of the temple of Dendera are said to be nutru. "Qu'est ce qu'une salle divine?" very pertinently asks M. Mariette. Sat nutrit is a "potent talisman." Seti I. in his titles is the "potent image," sexem nutra, of Chepera. Nutra is constantly brought into parallelism with words implying "might." "Great (ura) is the Eye of Horus, Mighty (aa) is the Eye of Horus, Strong (nutra) is the Eye of Horus, the Giver of Strength (senutra) is the Eye of Horus.”1 "A mighty wall to Egypt, protecting their limbs; his force (pehti) is like Ptah in prostrating the barbarians, a child of might (sif nutra) in his coming forth like Harmachis."2 "He is strong (ten-re) in performing his duties to Amon-Rā, he is vigorous (nutra) in performing his duties to the sovereign, his lord." In the Demotic text of the tablet of Canopus, nutra is translated by xu, which signifies, "strengthen, fortify, protect, invigorate. It has constantly this meaning in the hieroglyphic texts. "Thy body is fortified (nutri-ta), protected (xu-ta), restored (seput-ta)." "Thy limbs are fortified (nutri-ta) by the Power (sexem) which is in heaven." 4 Nutra men ma pet, "strong and durable as heaven." Nutra-f nut-ek er neken, "He fortifies thy city against destruction." Nutra-f Nutrit er nefu, "He strengthens 1 Sharpe, "Egyptian Inscriptions," Vol. II. p. 28. 4 Sharpe, Vol. II. p. 92. H 98 Nutrit against harm." Nutrit, the name of a town I will add one more illustration, which by itself might not be of much weight, but is really important when taken in conjunction with other evidence. The goddess Isis is distinguished among other divinities by the frequent epithet nutrit. When the inscriptions in her honour are written in Greek, she is most frequently called μεγάλη Οι μεγίστη. There is yet another Egyptian word cognate to those we have been studying. Nutrit signifies "eye-ball." The notion here is of something fortified, protected, guarded. "Custodi me ut pupillam oculi:" "Keep me as the apple of the eye." The Arabic word hadaqat, which means the same thing, has an exactly similar etymology. And several other parallel instances might be cited. The Egyptian nutar, I argue therefore, means Power, which is also the meaning of the Hebrew El. The 1 Many of the examples occur in Mariette's Dendera, Vol. I. pl. 6, 46. extremely common Egyptian expression nutar nutra1 exactly corresponds in sense to the Hebrew El Shaddai, the very title by which God tells Moses that He was known to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. "And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, 'I am Jahve: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the name of El Shaddai, but by my name Jahve was I not known to them.'" Nutar nutra amtu heret is "the Almighty Power which is in heaven." It is very remarkable that "Brahman in Sanskrit meant originally Power, the same as El. It resisted for a long time the mythological contagion, but at last it yielded like all other names of God, and became the name of one God." But the Egyptian nutar never became a proper name. It was indeed restricted in its use, as far back as our knowledge of the language enables us to trace it, but it never ceased to be a common noun, and was applied indifferently to each of the powers which the Egyptian imagination conceived as active in the universe, and to the Power from which all powers proceed. Horus and Rā and Osiris and Set are names of individual finite powers, but a Power 1 M. de Rougé, Chrestomathie, Fasc. iii. p. 25, translates this, "dieu devenant dieu," and says in a note, "On ne sait pas au juste le sens du verbe nuter, qui forme le radical du mot nuter, 'dieu.' C'est une idée analogue à 'devenir' ou 'se renouveler,' car nuteri est appliquée à l'âme resuscitée qui revet sa forme immortelle." 2 M. Müller, "Chips," Vol. I. p. 363. 100 without a name or any mythological characteristic is constantly referred to in the singular number, and can only be regarded as the object of that "sensus numinis," or immediate perception of the Infinite, which, like my learned predecessor Professor Max Müller, I consider "not the result of reasoning or generalizing, but an intuition as irresistible as the impressions of our senses.' The following instances are taken from the moral writings of which I spoke in the last Lecture. The Power. 1. The Maxims of Ptahhotep. They speak of "God forbidding" and "God commanding." "The field which the great God hath given thee to till." "If any one beareth himself proudly, he will be humbled by God, who maketh his strength." "If thou art a wise man, bring up thy son in the love of God." "The magnanimous man is the object of God's regard, but he who listens to his belly is scorned by his own wife." "Thy treasure has grown to thee through the gift of God." 1 "Science of Language," Second Series, p. 479, 7th ed. "God loveth the obedient and hateth the disobe dient." A good son is spoken of as "the gift of God." 2. A papyrus of Leyden.1 66 Happy is the man who eateth his own bread. Possess what thou hast in the joy of thy heart. What thou hast not, obtain it by work. It is profitable for a man to eat his own bread; God grants this to whosoever honours Him." 3. A papyrus at St. Petersburg.2 "Praised be God for all His gifts." "God knows the wicked; He smites the wicked, even to blood." 4. The Maxims of Ani.3 "Whoso acts, God will raise his name above the sensual man." "The sanctuary of God abhors [noisy manifesta 1 Published in Leemans's Monuments Egyptiens du Musée de Leide, Pap. i. p. 344, i.-vi. An account of it is given in Dr. Lauth's "Altägyptische Lehrsprüche," in the Transactions of the Academy of Munich, July, 1872. 2 This is described by Dr. Golenischeff in Lepsius' Zeitschrift, 1876, p. 107. 3 This very interesting book, published with the other papyri of Bulaq by M. Mariette, has been described by Brugsch-Bey in the Zeitschrift, 1872, and has been translated by M. E. de Rougé and M. Chabas. The version of the latter scholar is the most careful and exact, all the difficulties of the text being minutely considered and discussed. It occupies the greater part of the scientific journal Egyptologie, entirely written by M. Chabas. |