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

⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂ (with various other forms) the ‘saluter,’ is the name of the Ape who is seen in the vignettes of the papyri saluting the rising of the sun. See M. Naville’s _Todtenbuch_, I, plates 21 and 22; the Papyrus of Ani, plate 2; the _Todtenbuch_ of Lepsius, Chapters 16 and 126. I do not know how far it is correct to illustrate this undoubted origin of the Egyptian name for the Ape, as ‘the saluting one,’ by the following extract of a letter to Cuvier from M. Duvaucelle, about the Siamang apes in the neighbourhood of Bencoolen in Sumatra. “They assemble in numerous troops ... and thus united, they salute the rising and the setting sun with the most terrific cries, which may be heard at the distance of many miles; and which, when near, stun, when they do not frighten. This is the morning call of the mountain Malays, but to the inhabitants of the town, who are unaccustomed to it, it is a most insupportable annoyance.” In this place of the Book of the Dead the sign ⁂ is a mere determinative of the sound _aān_ with the notion of _salutation_, just as the sign ⁂ is a determinative of the sound _ȧb_ with the notion of _thirst_. The ‘saluters’ of the rising sun are neither real apes nor men but the “Spirits of the East” who, as we are told in an inscription of the tomb of Rameses VI, “effect the rising of Râ by opening the door at each of the four portals of the eastern horizon of heaven. They it is who light him on both sides, and go forth in advance of him.... And when he arises they turn into six cynocephali.”[10] The Egyptian words in the later texts are ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ the alternative reading being itself a proof that the difficulty of the text was already felt by some Egyptian scribe. But if the scribe had consulted the oldest texts accessible in his day, he would probably have seen another way out. Our oldest MS., that of Nebseni, reads, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _bes-kuȧ ȧbu ȧāā(n)u_, which signify literally, “antecedunt me corda salutantium.” The word ⁂⁂⁂ _bes_ is a very common one in pictures representing the introduction of a king or a god into a temple. It is the technical term used in the Tablet of Canopus for the inducting, by the king, of priests into their offices. The subject of this verb is ⁂⁂⁂ _hearts_; an independent word, instead of being the mere determinative of ⁂⁂⁂. The object of the verb is the speaker—⁂⁂⁂—_kuȧ_, ‘me,’ as the papyrus _Pa_ reads, like _Aa_. And it is easy to see how the later text, which is already found in _Ax_, has been corrupted out of the older. ----- Footnote 10: Champollion, _Notices_, tom. II, p. 640. ------------------------------------