ḫnr.t/ḫnt.j: Whatever the word is, the context implies it is a place where 'writings' are stored, but there are no contemporary parallels for ḫnrt with the sense of library/archive. Also, since the epithet ḏsr(t) is difficult to reconcile with the sense of ḫnrt as labour institution (and the phrase ḫnrt/ḫntj ḏsr(t) is more likely to be noun+adjective or noun+genitive than two nouns in coordination, since the resumptive pronoun is =f; the house determinative after ḏsr probably determines the whole phrase), and given that there is extensive confusion in NK orthographies between words of the roots ḫnr and ḫnt, I believe that the first word is more likely to read ḫntj, which was the front official section of a palace or bureau (Berlev 1962: 147; Quirke 1990: 39), which would have 'writings'. The reading of ḫntj-ḏsr as '(Sakral)-Bibliothek des Abgegrenzten' (Morenz 1996: 92) is also problematic: the library connotation of ḫntj is not otherwise attested. (see: R. Enmarch, forthcoming, A World Upturned: The Ancient Egyptian Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All. To appear in the British Academy Postdoctoral Monograph Series)

Commentary author: Roland Enmarch; with contributions by: Altägyptisches Wörterbuch; Data file created: before June 2015 (1992–2015), latest revision: 06/26/2015