells in the Book of the Dead use the concept of 'breath' in even more storied forms and involving various gods.<!--==Origin and history==Betrò's modern Egyptian book, ''Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt'' uses the "crossroads", "intersection" hieroglyph with the name of ''City Plan''. The oldest use of placenames is from the original cosmetic palettes of the early years of Ancient Egypt. The Narmer Palette has a bull with a broken-open fortress (hieroglyph) enclosure. The Bull Palette contains two cities identified with internal iconographic hieroglyphs.Betrò uses the Libyan Palette as her extensive explanation of the ''City Plan''. The Libyan Palette contains seven cities, fortress-protected; the seven cities are identified inside an approximate–circular–enclosure with iconography, with some signs to become hieroglyphs, and similarly identified ''externally'' with the similar hieroglyphic iconography, also to be used as hieroglyphs. (see list: Libyan Palette)
Fortress hieroglyph and the ''Nine Bows'' The fortress (hieroglyph) iconography was still being used in Ramesses II time to identify placenames of defeated locations, referring to the Nine bows. The ''fortress hieroglyph'' is shown in three non-Gardiner's sign listed forms-(all vertical); the category is ''Buildings and Parts of Buildings''.File:Name-Keftiu-at-Abydos-Ramses-Temple.jpg|The  Keftiu-(Caphtor)-K-f-t-U-foreign land determinative; (defeated peoples, Ramses II Temple at Abydos)-->
See also *Gardiner's Sign List#P. Ships and Parts of Ships*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, )*Wilkinson, 1992. ''Reading Egyptian Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture'', Richard H. Wilkinson, c 1992, 1994, Section: ''Seth Animal'', p. 66-67.Thames and Hudson; abbreviated Index, 224 pp. (softcover, )