The Egyptian Book of the dead by P. Le Page Renouf and Edouard Naville

translated Ram, for in the Mendesian Nome Osiris was worshipped under this form, and was called ⁂⁂⁂ _ḣeru šefit_, ‘god of the strong face.’ The fact is that whether applied to the _soul_ or to a _ram_, the word _ba_ is expressive of ‘power, force.’ The same word under the form ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is used in Chapter 120, 2 (= 12, 2) in the sense of ‘splitting up.’ And this is clearly the Egyptian concept of the soul—‘the internal force, that which works within us,’ τὸ ἐνεργοῦν. The word is ideographically written ⁂ or ⁂,[8] both the Ram and the cranelike bird being called _ba_. Some have cleverly inferred that the Egyptians thought that the soul was of a birdlike form, and others have not hesitated to consider _ba_ as expressive of the cry of the _ram_. The odd thing is that only the ram has this name, not the _sheep_ or the _lamb_, who nevertheless indulge in the same cry. The truth is that in spite of appearances the word _ba_ is not onomatopoeic here. Whether applied to the ram or to the heron, the word is expressive of human action and signifies ‘digging through, cleaving, piercing, splitting.’ The hieroglyphic variants are very expressive: ⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂ (the last is already found in _Denkm._ II, 51). The Ram is called in Egyptian _ba_ on account of the digs which he makes with his head, and a force which has occasioned the name of ‘ram’ to be given to powerful engines. The Heron is also called _ba_ because with its bill it _cleaves_ the fishes which it attacks. And the word which _we_ translate Soul or Spirit is called _ba_, because it is conceived as something which ‘pierces, penetrates and divides.’ It is right to point out (to those who may wonder at this Egyptian etymology) that the Latin _scio_ ‘I know’ is etymologically akin to _seco_ ‘cut,’ _securis_ ‘an axe,’ and the Greek κείω, κεάζω ‘split, cleave.’