sḫm

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /sɛxɛm/
  • Conventional anglicization: sekhem

 3-lit.

1. (intransitive) to be(come) physically powerful or vigorous
2. (intransitive) to be(come) powerful, capable (+ m: through the power of (magic, the Eye of Horus, food, etc.); + mm: among (the gods); + ḫr: before (a god); + ḫnt: at the head of (people); + m ḫt or m sꜣ: in pursuit of (enemies))
3. (intransitive, of poison, magic, names, etc.) to be(come) potent, effective
4. (intransitive, of a quality such as might) to be(come) strong, intense, great
5. (intransitive, with m or (since the 18th Dynasty) r or (rarely) transitive) to have or take control of, to have power over (enemies, people, gods, places, oneself, etc.)
   • c. 1900 BCE, The Instructions of Kagemni (pPrisse/pBN 183) lines 1.10–1.11:

     jr šww m srḫ n t nj sḫm.n mdt nbt jm.f

     As for one who is free of notoriety regarding bread, no word can take control of him.

6. (intransitive, with m or (rarely) transitive) to have the use of, to be able to make use of (one’s limbs)
7. (intransitive, with m) to take possession of (a thing)
8. (intransitive, with m, of knives, lions, snakes, poison, magic, etc.) to have power to freely harm (someone), to have injurious power over
9. (intransitive, with m or r, of fire) to burn, to consume (someone)
10. (intransitive, with m, Late Egyptian, of sleep) to overpower, to overtake (the body)
11. (intransitive, with m and infinitive) to be(come) capable (of doing something), empowered or entitled (to do something)
12. (intransitive, of the heart/mind) to be(come) bold, daring, courageous, spirited
13. (intransitive, of the heart/mind) to be(come) overbold, impudent, audacious
14. (intransitive, of the face) The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:
    1. to be(come) defiant-looking or spirited
    2. to be(come) grim

Often found in parallel with bꜣ, spd, and wꜣš, among other verbs.

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of sḫm  

sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm
			usual form

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of sḫm  

sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm

 m

1. power, capability, especially capability to overpower

   Synonym: sḫmt

2. violence

Often found in parallel with bꜣ and kꜣ as a quality that is ‘with’, ‘by’, ‘behind’ someone, etc. May also be found in parallel with words such as wsr and qn.

See under the verb above.

 m

1. being of divine power, Power; chiefly used as an epithet for various gods, exceptionally also for kings
   • c. 1550 BCE – 1295 BCE, Great Hymn to Osiris (Stela of Amenmose, Louvre C 286) lines 7–8:

     
     

     sꜥḥ ꜣḫ ḫnt sꜥḥw wꜣḥ jꜣwt smn ḥqꜣt sḫm nfr n(j) psḏt jmꜣ ḥr mrr mꜣ n.f rdj snḏ.f m tꜣw nb(w) n mr(w)t dm.sn rn.f r ḥꜣt

     Effective dignitary, foremost of dignitaries, enduring of office, established of reign, the fair power of the Ennead, gracious of face, the sight of whom is beloved, the awe of whom is set in all lands in order that they pronounce his name first,

2. (with following genitive, or else plural) earthly image or incarnation (of a god), cult image, including statues, paintings, standards, people, etc.
3. (in the plural) gods in general

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of sḫm  

sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of sḫm  

sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm

• Bohairic Coptic: ϣⲓϣⲉⲙ (šišem)
• Lycopolitan Coptic: ϣⲓⲥⲙⲉ (šisme)

 m

1. sekhem scepter

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of sḫm  

sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm	sḫm
				abbreviation	abbreviation

 m

1. sistrum

   Synonym: zššt

   ― jrj sḫm ― to play the sistrum (+ n: for (someone))

The terms sḫm and zššt seem to have at times referred to two different kinds of sistrum; while the hieroglyph could always be used in writings for both (though as a logogram only for sḫm), the hieroglyph was originally only used in writings of zššt, while by the Greco-Roman Period it came to instead be used exclusively with sḫm.

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of sḫm  

sḫm	sḫm	sšm

 m

1. (hapax) sword

• “sḫm (lemma ID 851679)”, “sḫm (lemma ID 142180)”, “sḫm (lemma ID 142140)”, “sḫm.w (lemma ID 142400)”, “sḫm (lemma ID 142130)”, “sḫm (lemma ID 142190)”, and “sḫm (lemma ID 142150)”, in Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae‎, Corpus issue 18, Web app version 2.1.5, Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning by order of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils by order of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, 2004–26 July 2023
• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1930) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎, volume 4, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 243.3–249.16, 251.18–252.7
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 241
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 377.