How do you pronounce the word mysterious in ancient Egyptian?

Answer 1

We can never know how ancient Egyptian words were said, since only consonants were written in hieroglyphs (exactly as in ancient Arabic, Phoenician and Hebrew), without any vowels. Some modern English vowels such as i and a are used to write Egyptian consonants that do not feature in English.

Words in ancient Egyptian for "mysterious" appear as:

HAp (these are three consonants: H+aleph+p, where aleph is a glottal stop)

StA (sh+t+aleph)

Answer 2

There are two words for "mysterious" in Ancient Egyptian:

1. In hieroglyphs: 𓎛𓇉𓄿𓊪𓏛 (Gardiner's code: V28-M16-G1-Q3-Y1)

Transliterated as: ḥꜣp (HAp) (consonants only)

Meaning and Translation:

(transitive verb) to conceal, to hide

Pronunciation with reconstructed vowels in several stages of Ancient Egyptian (using IPA):

/ˈħaːlap/ - Old and Middle Egyptian (c. 2500 and 1700 B.C.E., respectively)

/ˈħoːʔəp/ - Late Egyptian (c. 800 B.C.E.)

ϩⲱⲡ (hōp) - Coptic (c. 325 B.C.E.)

2. in hieroglyphs: 𓈙𓏏𓍔𓄿 (Gardiner's code: N37-X1-U30-G1)

Transliterated as: štꜣ (StA) (consonants only)

Meaning and Translation:

(intransitive verb) to be(come) hidden or secret

Pronunciation with reconstructed vowels in several stages of Ancient Egyptian (using IPA):

/ˈʃaːtal/ - Old and Middle Egyptian (c. 2500 and 1700 B.C.E., respectively)

/ˈʃaːtəʔ/ - Medio-Late Egyptian (c. 1350 B.C.E.)

/ˈʃoːt/ - Late Egyptian (c. 800 B.C.E.)

ϣⲱⲧ (šōt) - Old Coptic (c. 325 B.C.E.)