Contribution guidelines

Prefer primary publications and scholarly references: Gardiner’s Egyptian Grammar, the Wörterbuch and the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae (TLA), Faulkner’s Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Allen’s Middle Egyptian, peer-reviewed articles and museum catalogues.

Every factual change to a reading, meaning, attestation or word role needs a citation the reviewer can check: the author, the title, the page or entry, and a link when one exists.

These are not acceptable on their own: AI output, uncited blogs, social media, forum posts and “I remember”. Popular books are fine to point to, but they do not settle a disagreement between scholars.

Each source carries a public quality level, set by reviewers and shown as a small icon beside its citations. Sources start unrated.

Scholarly

A primary publication or peer-reviewed work, such as a standard grammar, dictionary, journal article or museum catalogue.

Secondary

A reliable work that builds on scholarship, such as a textbook or a well-sourced survey, but is not itself the primary reference.

Popular

Written for a general audience. Fine for orientation, but it does not settle a disagreement.

Outdated

Once standard, but later scholarship has revised or replaced it. Check it against newer work.

Unverified

Not yet assessed by a reviewer. Treat it with caution until it is rated.

The archive uses the Egyptological Unicode transliteration already in its data. Select a character below to copy it. The sounds are rough modern approximations to help you remember each one.

• Write in lowercase only.
• Do not add vowels. Egyptian writing leaves vowels out, and spoken forms such as “nefer” are modern conventions, not transliteration.
• Separate grammatical endings with a dot, as in n.t, matching the existing data.
• Use the transliteration printed in your cited source. If its convention differs, for example q for ḳ, or j or i for ꞽ, convert it to the archive’s form and mention the source’s convention in your note.

The spoken pronunciation on sign pages is an approximation, not evidence for a reading. See scholarly content and teaching aids.

When reputable sources disagree, don’t overwrite one reading with another.

• Propose the reading with your citation, and say in the suggestion note that sources disagree.
• Raise open questions in the sign’s Discussion.
• Reviewers keep the best-supported reading in the record and mention the alternative in the description or pronunciation note, with both citations.
• State uncertainty plainly, with words such as “uncertain” or “debated”. Never hide it.
• Reviewers may lock a heated discussion.

Scholarly content is the cited record: sign records, readings, meanings, attestations, words, texts and passages. It needs sources and goes through review.

Teaching aids are study collections (official and community), study and quiz rounds, the common-signs ranking and spoken pronunciations. They exist to help people learn, may simplify, and are not evidence. Community collections are published by contributors without prior review, and reviewers can hide them.

A small “Teaching aid” label marks teaching content wherever you see it. It links back to this section. Do not cite a teaching aid as a source.

A suggestion stays pending until a reviewer accepts or rejects it, with a note explaining the decision. Comments and community collections can be reported, and reviewers act on reports. Please keep discussion civil and on the evidence.