Here for reasons of simplicity reference will be made to the folios/plates which show Egyptian signs correctly identified as letters or determinatives.
Correctly cited Coptic with the correct phonetic values can be seen in the work of Dhu Al-Nun in Hall fols. 12a, b (Plate 26). For comparison with the arrangement of Coptic letters and phonetic values as known today see Plate 27.
In the work of Ibn Wahshiyah, Shauq (MS Arabe 6805 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris), he distinguished certain hieroglyphic signs as phonetic symbols, with several letters correctly identified in fols. 92b, 93a (Plate 28) and 93b (Plate 29 right). Ibn Wahshiyah talks of the Egyptian alphabets according to the Hermeses Ira’i al- haramisahV in which there are a total of 38 letters (Arabic has 28 letters), and he then gives the hieroglyphic sign with its phonetic value below it. All 38 of the signs are correctly copied and twelve of these are indeed used in the Egyptian alphabet, perhaps more, if we assume that he was using the hieroglyphs of the Greco-Roman period, as almost all the still intact temples accessed by medieval Arabs belonged to this period, for example Dendara, Esna and Edfu. On fols. 94a (Plates 29 left), 94b (Plate 30 right) he gives the names of these letters and this shows the need for a separate, detailed study which may help Egyptologists to establish the correct sound of the ancient alphabets, notwithstanding the natural changes to the phonetic value of letters over such a long period of time.
In an earlier section of his book, Ibn Wahshiyah gives long lists of words, which are written with hieroglyphic signs, each representing an epithet. Fols 56-57 (Plates 31, 32) give some good examples where he correctly identified determinatives, which he distinguished from alphabetic letters. When compared to the Gardiner sign list (1957: 438-548), it is clear that Ibn Wahshiyah had indeed studied genuine Egyptian sources and perhaps also studied works such as Horapollo’s Hieroglyphica as he emulates its style. For example on fol. 56a (Plate 31, left side) the sign in the middle of the top line, is identified as al-°adl. “Justice”, a correct identification according to Gardiner (1957: 493-5) as sign lists O 9 and O 20 are both associated with temp les/shrines where justice was dispensed to local communities (van den Boom
1985; Derchain 1995). The sign in the middle of the bottom line of the same folio shows a forearm with two signs of the letter t, with the meaning al-tadbir. ‘provisions, preparations...etc’. Again this compares correctly with Gardiner’s {Ibid 454f) sign list D 36 ff.
On fol. 56b (Plate 32 right side), the first sign on the right of the second line, shows a seated figure with a flagellum with the meaning authority, al-saltanah. Again, when compared with Gardiner {Ibid 446) sign list A 42, it is a correct identification.
Finally the works of Abu Al-Qasim Al-‘^Iraqi show several correctly copied and sometimes also correctly identified hieroglyphs. In his manuscript Al-Aqalim. Add 25,724 British Library. On fols. 21b (Plate 33) and 22a (Plate 34) he gives a list of hieroglyphic signs with their phonetic values below in a different colour. It is possible to establish that he identified four hieroglyphic letters correctly. Plate 33, top line, shows the sign for h is correct and the last sign on this line may well be the letter k, written in Egyptian as a basket with a handle. On the bottom line of the same plate the sign for a/i is given as a stroke, which is also correct. On Plate 34, the top hieroglyphic line shows the letter ^ correctly identified. Abu Al-Qasim gives us in his MS Arabe 2676, fol. 18b, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, a table with the whole hieroglyphic alphabet (Plate 35). It is clear that he identified correctly the first three signs on the top line, a, b and t. On the second line, the third sign from the right is correct - kh. On line three, the third sign from the right, that for z is correct.
Abu Al-Qasim {Ibid fol. 50a) also copied an entire stela from which it is easy to identify the name and titles of King Amenemhat II of the Twelfth Dynasty (Plate 36).
Among the hundreds of scripts cited by Dhu Al-Nun (Hall fol. 36b top), one is named after Jabir Ibn Hayan and many of its signs may be identified as Demotic. On comparing the script of Jabir (Plate 37) to the Demotic letters from a recent work (Plate 38) many signs can be seen to have been correctly written and identified by Dhu Al-Nun. In spite of the number of changes the original handwriting must have gone through during the process of copying over hundreds of years, we still can see that these are the letters a, b/p, t, g, h/h, kh, d, r, sh, q/k I, m, n, w, i/y, showing that they have, on the whole, been correctly written and deciphered.
4.8 Summary
This brief survey of the available materials shows wide use of Egyptian hieroglyphs by medieval Moslem/Arab scholars and artists. They also show a continuous process of attempting to decipher Egyptian scripts, sometimes through a medium script in the same way as did later European scholars. The material shows that several scholars succeeded in deciphering at least half of the Egyptian alphabet.
Demotic must have been much easier for medieval Arabs, as materials in more than one script/language, Coptic/Greek/Demotic, were still available and readable. It is interesting that nearly all the sources used in this chapter were alchemists, many also called Sufis or Mystics (e.g. Jabir, Dhu Al-Nun). This may be due to the fame of Egypt as the land of both science and wisdom.