Manuel de Codage

A standard system for the computer-encoding of Egyptian transliteration

and hieroglyphic texts

Version 0.1
2015

Introduction

The hieroglyphic writing is a purely pictorial writing consisting of pictures of things.

From 3000 years of Pharaonic culture many thousands of drawings are known, many of
which often differ from each other in only the smallest detail. In hieroglyphic texts, these
drawings are not only simply arranged in sequential order, but also grouped on top of
and next to each other. This rather complicates matters trying to register and reproduce
hieroglyphic texts using a computer.
When the first computers were introduced in Egyptology in the late 1970s and the
beginning of the 1980s, the graphical capacity of the machines was still in its infancy.
Early attempts to register the hieroglyphic pictorial writing on computer therefore chose
an encoding system to do this, using alphanumeric codes to represent or replace the
graphics. To prevent people from reinventing the wheel, during the first "Table Ronde
Informatique et Egyptologie" in 1984 a committee was charged with the task to develop a
uniform system for the encoding of hieroglyphic texts on computer. The resulting
1

Manual for the Encoding of Hieroglyphic Texts for Computer-input , simply called
Manuel de Codage, presents an easy to use and intuitive way of encoding hieroglyphic
writing as well as the abbreviated hieroglyphic transcription (transliteration). The
encoding system of the Manuel de Codage has since been adopted by international
Egyptology as the official common standard for registering hieroglyphic texts on
computer.

Jan Buurman, Nicolas Grimal, Jochen Hallof, Michael Hainsworth and Dirk van der Plas, Informatique et
Egyptologie 2, Paris 1988

Encoding Egyptian transliteration

Hieroglyphic transcription is mostly used by Egyptologists as a transliteration of the
hieroglyphic writing into 'latin' writing, using characters from our own latin alphabet
differentiated by diacritical points for sounds unknown to modern western languages.
The use of these characters with diacritical marks proved a problem to early computers.
Therefore the Manuel de Codage first of all offers a way of translating Egyptian
transliteration to the normal computer keyboard, using the easily accessible range of
key-values from "a" to "z" and "A" to "Z" without extended characters.
The special Egyptian "alphabet" is transcribed to computer in the following way:

Keyboard

Egyptian

Examples:
n

is written

anx

is written

wDA

is written

Dd

yt

is written

STyt

Being graphic images and numbering more than 5000 (when all periods are taken into
account), hieroglyphs are rather difficult to process on a computer.
They simply don't fit on the standard type of keyboard, nor do they fit in a single
character set. To be able to process them using a computer, it is therefore best to refer
to them using labels (i.e. synonyms). Such labels can be a numerical codes referring to
the position of a sign within a character set, or even strings or names.
The encoding system of the Manuel de Codage offers two ways of recording the
hieroglyphic signs: by means of the so-called Gardiner sign list numbers and by the
known phonetic values of the signs. Moreover, the encoding system of also offers ways
for recording the layout of a hieroglyphic text, i.e. the positioning of the hieroglyphs
relative to each other, text anomalies, shading (damaged parts), cartouches, hwtenclosures, Serekhs, and more.
The first way of encoding hieroglyphic signs is based on an Egyptological standard that
was presented in 1927 by A.H. Gardiner in his Egyptian Grammar. This book includes an
elaborate list of more than 800 hieroglyphic signs most commonly found in Middle
Egyptian texts, subdivided into convenient categories like "Mammals", "Birds", "Trees and
Plants", etcetera. Each category is labelled by a letter of the alphabet.
Within each category, the signs are numbered sequentially. For instance, the category N
contains 42 signs depicting the sky, earth, water.
The Gardiner sign list has since long become a standard in Egyptology, which makes it
especially suited to serve as a basis for the computer-encoding of hieroglyphs. To make
Egyptologists feel as comfortable as possible, the encoding system of the Manuel de
Codage has therefore adapted the Gardiner sign list numbers as the most important way
of labeling hieroglyphs.

This means that

is simply encoded as A1

Because the Gardiner list only covers the most common signs found in Middle Egyptian
Texts, about 800 signs, the original edition of the Manuel de Codage also included a
preliminary list of some additional 4000 signs from all other periods of the hieroglyphic
writing. The extended list of more than 4700 signs was published in 1993.

Hieroglyphica (Jochen Hallof, Nicolas Grimal, Dirk van der Plas, PIREI 1, Utrecht/Paris 1993)

Phonetic codes
The second way of encoding hieroglyphic signs offered by the Manuel de Codage is by
the signs' phonetic values. Though in the hieroglyphic writing many signs can have many
different phonetic values (depending on the reading of the words they appear in), and
many signs can have the same phonetic value, for computer purposes only a limited
number of them can be used.
For instance, it is not possible to use the phonetic value di as reference to both
and

. The computer wouldn't know how to distinguish between the two.

Consequently, a certain phonetic value can only point to one sign. According to the
Manuel de Codage, di only refers to X8. The other way around, however, single signs
can well have more than one phonetic value. For instance, X8 can be referred to by both
di and rdi, that is, provided rdi doesn't point to any other sign.
Since most people experienced in reading hieroglyphic texts will know many signs by
their phonetic use in Egyptian, using mostly phonetic values instead of sign list numbers
will considerably facilitate the process of encoding. After all, i-ii-m-Htp is a far more
readable code for

than M1-M18-G17-R4. At the same time one has to bear in mind that not all signs can be
encoded using phonetic values.

Though a sign like

can be encoded either L1 or xpr, a sign like

has no phonetic

value and can only be encoded A1. A list of hieroglyphic signs and their possible phonetic
values can be found in Appendix B, while appendix C provides a list the other way
around.
Summarizing, hieroglyphic signs can be encoded either by their Gardiner sign list
number or by a phonetic value. A single sign may carry various phonetic values, as long
as each phonetic value only points to one sign.

Arranging hieroglyphs in groups

Hieroglyphic text basically consists of rows of signs arranged in horizontal lines or
vertical columns. Within a row the signs are placed individually or grouped, upper having
precedence over lower. The encoding system treats hieroglyphic text no different from
the way the Ancient Egyptians and modern Egyptologists regarded their reading.
The signs,
are encoded in this order:

just like it is read.

However, apart from listing the signs by their sign list number or phonetic value in the
order they appear, additional codes are needed to note their positioning relative to each
other.
Basic arrangement of signs
description

MdC

sign separator

ii-i

stacking signs

n:z

group signs on same level

p*t:pt

()

cluster position

p*(t:Z4):pt

Signs