Appendix:Egyptian transliteration schemes

Table

The following table provides a comparative overview of the schemes employed by various major scholars or works to transcribe Egyptian from its decipherment in the 19th to the present day. Highlighted rows indicate schemes that gained widespread use in their time; the last also indicates the system adopted by Wiktionary.

Author	𓄿	𓇋	𓏭	𓇌	𓂝	𓅱	𓃀	𓊪	𓆑	𓅓	𓈖	𓂋	𓉔	𓎛	𓐍	𓄡	𓊃	𓋴	𓈙	𓈎	𓎡	𓎼	𓏏	𓍿	𓂧	𓆓
Champollion 1822	α	α, ο, ε	ι	η, ι	α, η, ι	ο, ω	β	π, φ		μ	ν	ρ					σ	σ		κ	κ, γ	κ	τ, δ		τ, δ
Lepsius 1837	ⲁ, ⲟ, ⲉ	ⲁ, ⲟ, ⲉ	ⲁⲓ, ⲉⲓ, ⲓ	ⲁⲓ, ⲉⲓ, ⲓ	ⲁ, ⲟ, ⲉ	ⲟ, ⲟⲩ	ⲃ	ⲡ	ϥ	ⲙ	ⲛ	ⲣ, ⲗ	ϩ	ϩ	ϧ		ⲥ	ⲥ	ϣ	ⲕ	ⲕ		ⲧ	ⲧ	ⲧ
Bunsen 1845	a, a̔	a	i	i	a, ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r, l	h	h	χ, ch	χ, ch	s	s	χ, sch	k	k	k	t	t	t	t
Lepsius 1854	a			i		u	b	p	f	m	n	l		h	χ		s		š		k		t
Birch 1857	aa	au	iu	iu	aa	ui	bu	pu	fi	ma	n	ru	ha	hu	khi	kha	su	st	shi	qa	ka	k	tu	tu	ti	gi
Devéria 1857	a	ă	i, y	i, y	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h	h’	h’	s	s	s’	k	k’		t	t	t	t’
Devéria 1858	e	a	i, ï	i, ï	a’, a	ou	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h	χ	χ	s	s	ch	k	q	q	t	t	t	dj
Chabas 1860	a	a	ai, i	ai, i	a	o, u, ou	b, w	p	f, w	m	n	r	h	h	h’, s’	h’	s	s	s’	k	k	k	t	t	t	t’
Lepsius 1863	a	a, ȧ	i	i, ī, ē	a, ā	u	b, ḅ	p, p̣	f	m, ṃ	n	r, l	h	h, ḥ	χ, χ̣	χ	s	s	š, ṣ̌	k	k, ḳ	k, ḳ, χ, χ̣	t	t	t, ṭ	t, ṭ
Brugsch 1867, 1872	a	ȧ	i	ī	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	š	k	k	ḳ	t	t	ṭ	t’
De Rougé 1867	ạ	a	i	i	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	š	k	k	ḳ	t	t	ṭ	t’
Devéria 1868	à	a῾, á	ï	ï	â	û	b	p	w	m	n	r	h	h῾	x῾	x῾	s	s	s῾	q	k	g	t	t῾	d	z῾
Maspero 1873	ā	a	i	ï	â	û	b	p	w	m	n	r, l	h	h῾	χ	χ	s	s	s῾	q	k	g	t	t	d	z
Lepsius 1874	a	ȧ	i	ī	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	š	q	k	ḳ	t	θ	ṭ	t′
Renouf 1875	a	ȧ	i	i	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	ś	q	k	ḳ	t	θ	ṭ	t’
Birch 1877	a	ȧ	i	ī	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	ś	q	k	ḳ	t	θ	ṭ	t’
Rossi 1877	a	ȧ	i	i	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	š	k	k	ḳ	t	t	ṭ	t̆
Brugsch 1880	a	ȧ	i	ī, y	ā	u, ō	b, v	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	χ	χ	s	s	š, χ	k, q	k	k, g	t	θ	ṭ	t’
Loret 1889	a	à	i	i	â	ou	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h	kh	kh	s	s	sh	q	k	g	t	t	d	dj
Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache 1889; Erman 1894	ꜣ	ı͗	ï	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ḫ	s	s	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Brugsch 1889 (‘Semitic-Egyptian’)	ꜣ	ʾ		i, j	ꜥ	w, u	b	p	f	m	n	r, l	h	ḥ	ḫ	ḫ	s	s	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Brugsch 1889 (‘Egyptian-hieroglyphic’)	ꜣ	ʾ	″	ʾʾ	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r, l	h	ḥ	ḫ	ḫ	s	s	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Steindorff 1892	ꜣ	ı͗	ı͗	ı͗ı͗	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Beni Hassan II 1893	a	ȧ	i	y	a̔	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h	k͟h	c͟h	s	ś	sh	q	k	ḳ	t	t͟h	t	z
Erman 1896	ꜣ, ʾ	j, i̯			ꜥ	w, u̯	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Budge 1898, 1910	a	ȧ	i	i	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r, l	h	ḥ	χ, kh	χ, kh	s	s	ś, sh	q	k	ḳ	t	θ, th	ṭ	t’, tch
Griffith 1898 (vocalic)	a	ȧ	i	y	a̔	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	k͟h	c͟h	s	ś	s͟h	q	k	g	t	t͟h	d	z
Griffith 1898 (consonantal)	ʾ	y	i	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	z
Petrie 1899	a, a̓	a	i	y	a, ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h	kh	kh	s	s	sh	q	k	g	t	th	d	z
