Hotep
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Hotep is an English rendering of a word from the ancient Egyptian language transcribed as ḥtp. The word has been translated to mean "peace", "satisfied", and "at ease" [1][2][3]
Hotep is regularly found in the names of ancient Egyptian figures such as Hotepsekhemwy (ḥr ḥtp-sḫm.wj, or "the two powers are at peace".), the first ruler of Egypt's Second Dynasty.[4] It is rendered in Hieroglyphs as an altar/offering table. It has special semantic meanings in the Ancient Egyptian offering formula, also known as the ḥtp-dỉ-nsw formula, to refer to the "boon given by the king," or the food and goods on which a dead soul was supposed to subsist during the afterlife.[5]
Several modern circles of Kemetic Reconstructionism belief, from Afrocentrism and Nuwaubu to Kemetic Orthodoxy, used the term hotep (or em hotep) as a greeting meaning "peace" or "in peace". [6][7]
Hotep is also spelled Hetep (standard insertion of “E’s ” between consonants. In the Ausarian tradition Hetep meant peace, but not just saying peace but sending peaceful energy. Hetep is also found in greeting phrases like Hetep Sesh (Peace to you teacher – hello teacher). Some phrases combine the word Hetep with English words e.g. Hetep and Respect (sending peace and respect to the person).
Hotep (Hetep) is also used in a call and response by those steeped in Classical African Civilization cosmologics. A Culturally healthy communication might look like this: Hetep (call); Hetepw (response). In ancient Egyptian the word is rendered ḥtpw. Sometimes this greeting has a physical bio-energetic aspect. The call might be accompanied with back of left hand pointing to target (responder) right hand taped against left palm to facilitate sending peaceful energy. You will still find this ancient practice carried forward in some modern Kemetic schools of thought like the Ausar Auset Society.
[edit] External links
- Egyptian example of Hotep. Click on picture.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Reader, Greg. "NiankhkhnumKhnumhotep Names United". Retrieved from http://www.egyptology.com/niankhkhnum_khnumhotep/names.html on July 16, 2006.
- ^ Branney, Sean (1988). Strange Eons, Vol. 2, Issue 10. Retrieved from http://www.cthulhulives.org/HPLHSPress/Egypthos.pdf on July 16, 2006.
- ^ Kinnaer, Jacques (2006). "Hotepsekhemwi". Retrieved from http://www.ancient-egypt.org/kings/02/0201_hotepsekhemwi/titulary.html on July 16, 2006.
- ^ Vendel, Ottar . "Absolute Egyptology - gods, kings, pyramids.: Hotepsekhemwy". http://www.nemo.nu/ibisportal/0egyptintro/2egypt/2sidor/2hotepsekhemwy.htm on July 16, 2006.
- ^ Gardiner, Alan. (1957). Egyptian Grammar, Third Edition, p. 170. Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. ISBN 0-900-41635-1.
- ^ (2003). "Terms Used by the Kemetic Orthodox". Kemet.org. Retrieved from http://www.kemet.org/terms_list.html on July 16, 2006.
- ^ (2006). "What is Hotep?" Hotep.org Retrieved from http://www.hotep.org/WhatisHoptep.htm on July 16, 2006.
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