What do these Malayalam words have in common: ഉള്ളി [ulli] “onion,” എല്ല് [ellu] “bone,” പള്ളി [palli] “chapel,” പാല് [paalu] “milk,” വെളിച്ചം [velicham] “light,” വെള്ള [vella] “white,” വെള്ളം [vellam] “water,” വെള്ളി [velli] “silver” and വേൽ [vel] “lance”? The answer: Egyptian mace hieroglyphs T3 to T6: 𓌉, 𓌋, 𓌌, 𓌍.
A minority of Egyptology linguists believed these hieroglyphs were a combination of the quail chick hieroglyph G43, pronounced as “ve” or “u” and the vulture hieroglyph G1, pronounced as “el” or “la” in Old Egyptian.¹ According to this minority view and the Old Egyptian pronunciation, these mace hieroglyphs were pronounced as “vel” or “ul,” which is the root sound of all these Malayalam words.²
Interestingly the Malayalam words വെള്ള [vella] “white” and വെള്ളം [vellam] “water,” differ by just one last syllable; yet they mean entirely different things. This is not a problem for native Malayalam speakers who would never confuse the color with the drink under any circumstance, but what about others who are not as familiar? Case in point, Egyptologists interpret the hieroglyphic word 𓌉𓏏𓏊, which occurs frequently in inscriptions related to temple offerings, as “white beverage” hence “milk” assuming that the mace hieroglyph lends its alternate meaning as the color white to this beverage.³ From my vantage point as a native Malayalam speaker, I would respectfully beg to differ. Water is used profusely in temple offerings in Kerala; it has almost the same spelling as the word for “white.” Yet, the Malayalam word for “milk” പാല് [paalu] is not that different from the word for “water” വെള്ളം [vellam], after all, and that these words could be derived from the same Egyptian root is not really an impossibility.
Who would have thought that these disparate Malayalam words for onion, bone, chapel, light, milk, white, water, silver, and lance had a common hieroglyph connection once upon a time thousands of years ago?
Notes
- The current prevailing interpretation according to most Egyptology linguists is that these hieroglyphs are the combination of two other hieroglyphs: the twisted wick hieroglyph V28 and the cobra hieroglyph I10, so that the pronunciation is approximately “hedtch.” Comparison to Malayalam suggests the minority view may have been correct for Old Egyptian, and the pronunciation may have evolved away in later forms of the Egyptian language.
- See Thesaurus Lingua Aegyptia (TLA) (https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de) lemmas: 112710, 112350, 112340, 112900, 870590, 112460, 112330, 112290. There are many other words having the mace hieroglyphs that correspond to Malayalam words with the sounds “va” and “la.” For a list, see the Appendix in my book, “Malayalam Egyptian Comparative Dictionary,” https://www.amazon.com/Malayalam-Egyptian-Comparative-Dictionary-Ancient/dp/B0CJXKCQKZ.
- And also as suggested from many inscriptions that mention this beverage as a ritual offering associated with Hesat, the cow goddess. Though why one would offer milk to a cow goddess is beyond me.
