Hieroglyphs belong to a kind of understanding that is broader than what is associated with our alphabets. “I don’t think we should see the alphabet as a simplification of more complex kinds of writing,” says Winand. “It is a matter of a change in paradigm, in which we are still presenting oral speech, but without the possibility of games of connotation through images. However, there still exists a slight feeling of nostalgia for these lost possibilities, and games attempts to add meaning to certain alphabetical products. For example, if we write “Paris” but replace the letter “a” with a picture of the Eiffel Tower, the word can still be read as “Paris”. But visually, this modification has added a new dimension to the word. It throws a particular light upon the city, or perhaps upon a notion that tourists have, or a more modern idea of the city… “in fact”, says Winand, taking a moment to formulate his thought, “hieroglyphic writing allows this kind of operation almost without limit. Our alphabet has almost no ability to do this”.
 
The composite writing system, in the case of the Egyptians, is also connected to a fluid perception of the boundary between a sign and the reality it represents. For example, as author of “Les Hiéroglyphes égyptiens”, Winand devotes several pages to the mutilation of signs and to the process of inscription (in stone). The relationship between the icon and reality led the Egyptians to mutilate signs that inspired fear in them, or that represented dangerous animals or enemies. Some went as far as to use paraphrase to avoid the use of a word with negative connotations. In a playful comparison, Jean Winand mentions “he who must not be named”, in reference to the evil sorcerer Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise.

The origin of writing

The third chapter of “Les Hiéroglyphes égyptiens” traces the history of hieroglyphic writing, from the very first evidence (around 3700 BCE), up to the final attestations, found in the year 394 of our era in the temple of Philae, one year before Egypt became part of the Byzantine Empire. This chapter illustrates to what extent, and from the very beginning, the hieroglyphic system was composite and remained so. Once the system finds its structure, great changes follow the transitions between periods of expansion and moments of decline. The signs become more delicate, more precise; some disappear, others arise. There were approximately 1500 signs at the time of the Old Kingdom. This number would go down a little before rising again to reach 3500 signs during the twilight of the ancient Egyptian culture. The technical mastery involved in the execution of hieroglyphic signs, the nuances and the rigor of detail, etc., all vary as a function of the alternation between periods of cultural advance and decline.

The first part of this chapter, developed more broadly in the work “Les origines de l’écriture”, is particularly interesting because it is devoted, as the title indicates, to the beginnings of writing. When, in history, did the Egyptians pass from a figurative mode of expression to a system that allowed them to transcribe an abstract idea in the mind, a particular fact, or oral speech?