This book was written to give you a fundamental underecanding of the essentials of Middle Egyptian grammar based on the most recent advances in grammatical theory. It was also written because there arc very few such gramman in English specifically intended for the serious beginner.
The basic reference book for Middle Egyptian grammar remains Gardiner’s Egyptian Grammar (see n, 4, above). This book is still in print, and if you intend to continue working with Middle Egyptian texts you owe it to yourself to have your own copy. Its grammatical theory is now outdated but it is still unmatched in depth and detail. James E. Hoch’s Middle Egyptian Grammar (Society for the Study ofEgypdan Antiquities Publications, 15; Mississauga: Benben Publications, 1996) is a good grammar for the beginning student, and Gertie England's Middle Egyptian, an Introdiution, zd ed. (Uppsala: Uppsala University, Department of Egyptology, 1995) gives a handy summary of the main points of Middle Egyptian. Both these books follow the Standard Theory; an excellent, though abbreviated, nonstandard approach is presented by Mark Collier and BiU Manley, Hour to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs (London; British Museum Press, 1998).
One thing you will learn if you continue studying Egyptian is that many Egyptological studies arc written in French and German. In fact, universities require a reading knowledge of both these languages in their Egyptological curricula. If you read French, a good counterpart to Gardiner is Gtrstave Lefcbvre’s Grammaire de Vigyptien classique, zd cd. (Bibliotheque d’etude, 12; Cairo: In-stitut firanipais d’archeologie orientale, 1955). Aldtough this book is as outdated as Gardiner’s in theory and is not as detailed, it is much better organized and easier to use. For German readen, an excellent introductory grammar is Erhart Graefe’s Mitteldgyplisch: Grammatik jUr Anfdnger, in its 5th edition at the time this book was written (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1997).
World History