Erman 1911/1928	ꜣ	ı͗, j	j	j	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Budge 1920	a	ȧ	i	i	ā	u	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	kh	kha	s	s	sh	q	k	g	t	th	ṭ	tch
Erman & Grapow 1926-1931	ꜣ	ı͗, j	j	j	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Gardiner 1927/1957	ꜣ	ı͗	y	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s (z)	s (ś)	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Edel 1955, 1964	ꜣ	j	n.a.	j	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Ward 1968	ꜣ	ı͗	y	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	s	š	q	k	g	t	č	d	ǰ
Rössler 1971	ː	ı͗	ı͗	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ġ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	č	ṭ	č̣
Buurman et al. 1988 (encoding hieroglyphs)	A	i	y	i*i	a	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	H	x	X	z	s	S	q	k	g	t	T	d	D
Buurman et al. 1988 (transliteration)	A	i	y	y	a	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	H	x	X	z	s	S	q	k	g	t	T	d	D
Vernus 1988	ꜣ	j	j	y	Ɛ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ç	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	č	d	ǧ
Hodge 1990	ꜣ	ʔ	y	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	x	x̯	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	č	d	ǧ
Schenkel 1990	ꜣ	ı͗	ı͗	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	č	ṭ	č̣
Schenkel 1991-1990	ꜣ	ı͗	ı͗	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	č	ṭ	č̣
Loprieno 1995	ɜ	j	j	j, y	‘	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Hannig 1995	ꜣ	j	j	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s (z)	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Hoch 1997	ꜣ	ı͗	y	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Malaise/Winand 1999	ꜣ	ı͗	j	j	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Depuydt 1999	3	j	y	jj	ᶜ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Allen 2000	ꜣ	j	j	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Loprieno 2001	ʀ	j	j	y	ʕ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ħ	x	ç	θ	s	ʃ	q	k	ḳ	t	c	ṭ	c̣
Schneider 2003	ɹ	ı͗	ı͗	y	ɗ	w	b	p	f	m	n	l	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	c	ṭ	c̣
Rabinovich 2004	a	j	y	y	a2	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	h2	h3	h4	s	s	s2	q	k	g	t	t2	d	d2
Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2004 (Hieroglyphic)	A	j	j	y	a	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	H	x	X	z	s	S	q	k	g	t	T	d	D
Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2004 (Demotic)	A	i		j	a	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	H	x	X	s	s	S	q	k	g	t	T		D
Schenkel 2005-2012	ꜣ	ı͗	ï	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	ś	š	ḳ	k	g	t	č	ṭ	č̣
Takács 2008	3	j	j	j	ˁ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Di Biase-Dyson et al. 2009	ꜣ	j	ï	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Werning 2015, 2018	ꜣ	j	ï	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Haspelmath 2015	ꜣ	j	j	jj	ʕ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Ramses Online 2015	ꜣ	j	y	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	s	š	ḳ	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Thot Sign List 2015	ꜣ	j	y	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2022 (Hieroglyphic)	ꜣ	j	j	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2022 (Demotic)	ꜣ	ı͗		j	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	s	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ		ḏ
Leiden Unified Transliteration 2023; Wikidata 2024	ꜣ	ı͗	ï	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ
TLA LexFCS API 2025 (Hieroglyphic)	ꜣ	ı͗	ı͗	y	ꜥ	w	b	p	f	m	n	r	h	ḥ	ḫ	ẖ	z	s	š	q	k	g	t	ṯ	d	ḏ

