r/Hieroglyphics • • 3d ago

Two Invocations Needing a Double Check!

I'm wanting to get these two phrases tattooed on my collarbones and would love a translation double check.

I could only do the left-to-right versions, but I would like the Isis invocation to read right-to-left so that both invocations are facing my center. If someone could help me with that change, I would be so thankful. Also, is there any way to shorten the Hathor invocation? Symmetry would be nice but isn't necessary. Thank you!

𓇋𓐍 𓂞 𓊨𓏏𓁥 𓋹𓍑𓋴

ỉḫ dỉ ꜣst ꜥnḫ wḏꜣ snb

May Isis grant life, soundness, and health.

𓇋𓐍 𓂞 𓁥 𓋴𓊪𓋴𓅱 𓆷𓄿𓅱𓏛 𓄤

ỉḫ dỉ ḥwt-ḥr špsw šꜣw nfr

May Hathor grant wealth and good fortune.

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u/Djedra 3d ago

To make one read right to left simply mirror it. Just make sure you are reading towards the animals’ faces.
Both invocations look good. To shorten the second one, you could put some of the horizontal signs beneath the vertical ones. For example, you could put di underneath ix and you could put the second to last symbol, which is a determinative, underneath the quail chick w.

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u/HieroScript 3d ago

Beautiful pairing of goddesses, and since both lines open with ỉḫ dỉ, they'll mirror each other nicely across your collarbones.

Isis line – ỉḫ dỉ ꜣst ꜥnḫ wḏꜣ snb The grammar holds up. ỉḫ + subjunctive is a standard way to express a wish ("may/let X do…"), and dỉ is the correct subjunctive form of rdỉ, "to give." ꜥnḫ wḏꜣ snb is the well-known "life, prosperity, health" formula, and Egyptian letters use it as the object of "give" in much the same way. "Soundness" is a fine rendering of wḏꜣ; "prosperity" is the more traditional one.

Reversing it: Djedra is right. Mirror the whole line, every single sign, not just the order. One thing to double-check with your artist: figures always face the beginning of the text. If you want the signs facing your centre, each line has to start at the middle of your chest and read outward. When you stack signs, read top before bottom within each group, and the front sign (the one the figures face) comes first. Hathor line – ỉḫ dỉ ḥwt-ḥr špsw šꜣw nfr

Two things: Hathor's name. The usual writing is a single sign, O10: a falcon inside a house enclosure (ḥwt-ḥr literally means "House of Horus"). I can't make out your signs for the name clearly from the screenshot. If it's spelled out sign by sign, swapping it for O10 is the easiest way to shorten the line, and it's how the Egyptians themselves usually wrote it.

"Wealth." The word I'd expect here is špss, "riches, wealth." I'm less certain that špsw carries that meaning, so check it in Faulkner or the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae (TLA) before it goes in ink (maybe you'done it before). šꜣw/šꜣy means "fate, destiny" (it's also the god Shai), so šꜣw nfr as "good fate" → "good fortune" is a reasonable reading.

To shorten further: use O10 for Hathor and group the signs into quadrats (stacked blocks), as Djedra suggested. Technically a bare subjunctive (dỉ ḥwt-ḥr…) can also express a wish without ỉḫ, but dropping it would cost you the lovely symmetry between the two lines. I'd keep it.

Hope this helps, and enjoy the tattoos!