jnd is a polysemous lexeme with the core meaning of “suffering”. jnd denotes physical suffering, emotional distress, and a general, iterative suffering. These meanings are not necessarily discrete, but rather lie on a spectrum from physical suffering to emotional distress. These shades of meaning are “signposted by the presence of specific lexemes and phrases in the surrounding co(n)text or frame” (Jenkins 2022: 192). jnd is principally attested as an intransitive verb of quality/adjective verb (Jenkins 2021: 54). The verbal lexeme is written jnd, jnḏ and jnt (Jenkins 2022: 194). Thus, the Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache is correct in its identification of jnḏ (Wb 1, 102.18) as being identical with jnd (Wb 1, 102.16). The below discussion is based on the data available in the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae and other lexicographic tools. For a list of the tools consulted, see Jenkins (2021: 26–27) and Jenkins (2022: 173 n.17).

jnd has the meaning “to suffer physically (because of medical ailments)” from the First Intermediate Period through to the Late Period (Jenkins 2022: 194). Key signposts of this sense include references to pẖr.t snb.t “healing medicine” (see: DZA 20.944.220) , mnꜥ.t-nurses (Wb 2, 78.1–9) and Ꜣṯ.yt-nurses (Wb 1, 23.10, see: DZA 20.944.230), infections (i.e. dm.t “a sting” (Wb 5, 450.7–451.3), fnt.w “maggots” (Wb 1, 577.5–7), sḥḏ.wt “white spots” (Wb 4, 227.3–5), mw ḥwꜢ “foul liquid” (Wb 3, 50.6–16), mw ḥḏ “white liquid” (Wb 3, 206.14–207.13, see: Text GWDQIM2TY5HWVDNIAMOLY76X6I; Text HQE6QPJOBRHQ3IRMAMX4ZSRO7Q) and opposition with ssnb “to heal” (Wb 4, 278.1–6; see: DZA 20.944.230; Jenkins 2022: 192).

jnd is also used transitively in the New Kingdom/Ramesside Period, with a causative sense of “to cause someone to suffer physically (because of medical ailments)” (see: Sentence ICEAhtQICcymbkRhoGXRKTQjr4s; Jenkins 2022: 194). As such, jnd is an ambitransitive verb, exhibiting the causative-alternation (intransitive) “to experience jnd” / (transitive-causative) to “cause someone to experience jnd” (Schäfer 2009: 641). It should be noted, however, that this transitive usage is uncommon.

In the New Kingdom and Ramesside Period, jnd is attested as an intransitive verb with the sense “to be exhausted”, which may refer to physical and/or emotional exhaustion (Jenkins 2022: 194). This sense is evident in the Satire of the Trades in the descriptions of the courier, fieldworker and arrow-maker (for example: see, Sentence IBUBdwQRMiY3A0xkoVAzsOwkMys; Sentence IBUBd2bW5uiak0tjr30ZLXARipI).

jnd may also relate to “being infertile (of females)” in the Third Intermediate Period Chapel of the Divine Adoratrices of Amun (Jansen-Winkeln 2009: 267; Jenkins 2022: 194). This text describes an inverse relationship between women “bearing children and not experiencing jnd, and experiencing jnd and presumably not having children” (Jenkins 2022: 180, 194).

jnd begins to be collocated with the jb “heart; mind; wish; character” (Wb 1, 59.10-60.11) in the New Kingdom and expresses an emotive meaning “to suffer emotionally” through to the Greco–Roman Period (Jenkins 2022: 192, 194). Key indicators of this emotive sense are collocations with the jb “heart; mind; wish; character” (Wb 1, 59.10-60.11; see, for example: Sentence IBUBdQo5Hc6I70biiGfvvmR7354; Sentence ICABVVDDetEH8EQxkPW0DEJBJ1c), opposition with lexemes from the ‘happiness’ semantic field, such as ršṷ “to rejoice” (Wb 2, 454.1–12), rš.w “joy” (Wb 2, 454.13), ḥꜥi̭ “to rejoice; to be happy” (Wb 3, 40.2–41.2), snḏm-jb “to delight (someone)” (Wb 4, 186.12–18), and ṯḥḥ “to exult” (Wb 5, 395.5–7) (see, for example: Sentence IBUBdxqg1lq72Up8k4FJkRTYSy0; DZA 20.944.030; DZA 20.944.050; DZA 20.944.060; DZA.20.944.080; Jenkins 2022: 192–93). jnd overlaps with the modern anglophone emotions of ‘be sad’, ‘be anxious’, ‘be empathetic’, and the behaviours ‘to grieve’ and ‘to mourn’, but it cannot be equated with any one of these emotions (Jenkins 2022: 194, 197).

jnd denotes an atemporal, indeterminate suffering between the Ramesside Period and the Ptolemaic Period (Jenkins 2022: 188–90). In these attestations, the co(n)text does not evoke a physical suffering frame, or an emotive frame, as the abovementioned signposts are absent (see, for example: DZA 20.943.930; Jenkins 2022: 188–89). jnd is also used transitively with this general sense in the Greco–Roman Period (see: DZA 20.943.980; Jenkins 2022: 177, n. 36).

Bibliography
– Jansen–Winkeln, Karl. 2009. Inschriften der Spätzeit Teil III: Die 25 Dynastie, Wiesbaden.
– Jenkins, Madeline. 2022. “On the Semantics of jnd: A Lexical-Semantic Analysis of the ‘Sadness’ Lexeme jnd”, Lingua Aegyptia 30, pp. 171–200.
– Jenkins, Madeline. 2021. ‘Sadness’ in the Ancient Egyptian Lexicon: A Lexical-Semantic Analysis of the Lexeme ind. Master of Research Thesis submitted to Macquarie University, Sydney. <http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/1283392>;.
– Schäfer, Florian. 2009. “The Causative Alternation.” Language and Linguistics Compass 3 (2): 641–81.<https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2009.00127.x>;.
– Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae <https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de>;, Corpus issue 17, Web app version 2.1.0, 10/13/2023, ed. by Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning on behalf of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils on behalf of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig (accessed: 10/26/2023)

Commentary author: Madeline Jenkins; with contributions by: Altägyptisches Wörterbuch ; Data file created: 07/16/2024, latest revision: 07/16/2024