Vanderbilt University Library Catalog
Selecting the best search scope for your research needs:
Library Catalog vs. VU Collections vs. Articles
Search Scope | What is included? | When should I use it? |
Library Catalog |
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VU Collections |
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Articles |
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For a more detailed explanation of your search scope options consult What am I searching?
Try a SUBJECT using one of the Library of Congress Subject Headings listed below:
Art, Egyptian | Architecture, Egyptian |
Temples Egypt | Mural painting and decoration, Egyptian |
Sculpture, Egyptian | Egyptian language |
Egypt Antiquities | Valley of the Kings (Egypt) |
Pyramids | Thebes (Egypt : Extinct city) |
Rosetta Stone | Inscriptions, Egyptian |
Hieroglyphic writing combines ideograms (signs that represent ideas and things) and phonograms (signs that represent sounds). To add more fun to the mix, no vowels were used in hieroglyphic writing so unrelated words commonly shared a spelling. Egyptian scribes added what scholars call determinatives, which are ideograms used to determine or make clear the meaning of a word.
All of this makes the task of translating hieroglyphic pictures into sounds, called transliterating, a real challenge, This is why you'll often find variant spellings for Egyptian names and words.
What does this mean for you as a searcher?
Be aware that using all the variant spellings of a word or name will retrieve a greater number of results than if you focus on one spelling variant.
Just look at the variants for Akhenaton: Akhnaton, Echnaton & Ikhnaton
Spelling Counts!