Oldal 27 [27]
184 Dynasty: 3? (tombs, statues, stelae, (but no papyri or ostraca)
19% Dynasty: to, H, te (tombs, statues, and stelae)
doe} (with variants) (a few papyri, ostraca, and graffiti)
20 Dynasty: +¢, +°, +% (one tomb, a few statues and stelae)
+2 00%) (with variants) (papyri, ostraca, and graffiti)
21% Dynasty: +7 (a sarcophagus and a statuette)
Nevertheless, this statement, as already noted, is exclusively based on the written form of
the words. Another important factor, however, which should be taken into account is the
textual context in which the words appear, as the analysis of the remains of the ‘royal wb3s’
and ‘royal wdpws’ in the present corpus revealed. The distribution of the usage of the two
titles, wb3 nswt and. wdpw nswt, show a pattern which seems to depend on the quality in
which the officials are represented in certain sources. On monuments with a funerary,
votive and offering context, as well as on those on which the official is represented in his
position as a courtier, or in his function as a personal attendant of the ruler in his entourage
and in his service within the royal household, he is designated by the title wb3 nswt ‘royal
wb3’. At the same time, in sources which render an account of the participation of the of¬
ficial in a particular mission, a special assignment ordered by the king, far from his person
and from the royal court, such as an expedition, inspection of the work at the royal tomb
in the Valley of the Kings or dealing with the supply of the workman at Deir el-Medina,
as well as being a member of a judiciary, he was designated as wdpw nswt ‘royal wdpw’.*
The written form of the two words can primarily be distinguished based on their com¬
plements and determinatives. The word wdpw developed further from its most common
Old and Middle Kingdom form 5%. The 96 attestations in the corpus show that the
written form usually keeps the vessel and the phonetic complement waw, adding one or
more extra waws as phonetic complements, as well as a papyrus roll, an arm with a stick,
aman with a stick or a sitting man, alone or two of them, as determinatives. As for these
writing forms, there is nothing that would indicate the reading of wb3 instead of wdpw.
In regard to the word wb3, in most cases there is at least one sign that implies the correct
reading, such as the drill, the phonetic complement b, or the linen band.” There are only
three instances out of the 120 attestations in the examined corpus where the title is written
only with a vessel, however, in these cases, the textual context, as well as the type of the
* For a detailed discussion on the duties of ‘royal wb3s’ and ‘royal wdpws’, see chapter II.5 The duties
of the wb3 nswt and wdpw nswt and their function in the service of the ruler.
# The commonly used phonetic complements 53 and/or 3 during the Middle Kingdom do not appear
in the examined corpus, however, they were still in use, as the example in The Admonitions of an
Egyptian Sage (The Admonitions of Ipuwer) shows, see on p. 97.