mr

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɛr/
  • Conventional anglicization: mer

Highly disputed etymology. Hypotheses include:

• From Proto-Afro-Asiatic, cognate with Arabic أَمَرَة‎ (ʾamara, “heap of stones, mound, esp. as a way-marker”), Akkadian 𒀯 (amartu, “dividing wall”), 𒋞 (amaru, “pile of bricks”), Hebrew אָמִיר‎ (ʾāmīr, “treetop, mountain summit”).
• Metathesized from earlier *rm, from Proto-Afro-Asiatic *rim- (“to be raised, high, long”), cognate with Proto-Semitic *rayam- (“to be high”); compare Arabic رَيْم‎ (raym, “abundance, hill, tumulus, step”)
• From a possible Proto-Afro-Asiatic *m-r (“heap of stones”), cognate with Tashelhit i-miri (“heap of stones, wall of dry stone”), a-mra (“stone buttress of a terraced field”), Central Atlas Tamazight i-mr-an (“large half-buried stones that mark off property boundaries”), Mofu-Gudur mémeré (“low stone terrace wall”).
• Related to a Semitic root *m-w-r, as in Qatabanian 𐩣𐩥𐩧𐩩𐩬‎ (mwrtn, “tower”), Arabic مَارَ‎ (māra, “to come to a high place or plateau”).

 m

1. pyramid (monumental building) [from the Pyramid Texts through the Saite Period]
   • c. 1550 BCE, Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, problem 59:

     mr pr-m-ws n.f jmy m 12

     A pyramid, its height 12 [cubits]

2. (rare) heap of corpses [20th Dynasty]
   • c. 1180 BCE, Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu, Inscription of the Year 5, lines 35-36:

     ptrj bjn jm.w r qꜣ n(j) pt nw tꜣy.w wmt ḥr st pꜣ smꜣ.w st jrw m mrw ḥr pꜣ.w zꜣtw m tꜣ pḥtj n(j) nswt qn m ḥꜥw.f nb wꜥ sḫmtj mjtj mnṯw nswt-bjtj wsr-mꜣꜥt-rꜥ-mr(y)-jmn zꜣ-rꜥ rꜥ-ms-s(w)-ḥqꜣ-jwnw

     Behold, they were in woe to the height of the sky, as their thick crowd was collected upon the place of their slaughter, and they were made into corpse-heaps on their soil by the might of the king, valiant in his limbs, the only lord, powerful like Montu, Dual King Usermaatre-Meryamun, Son of Ra Ramesses, Ruler of Heliopolis.

Possibly from a Proto-Afro-Asiatic *m-r (“river, channel”). Compare South Omotic *mir- (“river”), with reflexes including Aari mɨri (“river, stream”) and Dime mɪ́rɛ (“river”). A possible Semitic cognate is Sabaean 𐩣𐩧‎ (mr, “part of an irrigation system”). Possible Cushitic cognates include Borana Oromo mērī (“watering trough”), Tsamai mīre (“pond”), and possible Chadic cognates include Fali mirə̂ (“river”), Muskum mìrà (“oxbow lake, marigot”).

 m

1. canal, ditch, waterway [since the Pyramid Texts]
   • c. 2353 BCE – 2323 BCE, Pyramid Texts of Unas — west wall of the corridor, line 10–20, spell 317.4–5:[1]

     jj.n wnjs r mrw.f jm(j)w jdb ꜣgb(w) mḥt wrt
     r st ḥtpw wꜣḏt sḫwt jmt ꜣḫt

     Unas has come to his canals at the shore of the waters of the great flood,
     to the place of peace with green fields in the place where the sun rises.

2. a pond or pool, especially an artificial one [since the Pyramid Texts]
3. metal libation bowl or basin
4. Misspelling of mw (“water”). [New Kingdom]

From Proto-Afro-Asiatic. Cognate with Proto-Semitic *mir(Vʔ)- (“bull”): compare Akkadian 𒈪𒅕𒋾 (mīrtu, “young cow”), 𒄞𒀖 (mīru, “young bull”), Hebrew מְרִיא‎ (mərīʾ, “fatted steer”). Possible Cushitic cognates include Hadiyya mōr-â (“bull”), Mbugu ki-mole, ki-more (“ox, bull”), possible Omotic cognates include Wolaytta mārā (“young bull”), Yemsa omoru (“bull”), and possible Chadic cognates include Mafa maray (“sacrificial bull”), Mofu-Gudur maray (“fattened bull”), Mafa mari (“bull”).

 m

1. (fighting) bull [Middle Kingdom]

 m

1. (rare) Abbreviation of mr-wr (“Mnevis”). [Greco-Roman Period]

From Proto-Afro-Asiatic. Probable Berber cognates include Tazerwalt Tashelhit ta-märr-it (“pain, agony”), Tagargrent i-mur-ǝn (“labour pains”), and Kabyle u-mr-an (“sorrows”), a-mur (“colic, stomachache”), and a-mrir (“embarrassment, great difficulty”). Cushitic cognates include Oromo marar (“to be sick”), Baiso marni (“to be sad”), and Sidamo marar-s (“to be sick”). A likely Omotic cognate is Yemsa mer-o (“illness”). And compare the root Arabic م ر ض‎ (m-r-ḍ, “related to ailment”).

 2-lit.

1. (intransitive) to be(come) ill, to be(come) sick or diseased
2. (intransitive) to suffer, to (come to) be in pain
3. (intransitive) to be(come) painful, to sting
4. (intransitive) to be(come) harsh or fierce

• mrt
• nꜥr-mr

• Demotic: mr
  • Old Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩⲣ (mour)

 m

1. ailment
2. pain

• Erman, Adolf; Grapow, Hermann (1926–1961) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN
• Faulkner, Raymond (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN
• Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 361–372, 392–395
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 213.
• Hoch, James (1997) Middle Egyptian Grammar, Mississauga: Benben Publications, →ISBN, page 146