Chronological list of sources

• Champollion, Jean-François. 1822. Lettre à M. Dacier.
• Lepsius, C. R. 1837. Letter to Rosellini.
• Bunsen, Christian. 1845. Ägyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte.
• Lepsius, C. R. 1854. Das allgemeine linguistische Alphabet: Grundsätze der Übertragung fremder Schriftsysteme und bisher noch ungeschriebener Sprachen in europäische Buchstaben.
• Birch, Samuel. 1857. An Introduction to the Study of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics.
• Devéria, Théodule. 1857. Notice sur les antiquités égyptiennes du musée de Lyon.
• Devéria, Théodule. 1858. Spécimen de l’interprétation des écritures de l'ancienne Égypte.
• Chabas, François Joseph. 1860. Le papyrus magique Harris.
• Lepsius, C. R. 1863. Standard Alphabet for Reducing Unwritten Languages and Foreign Graphic Systems to a Uniform Orthography in European Letters, 2nd rev. edn.
• Brugsch, Heinrich. 1867. Hieroglyphisch-demotisches Wörterbuch, vol. 1.
• De Rougé, Emmanuel. 1867. Chrestomathie égyptienne, ou Choix de textes égyptiens transcrits, traduits et accompagnés d’un commentaire perpétuel et précédés d’un abrégé grammatical.
• Devéria, Théodule. 1868. Le papyrus judiciaire de Turin et les papyrus Lee et Rollin.
• Brugsch, Heinrich. 1872. Hieroglyphische Grammatik.
• Maspero, Gaston. 1873. in Mélanges d’archéologie égyptienne et assyrienne, vol. 1.
• Lepsius, C. R. 1874. Second International Congress of Orientalists, London.
• Renouf, Peter Le Page. 1875. An Elementary Grammar of the Ancient Egyptian Language in the Hieroglyphic Type.
• Birch, Samuel. 1877. Egyptian Texts.
• Rossi, Francesco. 1877. Grammatica copto-geroglifica, con un’ appendice dei principali segni sillabici e del loro significato, illustrati da esempi.
• Brugsch, Heinrich. 1880. Hieroglyphisch-demotisches Wörterbuch, vol. 5.
• Loret, Victor. 1889. Manuel de la langue égyptienne: grammaire, tableau des hieroglyphes, textes & glossaire.
• Brugsch, Heinrich. 1889. Die Aegyptologie: ein Grundriss der aegyptischen Wissenschaft.
• Steindorff, Georg. 1892. Das altägyptische Alphabet und seine Umschreibung.
• Egypt Exploration Fund, ed. Newberry, Percy E. 1893. Beni Hassan, vol. II.
• Erman, Adolf, trans. Breasted, James Henry. 1894. Egyptian Grammar, with Table of Signs, Bibliography, Exercises for Reading and Glossary.
• Erman, Adolf. 1896. “Die Umschreibung des Ägyptischen” in Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, Volumes 34-36.
• Budge, E. A. Wallis. 1898. The Book of the Dead.
• Griffith, Francis Llewelyn. 1898. A Collection of Hieroglyphs.
• Petrie, W. M. Flinders. 1899. A History Of Egypt.
• Budge, E. A. Wallis. 1910. Egyptian Language: Easy Lessons in Egyptian Hieroglyphics.
• Erman, Adolf. 1911/1928. Ägyptische Grammatik. 1st and 4th, rev. ed.
• Budge, E. A. Wallis. 1920. An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary.
• Erman, Adolf; Grapow, Hermann. 1926–1931. Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache. Vols. 1-5. 1st ed.
• Gardiner, Alan. 1927/1957. Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, 1st and 3rd eds.
• Edel, Elmar. 1955. Altägyptische Grammatik.
• Ward, William A. Notes on Some Egypto-Semitic Roots.
• Rössler, Otto. 1977. “Das Ägyptische als semitische Sprache” in Christentum am roten Meer, vol. 1.
• Buurman, Jan; Nicolas Grimal; Jochen Hallof; Michael Hainsworth; Dirk van der Plas. 1988. Inventaire des signes hieroglyphiques en vue de leur saisie informatique.
• Vernus, Pascal. 1988. “L’égypto-copte” in Cohen, David. Les langues chamito-sémitiques.
• Hodge, Carleton Taylor. 1990. “The Role of Egyptian Within Afroasiatic” in ed. Baldi, Philip. Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology.
• Schenkel, Wolfgang. 1990. Einführung in die altägyptische Sprachwissenschaft.
• Schenkel, Wolfgang. 1991-1997. Tübinger Einführung in die klassisch-ägyptische Sprache und Schrift, 1st-3rd eds.
