tf

Etymology 1

Determiner

 f sg distal demonstrative determiner

1. that

Usage notes

This demonstrative was originally a determiner but could later be used alone, like a pronoun. When used as a determiner it follows or precedes the noun it describes.

It forms a contrastive pair with the demonstrative tn, in which tf is distal.

Inflection

More information determiners, pronouns1 ...

	determiners						pronouns1	adverbs
number	singular		dual		plural		unmarked
gender	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	unmarked
proximal to speaker	pn	tn	*jpnj	jptnj, jptntj	jpn	jptn	nn	—
distal	pf	tf	*jpfj	*jptfj, *jptftj	jpf	jptf	nf	—
proximal to spoken of	pj, pw, p	tj, tw	jpwj	jptwj, jptwtj	jpw	jptw, jptwt	nw	—
vocative	pꜣ	tꜣ	—	—	—	—	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ
Unmarked for number and gender, but treated syntactically as masculine plurals when used with participles and relative forms, and as feminine singulars when referred to by resumptive pronouns.

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Old Egyptian demonstratives

More information determiners and pronouns, adverbs ...

	determiners and pronouns			adverbs
number	singular		plural1
gender	masculine	feminine	unmarked
proximal	pn	tn	nn	ꜥn
distal	pf, pfꜣ	tf, tfꜣ	nf, nfꜣ	ꜥf
‘copula’ and vocative	pw, pwy	tw, twy	nw	—
anaphoric	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ
Joined by n(j) to nouns they modify.

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Middle Egyptian demonstratives

More information masculine, feminine ...

	masculine	feminine	plural		adverb
pronoun	pꜣw				dj
determiners and pronouns	pꜣj	tꜣj	nꜣj
possessive determiners1	pꜣy	tꜣy	nꜣy
relational pronouns (‘possessive prefixes’)	p-n, pꜣ	t-nt, tꜣ	nꜣyw, nꜣ
definite articles	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ2
indefinite articles	wꜥ2		nhꜣy2
Used with suffix pronouns. Originally joined by n(j) to nouns they modify; later without it.

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Late Egyptian demonstratives and articles

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of tf  

tfꜣ

[since the Middle Kingdom]

Etymology 2

Verb

 2-lit.

1. (intransitive) to spit (+ m: to spit (something) out) [Pyramid Texts, rarely later]

Usage notes

Used chiefly in the context of old religious texts, and particularly in the Heliopolitan cosmogony to describe the creation of the goddess Tefnut from Atum’s spit.

Inflection

More information infinitival forms, imperative ...

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
tf	tfw, tf	tft	tf, j.tf	tf, j.tf

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More information ‘pseudoverbal’ forms, stative stem ...

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective2		periphrastic prospective2
tf	ḥr tf	m tf	r tf

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More information suffix conjugation, aspect / mood ...

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	contingent
		aspect / mood	active
perfect	tf.n	consecutive	tf.jn
terminative	tft
perfective3	tf	obligative1	tf.ḫr
imperfective	tf, j.tf1
prospective3	tf	potentialis1	tf.kꜣ
subjunctive	tf, j.tf1

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More information verbal adjectives, aspect / mood ...

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms	participles
	active	active	passive
perfect	tf.n	—	—
perfective	tf	tf	tff, tffj6, tf2, tfw2 5, tfy2 5
imperfective	j.tf1, tf, tfy, tfw5	j.tf1, j.tfw1 5, tf, tfj6, tfy6	tf, tfw5
prospective	tf, tftj7	tftj4, tft4
Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective. Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn. Only in the masculine singular. Only in the masculine. Only in the feminine.

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Conjugation of tf (biliteral / 2-lit. / 2rad.) — base stem: tf, geminated stem: tff

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of tf  

tf	df	ṯf	tf
	[Late Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]
	in hieratic

Etymology 3

Noun

 m

1. spittle [Pyramid Texts]

Inflection

More information singular, dual ...

singular	tf
dual	tfwj
plural	tfw

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Declension of tf (masculine)

Descendants

• Bohairic Coptic: ⲑⲁϥ (thaf), ⲑⲏϥ (thēf)
• Sahidic Coptic: ⲧⲁϥ (taf)

References

• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 54–55.
• Edel, Elmar (1955-1964) Altägyptische Grammatik, volume 1, Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, § 182 et seq., page 83 et seq.
• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1931) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎, volume 5, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 297.6–297.9
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN

Alternative forms

• t.f.

Adjective

tf (not comparable)

1. Abbreviation of tillförordnad., acting (e.g. manager)

References

• tillförordna in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)