𓃩𓃫𓁣𓃪
It’s well-known that Lord Sutekh got an unfair bad reputation after the cult of Osiris won favor with the ruling class of ancient Kemet, and this bad reputation reflected on His animal, the sha. If the sha had been a real creature, perhaps it would have been hunted to extinction by overzealous Osiris worshipers. In early times, the sha had a more favorable reputation. The only other Netjer to use the sha form, the Libyan import Ash, was known to help guide those who were lost in the desert to an oasis, and was the God of Wine, and an all-around pretty chill guy. Why would such a deity take on a form that was known to stand for chaos, turmoil and confusion?
As fun as it is to spot a sha on an ancient papyrus, it usually only shows up when the author is bad-mouthing Set. I’ve been learning to read hieroglyphics, and the definition I came ascross for the sitting sha glyph (𓃩) in addition to “Swtḫ” (the “w” is pronounced like an “oo” with a slight “w” at the end, the ḫ is the “kh” in Sutekh, a voiceless uvular frictive that English-speakers often have trouble with, խ in the Armenian alphabet), can also stand for turmoil, confusion and fury, pronounced “ẖnnw” (ẖ is a slightly softer version of ḫ, so it may have sounded something like “khenenoo” if we go with an Egyptological reconstruction although that may differ greatly from how it was actually pronounced) or alternatively “nšnį” (š stands for “sh”, į is “ee” with a slight “y” at the end, so “neshniy” becomes our Egyptological approximation). The alternative sitting sha glyph (𓃫) had essentially the same meaning. The word “sha” itself meant storm as well, so it’s a very multifaceted symbol. The sha-headed glyph (𓁣) was a determinative and not pronounced, occasionally used in the names for Sutekh and Ash.
Our last sha glyph, the sha standing on a bowl (𓃪, pictured above), is a nifty one. By itself, 𓎟 stood for Lord or Lady, Possessor, and All. In Egyptological reconstructions it was pronounced “neb” in the masculine form and “nebet” in the feminine form, and is noteworthy for being in Nephthy’s original name, Nebet-Het, or Lady of the House (again, an Egyptological reconstruction; linguist Matthew Whealton gives us the closer reconstruction “nibatḥáwt”). Her glyph 𓉠features it on top. With the sha on top, it becomes shorthand for “Lord Sutekh”. While a short epithet, having an entire epithet in one glyph is very convenient.
𓇼𓀢𓏛𓃪
𓋹֍֎𓋹
~ Siamanto the Foreigner
𓋷𓅁𓈖𓏏𓍯𓀭𓈖𓐎𓏺𓈉𓏏𓅂𓌙𓀀
Սիամանթօ Օտարը
Sources:
https://imperishablestars.com/2016/05/18/names-of-gods-names-of-goddesses/
