tw

Translingual

Symbol

tw

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Twi.

Egyptian

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /tuː/
  • Conventional anglicization: tu

Etymology 1

From earlier tj.

Determiner

 f sg proximal, later copular/vocative demonstrative determiner

1. (Old Egyptian) this
2. (Middle Egyptian) O (vocative reference)

Usage notes

This demonstrative was originally a determiner but could later be used alone, like a pronoun. When used as a determiner it follows the noun it describes.

Inflection

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of tw  

tw

There is also an alternative form that cannot stand alone as a pronoun: twy.

Pronoun

impersonal enclitic (‘dependent’) pronoun

1. (Middle Egyptian) used as the impersonal subject of an adverbial predicate or verb form; one, someone or something unspecified
2. used as a substitute for noun phrases referring to the king

Usage notes

tw can be used as a subject without any introductory particle only with a verb in the periphrastic prospective (the pseudoverbal construction with r).

In the sense referring to the king, this pronoun is conventionally translated as capitalized “One”.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of tw  

tw	t	tj
		rare

Derived terms

• tw.tw

Related terms

• .tw

Etymology 2

Pronoun

 m sg 2. enclitic (‘dependent’) pronoun

1. Variant spelling of ṯw

References

• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 51, 54–55, 181.
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN
• Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN

White Hmong

Etymology

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *tu̯eiX (“tail”). Cognate with Iu Mien dueiv; outside of Hmong-Mien, compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *[k]ɗuut (“tip, tail”), whence Khmer កន្ទូត (kɑntuut, “rump of fowl”), as well as Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *buntut (“rear end of chicken”), whence Malay buntut (“butt”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɨ˧/

Noun

tw (classifier: tus)

1. tail

Derived terms

References

• Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary‎, SEAP Publications, →ISBN, page 330.