Desertscape and beyond: shifting borders of space conceptualization in Ancient Egypt

Chantrain, Gaelle
(2026) Proceedings of the international conference « Place-making in the desertscape: the socialisation of the Egyptian-Sudanese Eastern Desert landscape in the longue durée (4th millennium BCE- 4th century CE) — ISBN: [978-2-503-62090-9], accepted/in-press

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The present study proposes to investigate the evolution of classifier use in relation to desertscape and of the related space conceptualization processes from two points of view: firstly, the extension of use of the sign N25 – also well-known as logogram for the word xAs.t ‘foreign/hilly land’ – in its classifier function from desertscape words to other semantic domains. Indeed, N25 at first dedicated to the categories of DESERT and HILLY SPACE, became with time a superordinate classifier applying to any kind of FOREIGN space. In addition, it displays further extensions toward other domains. The study also investigates how cases of alternative and/or composed classification involving the sign N25 result from a selection of semantic features considered as salient in the meaning of the lexeme in a given context. Secondly, the other point that will be touched upon in this article is the apparition of classifiers in the spellings of words related to desertscape that were initially not part of their spelling. For example, the classifier N23, associated to the category IRRIGATED LAND and extending toward the more general category (DELIMITED) SPACE started to appear in desertscape related lexicon. This shows their possible recategorization in some context as LIMIT/LIMINAL/DELIMITED SPACE, which was initially not featured of the semantics of these words. The apparition of the classifier N23 in such lexicon stands as a complement in composed classification or/and alternative to N25. The focus will be placed on texts from the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, from the Ramses online database (Ramses) and the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae corpora (TLA) . This core corpus has been chosen to highlight the relation between the changes observed in relation to SPACE and DESERTSCAPE categories and a more general evolution of the classifier system.
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Chantrain, G. (2026). Desertscape and beyond: shifting borders of space conceptualization in Ancient Egypt. In Cristina Alu (ed.), Proceedings of the international conference « Place-making in the desertscape: the socialisation of the Egyptian-Sudanese Eastern Desert landscape in the longue durée (4th millennium BCE- 4th century CE). Brepols. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/277379