Abstract
This case study of historical semantics examines an ancient Egyptian term related to dependency and dependent labour, 'nemeh', along with its varied (and seemingly paradoxical) proposed translations, ranging from 'orphan' to 'citizen', from 'deprived person' to 'free man'. This contribution considers nemeh through historical semantics, investigating the shared thematic background among concepts and lexical meanings which appear contradictory to modern historians and philologists - but were not so in their original social context!.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 62-79 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Osterreichische Zeitschrift fur Geschichtswissenschaften |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2023 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- conceptualized freedom
- historical semantics
- semantic overlap
- semantic range
- semasiology
- slavery in ancient Egypt
- social history
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- History