Unicode Technical Note #32

MAPPING BETWEEN MANUEL DE CODAGE
AND UNICODE EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS

Version	1
Authors	Lee Collins
Date	September 25, 2009
This Version	http://www.unicode.org/notes/tn32/tn32-1.html
Previous Version	n/a
Latest Version	http://www.unicode.org/notes/tn32/

Summary

This document describes an associated data file that provides mappings between Manuel de Codage and Unicode Egyptian codepoints. Readers are assumed to be conversant with these systems. See The Unicode Standard Version 5.2 (or later), Chapter 14.17 Egyptian Hieroglyphs in [Unicode] for a discussion of how these relate. See also the code charts for Unicode Egyptian Hieroglyphs.

Status

This document is a Unicode Technical Note. Sole responsibility for its contents rests with the author(s). Publication does not imply any endorsement by the Unicode Consortium.

For information on Unicode Technical Notes including criteria for acceptance, see http://www.unicode.org/notes/.

The file "Unicode-MdCMapping-v1.utf8" contains information for mapping between single Egyptian hieroglyphs defined in Unicode 5.2 [Unicode] and hieroglyphs encoded using the notation known as "Manuel de Codage." (MdC). The file is stored in UTF-8 format with Unix-type "LF" line endings. Each line contains four tab separated fields, the last being an optional note, as follows:

Unicode character<tab>Unicode code point<tab>MdC<tab>note

MdC allows, indeed encourages, the use of phonetic codes in lieu of the Gardiner identifiers. For example, 𓀎, U+1300e can be represented using the Gardiner identifier A12 or the phonetic representation "mSa" (i.e. "mšʕ"). Where they exist, both forms are included in the table in the MdC field, with the phonetic encoding preceding the Gardiner value, delimited by a space.

There is some flexibility in the representation of the double reed leaf (𓇌 U+131cc). Gardiner did not assign a single identifier to this combination, presumably since it is simply the juxtaposition of two individual reed leaves. The Manuel de Codage site at http://www.catchpenny.org/codage/, in fact, assigns the phonetic value "y" to a related form, Z4 (𓏭, U+133ed). However, many implementations in MdC use "y" to represent the double reed-leaf as a single unit. See, for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_de_Codage. To avoid conflict with the two forms, I have chosen to represent the double reed leaf by juxtaposing the phonetic codes for the constituent elements: "i-i". Particular implementations may wish to use "y", but should then represent U+133ed with "Y" or some other notation.

Unicode encodes a number of signs that are represented in MdC using combinations or mark-up to modify direction or rotation. In such case the mapping reflects this correspondence. For example: 𓐔 (U+13414), which is 𓐓 (U+13413) reversed, is mapped to J7\.

Unicode encodes a number of signs that are merely contextual variants of other Gardiner signs, For example, U+133b2 is a lower form of U+133b1 used in building compounds. Similarly, some signs have been duplicated to distinguish their use as a determinative from their use a numbers. The mapping table only reflects the base forms, with a note given about the variants.

Hieroglyphica defines a number of signs used to represent the Egyptian "nomes." These differ from the Unicode signs. Also, many of the Unicode signs can be built up from components using the MdC composition marks. The mapping table contains both, and, where relevant a note "eqv" has been added to reflect that the mappings are equivalent semantically, but not graphically identical.

Sources Consulted

Unicode Egyptian Hieroglyphs: http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U13000.pdf

Manual de Codage: http://www.catchpenny.org/codage/

Hieroglyphica (Gardiner identifiers for the extended signs not in Gardiner proper) http://www.ccer.nl/ and http://pagesperso-orange.fr/hieroglyphes/CCER-Hieroglyphica.htm

Nome Signs: http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/geo/index.html

Rainer Hannig: Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch

References

[Unicode5.2]	The Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Standard, Version 5.2.0, defined by: The Unicode Standard, Version 5.2 (Mountain View, CA: The Unicode Consortium, 2009. ISBN 0-nnn-nnnnn-n)
[Versions]	Versions of the Unicode Standard http://www.unicode.org/standard/versions/ For details on the precise contents of each version of the Unicode Standard, and how to cite them.

Modifications

The following summarizes modifications from the previous version of this document.

1	Initial version

© 2009 Lee Collins. This publication is protected by copyright, and permission must be obtained from the author and Unicode, Inc. prior to any reproduction, modification, or other use not permitted by the Terms of Use.

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