The Cultural Indexicality of the N41 Sign for bjȝ: The Metal of the Sky and the Sky of Metal

Abstract

This article explores the cultural implications of the sign N41 [Formula: see text] used in an apparently random constellation of words related to women, water and metals. The symbolic meaning of iron and its consistent relation with the sky in religious texts is explored to determine that the Egyptian cosmovision contemplated the sky as an iron container of water, pieces of which fell to the earth in the shape of meteors and were used to produce ritual objects. The indexicality of the N41 sign suggests that the relation between birth, afterlife, and iron existed even before the first attested long religious texts in Egypt. Finally, the lexical parallels between Egypt and Mesopotamia can be explained as a common reaction to the phenomena of falling iron meteorites.