The process of translating from Greek into Demotic can be seen at work in a short spell to appease one’s overseer, which is preserved in a Greek and Demotic version, written one above the other (P. London-Leiden 15/24–31 = PDM xiv.451–458 [PGM XIVb.12–15]). The text opens with a title in Demotic (line 24), which indicates the purpose of the spell, to give the invocation in Greek (lines 25–28) and, subse-quently, an identical version in Demotic preceded by the words ‘Its invocation in Egyptian again is this which is below’ (lines28–31). In the right margin of the column, on the level of line27, is written in red ink a hieratic
¯dd md.wt, ‘words to be said’.63
[Dem.] [A spell] for going before a superior64if he fights with you and he will not speak with you:
[Greek] ‘Do not pursue me, you, so-and-so,65I am66papipetou metoubanes, I am carrying the mummy of Osiris, and I go to take it to Abydos, to take it to Tastai, and to bury it at Alkhah. If he, NN, causes me trouble, I will throw it at him’.
[Dem.] Its invocation in Egyptian again is this which is below:
papipet[ô]
‘Do not run after me, NN.67I ampapipetu metubanes, carrying the mummy of Osiris, going to take it to Abydos to let it rest in Alkhah. If NN68 fights with me today, I shall cast it out’ (Say seven times!) [P. London-Leiden15/24–31]69
63 The hieratic group is not reproduced on Thompson’s hand copy, but clearly visible on Hooiberg’s lithography.
64 Note that the word .hry, ‘superior’ is provided with the same determinatives as the word pr-#A, ‘pharaoh’: the god’s determinative followed by the abbreviation for the standard salutation for pharaoh,#n
˘h.w w
¯dA.w snb.w, ‘may he live, be whole and healthy’.
This suggests that the spell is aimed against influential people on the highest levels of society.
65 Masculine.
66 The Greek text writes the wordanoyand the following vox magicapapipetou as one group as if they form a compound magical name. In fact,anoyis the Old-Coptic independent pronoun, first person singular, meaning ‘I am’. The Demotic version has accordingly"ınk.
67 Either feminine or plural.
68 Either feminine or plural.
69 Tr. Janet H. Johnson (Demotic); R.F. Hock (Greek).
Fig. 4.3. P. London-Leiden 15/24–31
The magical rationale of the spell is the threat to discard the mummy of Osiris, the god of the dead who fell victim to his evil brother Seth, whom the practitioner claims to carry for interment in the holy burial ground of the Abydos region, if the opponent maintains his negative attitude. Since the spell plays consciously with the Osiris myth and displays a detailed knowledge of the ritual topography of the Abydos region, the spell must be the product of an Egyptian priestly environ-ment. The most natural conclusion would hence be that the Demotic version, albeit written in secondary position, is the original rendering and the Greek spell a faithful translation. However, a close compari-son of the spellings of the voces magicae and the topographical names in both versions reveals that, in fact, the extant Demotic version is trans-lated from the Greek text (see the two following tables). For example, in the Greek version, the group papipetou serves with certitude as a vocalised, albeit garbled, reproduction of an Egyptian nominal predi-cate to the foregoing Old-Coptic independent pronounanoy, ‘I am’.70 It is noteworthy that the extant Demotic version does not provide the original meaning of the group by means of regular orthography, as might be expected, but parallels, by way of an alphabetic Demotic ren-dering, the Greek spelling letter by letter. Although the Egyptian scribe recognised the Old-Coptic independent pronounanoy and translated it accordingly into its Demotic equivalent "ınk, he did not identify the Egyptian origin of the following group and, instead, interpreted it as a vox magica, so that, as was customary, he transcribed it into alphabetic
70 The exact etymology of the group escapes interpretation. Griffith and
Thomp-Demotic signs and provided it with a god’s determinative.71This means that the gloss papipet[ô] above the alphabetic Demotic transcription derives directly from the extant Greek text. The primacy of the Greek version is also borne out by the anomalous alphabetic Demotic render-ing of the traditional place name Arkhah, the burial ground of Osiris in Abydos. Instead of writing it according to standard hieratic-Demotic orthography as he did in other spells, the scribe spelled the name in alphabetic Demotic signs following the Greek rendering.72 A further argument is the fact that the clause with the place name Tastai does not occur in the Demotic version: it is more likely that a passage is lost than added in the process of translation.
Greek Demotic Transliteration
Line25 "ınk
Line25 P#pypetw
Line25 metwb#nes
Line27 #lgh#h
Transcribing Greek into Demotic
1/6 Ar.k-.h.h
9/15 #r.k-.h.h
9/23 #r.k-.h.h
19/2 Ar.k-.h.h
Regular Demotic / hieratic orthography of Arkheh in P. London-Leiden
It cannot easily be established in what way the Greek and Demotic version relate to the intended ritual action, because the text does not
son’s suggestion is problematic for a number of morphological reasons: The Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden, vol.1, 108, fn. to line 25.
71 The same holds true for the following groupmetoubanes, which hides an Egyp-tian clause as well. A possible etymology of this group might be: my t"ı-wbn--s, ‘Let her appear!’ Cf. Griffith and Thompson, The Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden, vol.1, 108, fn. to line 25.
72 The scribe wrote the place name according to standard orthography in1/6; 9/15, 23; 19/2.
give any information whatsoever, apart from the title, about the spell’s mode of application. Since an editor took the trouble over translating the Greek spell into Demotic, the conclusion seems warranted that the Demotic version was certainly meant to be put to use. This is also borne out by the short instruction ‘Say seven times!’ added to the Demotic version. A similar direction for use is remarkably missing from the Greek version. The hieratic
¯dd md.wt group in red ink, which is the customary keyword in Egyptian ritual texts to introduce the words that should be recited, is written to the right outside the vertical black ink border of the column suggesting that it was added afterwards. It was placed on the level of line 27, the last but one line of the Greek version and just above the Demotic introductory phrase ‘Its invocation in Egyptian again is this which is below’, which starts in the right margin of line 28. Hence, the hieratic group is either meant, being placed halfway, as introducing both versions or, since placed close to the start of the Demotic version, as indicating that the Demotic version is the portion to be pronounced. The latter interpretation would explain why only the Demotic version is provided with a direction for use. The Greek version should then be seen as a large gloss, which was retained to do justice to the sources or, possibly, out of respect for the inhibition to translate magical sounds.