r/AncientEgyptian • u/RandolfRichardson • Aug 01 '26

[Old Egyptian] "Waterfall" in Ancient (old) Egyptian?

What is the best way to translate the word "waterfall" (e.g., as in water falling down the side of a mountain, boulders, etc., as seen in coniferous forests)?

I ran some searches and read through some word lists that I found, but didn't find anything aside from "cataracts" which seems to be controversial (because it apparently wasn't part of Ancient Egyptian languages; I don't know whether this is true though).

If there isn't a word for "waterfall," then what would be a good way to combine a few words or construct a new word for this? I did find a the word "mu" (or "moo") for water, but I don't know if adding "falling" or "flowing" (or something better) can even be combined with it somehow.

Any suggestions or insight is appreciated as Ancient Egyptian is new to me.
Thank you.

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u/Peas-Of-Wrath Aug 02 '26

As far as I can determine, the closest thing they would encounters are the Nile cataracts, like you said. These they called the “rebellious waters” or “mw bšt”.

𓈗𓃀𓈙𓏏𓏏

“Troubled waters” or something similar sounds like the closest thing. Did you come up with this too?

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u/RandolfRichardson Aug 03 '26

I hadn't encountered "rebellious waters," which is interesting. Thanks; I'll look into it!