For first release of TSL
(version 1.0), the goal has been to have the digital repertoire
‘Gardiner-ready’, which means that the hieroglyphic Signs and Functions
found in Gardiner’s (1957: 438–548) sign list should be documented with at
least one Token coming from an
ancient Source. The scope of
version 1.0 is however not limited to Gardiner (1957): if an interesting Sign, Class
or Function was documented in a Source processed for TSL, it has
been encoded.
Data available online is as follows:
1203 Signs (vs. 7051 in total),
4842 Functions (vs. 5838 in total),
21834 Tokens (vs. 22328 in total).
There are two basic ways
to explore TSL: (1) Browsing
(§3.1) or (1) Searching (§3.2).
Both approaches present the users with Signs
– displayed bigger, with darker
border – and Classes – displayed smaller, with lighter border. This distinction (Fig. 5)
shows in a straightforward way which specific Class
has been selected to represent a Sign
(see Section 2.2 for more details about the data model).
When clicking on the
code associated with a Sign or Class, the user opens a new tab in
the browser, which displays the relevant Sign,
with its Functions, Classes and Tokens (Section 3.3).
Note that clicking on a Class
(e.g., A7A in Fig. 5) will open the Sign
to which this Class belongs
(represented by A7 in Fig. 5)
Fig. 5.
Sign vs. Class in TSL
Depending the user’s
level of access (Section 3.4), the quantity of information that can be visualized
vary, but is essentially the same in qualitative terms.
3.1. Browsing TSL
When browsing TSL, two types
of filters are available: (1) the category to which a Sign belongs, and (2) its basic shape. Both organizing
principles are standard in Egyptology since Gardiner (1957), but for the
thematic categories we follow the new structure suggested by Meeks (2004: XIX–XXII).
Both filters may be combined: in Fig. 6, the Signs and Classes
belong to the ‘Loafs and cakes’ category and have a ‘low narrow’ shape.
Fig. 6. Filtering
the signs in TSL
The codes displayed when browsing TSL
are meant to help the user identify quickly a sign based on the codes that (s)he
knows. They are based, in hierarchical order, on Gardiner (1957),
JSesh, Hieroglyphica, Unicode, and the IFAO catalogue.
This means, for instance, that a code from Unicode will only be displayed at
this level if the hieroglyphic sign did not receive a code in Gardiner (1957), JSesh
or in the Hieroglyphica.
If the mouse is
positioned over the code of a Sign
(or Class), an overview of the
functions associated with the Sign is
shown. Fig. 7 illustrates this point. Two functions are available for the Sign linked to Gardiner code A35: it
can be used as classifier with the meaning ‘building’ and as logogram
with the reading qd ‘to build’.
Fig. 7. Mouseover
while browsing
3.2. Searching TSL
Users can resort to the
search engine in order to look for a Sign
or Class with any combination of
features relative to its functions (type, phonetic, and semantic value),
description (plain text, tag, basic form, and type), and codes. Furthermore,
operators (equals, contains, does not contain) can be used for any feature so
as to specify the search. Accordingly, one can build queries such as: Function
type equals ‘logogram’ and Tag contains ‘foreigner’, or Phonetic
value contains ‘mr’ and Description does not contain ‘canal’,
etc.
Fig. 8. Search
with Function type = logogram and Phonetic value = nṯr
The search of Fig. 8 lists all
the Signs (bigger) and Classes (smaller) in TSL that are
attested as logogram with the phonetic value nṯr. The results are sorted
according to Gardiner codes and TSL IDs give access the relevant Sign.
3.3. Visualizing a Sign, its Classes
and Tokens
Fig. 9 illustrates how
information is structured in TSL for individual Signs (here TSL_1_2177 =
Gardiner D33). Four drop-down menus (on top) give access to the Description,
Codes, Bibliography, and Credits for this Sign, while (up to) four tabs (below)
gather information about the Functions, Classes, and Tokens,
as well as how to cite data from TSL.
Fig. 9. Sign TSL_1_2177
Description includes a plain text description
of the iconic features (and referent) of the Sign.
Follow its Category (based on Meeks 2004: XIX–XXII, see Section 3.1), Tags
(coming from a non-hierarchical thesaurus) that describe the Sign (and its components) with keywords
that are intended to helps users finding hieroglyphs easily, and Type
(we distinguish between ‘simple’, ‘compound’, and ‘composite’ signs; see Polis 2018:
328, Fig. 35). If a Sign is
analyzed as a compound or composite hieroglyph, its component(s) are given (in
Fig. 9, TSL_1_5126 is a component of TSL_1_2177).
Codes list the codes
attributed to the Sign in
Gardiner (1957), Hieroglyphica, Jsesh, and Unicode (when
available).
Bibliography cites references that
are relevant for the entire Sign. If references are dealing with specific
aspects (e.g., a Function, a Class, etc.), they are quoted under the
relevant entry.
Credits. See Section 4.
Every Sign is accompanied by three tabs (Functions,
Tokens, Cite as), and a fourth tab (Classes) when several
Classes are available for the Sign.
Functions. The functions are
grouped by type (classifier, logogram, radicogram, phonemogram, interpretant,
phono-repeater; see Polis & Rosmorduc 2015 and Hafemann 2018) and receive a
phonetic and/or semantic value. Fig. 9 shows that three functions are
documented for TSL_1_2177 (as of November 2019): classifier ‘movement by
boat’, logogram for ḫnj ‘to row, to convey by water’, and
phonogram ḫn.
