What is purity? A systemic perspective on the evolution of the semogram [PURE] during the 3rd millennium BCE

This talk explores the transformations of the semogram wꜥb PURE in hieroglyphic texts of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period. My starting point is the question how the anthropomorphic hieroglyph A6 developed into the leg D60. Following a remark of H.G. Fischer (1988, 54), this is generally connected to practices of intentional sign modification in the Pyramid Texts. This assumption is contestable, since a significant temporal and geographic gap separates the last documented occurrences of a specific grouping in the pyramids of the 6th Dynasty from the first attestations of the logogram D60 in Theban epigraphy during the reign of Intef III. I will present a new, straightforward hypothesis regarding the appearance of the logogram D60, which is based on a thorough examination of the empirical evidence at hand and the more general mechanisms of sign evolution in the regional epigraphies of Upper Egyptian. In the grand scheme of things, the objective of this case study is to stimulate discussion on the driving forces behind the palaeographic evolution of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.