143. PRIESTHOOD is simply the condition of a priest; the character prefixed answering to the Coptic prefix MET, and to the Greek termination ETA.
144. The ornaments of the head are very gener ally used as indicating the person by whom they are worn ; and flowers, probably those of the lotus, are frequently found on the heads of the priests, as well as in the inscriptions which accompany them. In the inscription of Rosetta, the sense SACERDOTAL agrees very well with the context, where this cha racter occurs; though it cannot be deduced with absolute certainty from the comparison with the Greek.
145. It is by no means easy to explain why the figure like a buckle should clearly mean an ASSEM BLY : perhaps, however, the upper part may origi nally have been a crescent, implying monthly ; and the scale or basin below is occasionally found sup porting some offerings, which are set upright in it ; so that the whole may have meant a monthly exhibi. Lion.
t46. The character god is made an adjective by the addition of the waved line, and of the long drop, which seem simply to convert it into the term SA or, if the drop has any other meaning, it can only relate to worshipping or honouring ; as the cha racter prefixed in the enchorial text, which is equi valent to the scale or basin, is elsewhere employed to signify honour or attention. In some other instances, a circle and a waved line seem to be employed in a similar manner, for connecting one character with another like substantive and adjective.
147. An epithet, implying CONSECRATED, or dedi cated, is composed of a trident, or triple branch or root, followed by a bent line. It occurs very com monly near the beginning of inscriptions, on obeliscs, and elsewhere.
148. A little oblique cross, over an arm with a feather, seems to mean to Give, and perhaps to fight and to defend ; as, in Coptic, the word fiI has both these senses. It is often preceded by a circle and a semicircle.
149. The hand bearing the triangle or pyramid (n. Ill) manifestly means, in the frize of Montagu, and Ficoroni, to OFFER, as an oblation to a deity.
150. In the inscription of Rosetta, we find the word DEDICATE expressed by a bent line and a sit. ting figure, with the circle and the arm holding the rudder, n. 134 ; the character already interpreted consecrated precedes, but it is not absolutely certain that it belongs to the same phrase.
151. 'The term LAWFUL is naturally enough deriv ed from a deity in his judicial capacity ; the figure is preceded by a bird, placed, between two semicircles, which must here mean according to, answering to the termination/el. Sometimes a curved line, supported by a stem, is substituted as a synonym for the figure of the judge.
152 .. 154. The character representing Goon strong. ly resembles the figure of a lute, depicted in the chamber of the harps, among the catacombs, and may have alluded to the pleasing sound of music. The plural, with the scale or basin, which implies BE STOWING, makes the epithet ZUCHARISTUS, which in Greek is somewhat ambiguous, meaning either grateful or MUNIFICENT; the latter, however, must be its sense in this inscription, because good gifts or delights may be plural, but gratitude not so easily. The lute is also found denoting good in other parts of the inscription. The enchorial character for the scale could scarcely have been suspected to be de rived from it, without the assistance of the manu scripts, which constantly exhibit an intermediate form, intended, perhaps, to comprehend one of the lines supporting the scale.
155. The semicircle, with two oblique dashes, seems to mean GREAT in the name of Thoth, who is called, in the Greek inscription of Rosetta, Hermes the great and great : while, in other places, this cha racter seems almost always to convey the sense of a dual. The enchorial epithet of Thoth is a little like the crown with two semicircles, which is most fre quently found among the titles of Osiris, especially when he sits in judgment.