Fig. 10. Tokens
for TSL_1_2177 as logogram
Every function is illustrated by at
least one token, i.e., an actual example, for which a context of use is
provided (with an hieroglyphic transcription, a transliteration, and a
translation) as well as an image for the registered users (see Section 3.4). For
more information about a token, registered users can access the Source by clicking on ‘view source’
(see Section 3.5).
Classes. If a Sign has more than one Class, they can be visualized in the dedicated
tab ‘Classes’. A Class is
illustrated by a prototypical hieroglyphic sign (vector graphics) and is described
exactly like the main Sign (which
is actually Class 00, see above),
with codes and literature (if relevant).
Fig. 11. Classes
for TSL_1_2177
Tokens. The Tokens of a Sign can be visualized in the tab Tokens. The number in
the lower-right corner corresponds to the Class
to which this Token belongs to
(see Fig. 12). Lack of number means that the Token belongs to Class
00 (which represents the Sign).
Fig. 12. Tokens
of TSL_1_2177
Details about individual Token can be displayed on click, providing with its Function and value as well as its
context of use (see Fig. 13). For more information about a Token, registered users can access the Source by clicking on ‘view source’
(see Sections 3.4 and 3.5).
Fig. 13. Details
about Token TSL_3_22302 of TSL_1_2177
3.4. Registration and levels of access
There are two levels of
access to TSL (for users who are not collaborators of the project): unregistered
and registered. Registration is free (https://thotsignlist.uliege.be/Account/Register)
and emails are collected exclusively in order to update users about evolutions
of the database and website.
Unregistered users have
access to all the Signs and Functions in TSL, but cannot:
-
Visualize the Classes: they are redirected to the
main Sign when clicking on a Class.
-
Visualize the Tokens: standardized vector graphics is
displayed instead.
-
Visualize the Sources from which the Tokens are extracted.
3.5. Visualizing a Source
Registered
users may access the Sources that
are validated (after an internal reviewing process). A Source is a section of a hieroglyphic (cursive hieroglyphic or
hieratic) inscription; its length is not fixed in advance, its purpose being to
visualize a token in context so as to assess its function and value. As such,
it corresponds at least to a word, and more often to a phrase or (usually) a predication.
Fig. 14. Source
ID 1978
As illustrated by
Fig. 14, a Source consists of (at least) one image (picture, facsimile, etc.),
accompanied by its standardized hieroglyphic transcription, transliteration and
English translation. It is documented with metadata coming from the Thesauri
and Ontology for Documenting Ancient Egyptian Resources (https://thot.philo.ulg.ac.be/). Metadata values are
hyperlinked to the hierarchical thesaurus of Thot (see Fig. 15 for the
concept ‘Hatshepsut Maatkare’ in Thot).
Fig. 15. Concept
thot-371 (Hatshepsut Maatkare) in the thesaurus ‘Dates and dating
systems’
3.6. Technicalities
The hieroglyphs in TSL are
displayed with the JSesh (https://jsesh.qenherkhopeshef.org/) wrapper developed by Dmitry
Nikolaev (https://github.com/macleginn/jsesh-web) and the Sources are described with the Thot metadata
(http://thot.philo.ulg.ac.be/concept/) using APIs developed
by Vincent Razanajao. The TSL database and front-end have been
implemented by Luc Desert (CIPL / ULiège).
References
Gardiner, Alan.
1957. Egyptian grammar being an introduction to the study of hieroglyphs,
3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hafemann, Ingelore
2018. “Die beschreibende und kommentierte hieroglyphische Zeichenliste als
offenes System”. In Gülden, Svenja A., Kyra van der Moezel & Ursula
Verhoeven (eds), Ägyptologische “Binsen”-Weisheiten III: Formen und Funktionen
von Zeichenliste und Paläographie. Akten der internationalen und
interdisziplinären Tagung in der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur,
Mainz, im April 2016, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, pp. 19–49.
Hieroglyphica =
Grimal, Nicolas, Jochen Hallof & Dirk van der Plas. 2000. Hieroglyphica:
Sign list, liste des signes, Zeichenliste, 2. ed., rev. and enlarged
(Publications interuniversitaires de recherches égyptologiques informatisées
1). Utrecht:
Centre for Computer-aided Egyptological Research.
JSesh =
Rosmorduc, Serge. 2014.
JSesh Documentation, available at: http://jseshdoc.qenherkhopeshef.org (accessed
2018).
Meeks, Dimitri.
2004. Les architraves du temple d’Esna : paléographie (Paléographie
hiéroglyphique 1). Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale.
Polis, Stéphane.
2018. “The functions and toposyntax of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: Exploring
the iconicity and spatiality of pictorial graphemes”, Signata: Annales des
sémiotiques / Annals of Semiotics 9, pp. 291–363.
Polis, Stéphane &
Serge Rosmorduc. 2015. “The hieroglyphic sign functions: Suggestions for a
revised taxonomy”, in Amstutz, H., A. Dorn, M. Müller, M. Ronsdorf, and S.
Uljas (eds), Fuzzy boundaries: Festschrift für Antonio Loprieno,
vol. 1, Hamburg: Widmaier, pp. 149–174.