The Morphological and Graphical Substitution of Ältere Komposita. Etymological Archaism and Contemporaneous Perception as Opposing Principles

Abstract

In the third millennium BC, Ältere Komposita were a prolific kind of compound nouns with specific morphological features, above all, word stress on a non-last constituent. In order to match the stress and syllable structure patterns of younger stages of ancient Egyptian, Ältere Komposita were either mutilated or substituted with neologisms. At the same time, the graphical representation of retained Ältere Komposita became a playground for the learnèd élite between the poles of tradition and innovative substitution. This contribution explores strategies of substitution in the realms of morphology and of writing.