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

is not unfrequent, here and in other places. The English word is not a translation of the Egyptian one, which has to be explained before any equivalent for it can be proposed. And the explanation of it has to be sought in the ‘Solar Litany,’ first completely published by M. Naville. There we find the Sun-god Rā invoked as a Power _pouring itself forth_ or _overflowing_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂[139] in 75 _forms_ and the _forms_ in 75 ⁂⁂⁂. Each of these divine _forms_ (⁂⁂⁂) has its own ⁂⁂⁂ as a dwelling-place, to which however it is not confined. The seventy-five Forms in question (each of which is a god) are, as the text itself shows, simply so many names of the Solar god or solar phenomena. Each of them is addressed as ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘Rā, supreme of power,’ after which some attribute of the deity is mentioned, and the name of the deity is connected with this attribute. In Greece, Apollo was called ἑκηβόλος, καταιβάσιος, ἀποτροπαῖος, νεομήνιος, and by ever so many other names expressive of the attributes with which he was credited. These names correspond to what Egyptian mythology called the ⁂⁂⁂ of a god, and each of the names has but a limited application. The god is not always thought of as ‘Far-darting’; under the conception of ‘Neomenios,’ he _dwells_ in what Egyptian mythology called another ⁂⁂, which is the local habitation, or, as mathematicians would say, the _locus_ of the concept. M. de Rougé, without giving any reason, but probably guided by what Champollion had written, translates the word _zone_. M. Naville, who has carefully studied the word, prefers _sphere_. And no better word could be thought of, if we used it as we do in speaking of ‘moving in a certain sphere,’ ‘each in his own sphere,’ or, ‘the sphere of action;’ without applying a strict geometrical sense to the word. For the Egyptian ⁂⁂ was a hollow cylinder like a round tower, a chimney, or a deep well rather than a sphere. With the explanation I have just given, I prefer _Bounds_ as a more expressive translation. The word appears in the dual form on account of the presence of the god. The name ⁂⁂⁂ was given to the fabulous Source of the Nile, supposed to be in the neighbourhood of Elephantine. The inscription of Seti I at Redesieh (_Denkm._, III, 140B) compares the abundance of water at the King’s cistern to that of the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “the cavern of the double Well of Elephantine.” In the later orthography the word is written ⁂ or ⁂⁂. It has been supposed that the Coptic ⲕⲟⲣⲓ _cataracts_ might be connected with the old Egyptian name. But the history of the Coptic word is not sufficiently known to justify any inferences.