# Nefer > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Nefer > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Nefer.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefer > Source revision: 1342095436 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for perfect/complete}} {{For|the character in 2020 video game ''Genshin Impact''|List of Genshin Impact characters#Nefer{{!}}List of ''Genshin Impact'' characters § Nefer}} {{More citations needed|date=March 2008}} {{Infobox hieroglyphs |name ={{center|nfr}}[Erman, Adolf](/source/Adolf_Erman), and [Hermann Grapow](/source/Hermann_Grapow), eds. 1926–1953. ''Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien''. 6 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'schen Buchhandlungen. (Reprinted Berlin: Akademie-Verlag GmbH, 1971). |name explanation =Nefer
nfr
'''Good/Beautiful''' |}} The [Egyptian hieroglyph](/source/Egyptian_hieroglyph) {{lang|egy|𓄤}} serves as a phonogram representing the [triliteral consonant sequence](/source/Egyptian_triliteral_signs) ''{{lang|egy-Latn|nfr}}'', and appears in [Gardiner's sign list](/source/Gardiner's_sign_list) as number '''F35'''.{{cite book | last = Allen | first = James P. | title = Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of the Hieroglyphs | edition = Third | date = 2014 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | p=34, 478}} It appears in the Egyptian word for "perfect, complete" (with the extended meanings of "good, pleasant, well, [beautiful](/source/beauty)"),{{sfn | Allen | 2014 | p=522}} which has a reconstructed pronunciation of {{IPA|egy|naːfir|}} according to Loprieno.{{cite book | last = Loprieno | first = Antonio | title = Ancient Egyptian: A linguistic introduction | publisher = Cambridge University Press | date = 1995 | p = 87 }} The hieroglyph has a [conventional Egyptological vocalization](/source/Egyptian_language) of '''''{{lang|egy-Latn|nefer}}'''''. ==Form and appearance== The [triliteral Egyptian hieroglyph](/source/Egyptian_triliteral_signs) F35 ('nfr') has sometimes been explained as a representation of a [lute](/source/lute); however, Egyptologists today no longer consider this hypothesis likely. Rather than a lute, the hieroglyph is actually a representation of the [heart](/source/heart) and [trachea](/source/trachea). It originally may have been the [esophagus](/source/esophagus) and heart. The striations of the [windpipe](/source/windpipe) only appear in the hieroglyph following the [Old Kingdom of Egypt](/source/Old_Kingdom_of_Egypt). The lower part of the sign has always clearly been the heart, for the markings clearly follow the form of a [sheep](/source/sheep)'s heart.{{cite web|url=http://www.egyptianmyths.net/nefer.htm|title=Ancient Egypt: the Mythology - Nefer (Beauty)|website=www.egyptianmyths.net}} Image:Nefertiabet name.png|Name of Nefertiabet from the Stele of Nefertiabet-E 15591, 26th century BC, with nefer hieroglyph on right Image:Nefer Amulet MET 26.7.1095 front.nk.jpg|Nefer amulet, 14th century BC Image:Ring Inscribed with the Hieroglyphs Nefer Maat MET 11.215.97 top.jpg|Ring, 14th century BC, with nefer hieroglyph on right Image:Egypte louvre 077 cartouche.jpg|[Cartouche](/source/Cartouche) amulet, 11th-10th century BC, with nefer hieroglyph on the center left Image:Karnak inscription nefer.png|Inscription of [Shoshenq I](/source/Shoshenq_I) at Karnak, 10th century BC, with nefer hieroglyph on the center left Image:Hieratic nefer.png|[Hieratic](/source/Hieratic) form of nefer hieroglyph from [10th](/source/Tenth_Dynasty_of_Egypt)-[11th dynasties](/source/Eleventh_Dynasty_of_Egypt) Image:Demotic nfr.png|[Demotic](/source/Demotic_Egyptian_script) form of the nefer hieroglyph ==Use== The use of the hieroglyph ''{{lang|egy-Latn|nfr}}'' in the word for "good, beautiful" is attested in Old Egyptian in the Pyramid Text of [Unas](/source/Unas), where it could appear alone to represent the word, or with phonetic complements 𓂋 or 𓆑𓂋.{{cite book | last = Allen | first = James P. | title = A Grammar of the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts: Volume 1: Unis | publisher = Eisenbrauns | date = 2017 | p=241}} With this meaning, it was incorporated into many names in Ancient Egypt. Examples include [Nefertiti](/source/Nefertiti), [Nefertari](/source/Nefertari), and [Neferhotep](/source/Neferhotep_I). Some scholars suggest that it was used in ancient Egyptian construction where ''{{lang|egy-Latn|nfrw}}'' was used to denote 'level zero' of a building and in accounting where ''{{lang|egy-Latn|nfr}}'' would refer to a zero balance.{{Cite journal|last=Lumpkin|first=Beatrice|date=1 March 2002|title=Mathematics Used in Egyptian Construction and Bookkeeping|journal=Mathematical Intelligencer|volume=24|issue=2|pages=20–23|doi=10.1007/BF03024613|s2cid=120648746 }} This last usage used the hieroglyph {{lang|egy|𓄤}} alone as an abbreviation for ''{{lang|egy-Latn|nfrw}}'' "depletion".{{sfn | Allen | 2014 | p=124}} The hieroglyph was also used in a particle ''{{lang|egy-Latn|nfr}}'' meaning "not at all, not even" infrequently in Middle Egyptian.{{sfn | Allen | 2014 | p=216}} ==See also== *[Gardiner's sign list#F. Parts of mammals](/source/Gardiner's_sign_list) *[List of Egyptian hieroglyphs](/source/List_of_Egyptian_hieroglyphs) ==References== *[http://www.egyptianmyths.net/nefer.htm Ancient Egypt: the Mythology - Nefer (Beauty)] {{authority control}} Category:Beauty * Category:Egyptian hieroglyphs: parts of mammals Category:Ancient Egyptian words and phrases Category:Heart Category:Sheep in art Category:Trachea {{hieroglyph-stub}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Nefer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefer) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefer?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.