• Loprieno, Antonio. 1995. Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction.
• Hannig, Rainer. 1995. Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch.
• Hoch, James E. 1997. Middle Egyptian Grammar.
• Malaise, Michel & Winand, Jean. 1999. Grammaire raisonnee de l'égyptien classique.
• Peust, Carsten. 1999. Egyptian phonology: an introduction to the phonology of a dead language.
• Depuydt, Leo. 2012. Fundamentals of Egyptian Grammar I: Elements.
• Allen, James P. 2000. Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 1st ed.
• Loprieno, Antonio. 2001. “From Ancient Egyptian to Coptic” in Haspelmath, Martin et al. (eds.), Language Typology and Language Universals.
• Schneider, Thomas. 2003. “Etymologische Methode, die Historizität der Phoneme und das ägyptologische Transkriptionsalphabet” in Lingua aegyptia: Journal of Egyptian Language Studies 11:187–199.
• Rabinovich, Yakov. 2004. Isle of Fire: A Tour of the Egyptian Further World.
• Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2004 = Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae, https://aaew.bbaw.de/tla/, Corpus issues 1-19, Web app version 1.x, 2004-2014, ed. by Stephan Seidlmayer on behalf of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (accessed: 2024-12-04).
• Schenkel, Wolfgang. 2005-2012. Tübinger Einführung in die klassisch-ägyptische Sprache und Schrift, 4th/5th eds.
• Takács, Gabor. 2008. Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, vol. 3.
• Di Biase-Dyson, Camilla; Kammerzell, Frank; Werning, Daniel A. 2009. “Glossing Ancient Egyptian: Suggestions for adapting the Leipzig Glossing Rules” in Lingua aegyptia: Journal of Egyptian Language Studies 17:343-366.
• ed. Werning, Daniel A.; Glossing Ancient Languages contributors. 2013. Glossing Ancient Languages. Excellence Cluster Topoi, Berlin: Humboldt University Berlin.
• Werning, Daniel A. 2015. Einführung in die hieroglyphisch-ägyptische Schrift und Sprache.
• Haspelmath, Martin. 2015. “A Grammatical Overview of Egyptian and Coptic” in Egyptian-Coptic Linguistics in Typological Perspective.
• Ramses Online: An Annotated Corpus of Late Egyptian. 2015–…. Liège. https://ramses.ulg.ac.be/.
• Thot Sign List. 2015–…. Liège. https://thotsignlist.org.
• Werning, Daniel A. 2018–… Digitale Einführung in die hieroglyphisch-ägyptische Schrift und Sprache. Berlin. PID 21.11101/0000-0007-C9C9-4 = https://wikis.hu-berlin.de/ancientegyptian/.
• Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae 2022 = Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae, https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de, Corpus issues 17-19, Web app version 2.x, 2022-..., ed. by Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning on behalf of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils on behalf of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig (accessed: 2024-12-04).
• Leiden Unified Transliteration (LUT) = 13th International Congress of Egyptologists (Olaf Kaper, president). 2023. “The Leiden Unified Transliteration”.
• Wikidata 2025 = ThesaurusLinguaeAegyptiaeBot (ed.). 1–12 Dec 2024. Addition of 14,637 Hieroglyphic-Egyptian lemmata to: Wikidata, https://www.wikidata.org, modelling: https://w.wiki/Co39, overview: https://w.wiki/Co37 (accessed: 12 Sept 2025).
• TLA, LexFCS API = Richter Tonio Sebastian, and Werning, Daniel A. on behalf of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (eds). 2025–… Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae, LexFCS Endpoint. Corpus issue 19. Berlin. https://textplus.thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de, PID 21.11101/0000-0007-FE3A-B (accessed: 12 Sept 2025).

Other resources

• Legge, F. 1902. “The History of the Transliteration of Egyptian” in Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, Volume 24.