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It is worth briefly mentioning the translations of these two words by the above-quoted authors: wdpw wb3 Gardiner lisa butler Faulkner serving-man butler Lichtheim cook butler Tobin cupbearer butler Remarkably, they all used the word ‘butler’ for wb3 uniformly, but as for wdpw, they used different solutions. Since in most cases wdpws appear in activities related to fluids, cupbearer might be the most appropriate translation, but in more general terms, serving-man might also be an option. If one observes the word and the occupation together with their feminine pair wdpy.t, translated as ‘serving-maid’, one might assume that there was a division of tasks between the two genders, whereas wdpy.t was primarily responsible for food, wdpw was primarily responsible for drinks, based on the division of depictions in which women were primarily represented in food-related scenes, while in beverage-related scenes men were mainly shown. All this, however, is pure speculation, which theory cannot be supported with facts. Two historical inscriptions from the New Kingdom mention wb3 and wdpw. In the inscription of the battle of Ramesses II at Qadesh, one occurrence of the two words can be observed. An interesting peculiarity of the text is that in four of the five versions of the text the word wb3 sp}: US$: Ups was used but in the fifth one wdpw Bee a, appears instead.’ In this passage the ruler rebukes his troops, his officers and his charioteers for running away and left him alone on the battlefield, and laments that — apart from his two horses — only his own ‘charioteer’, his ‘shield-bearer’, and the wb3s/wdpws in his private service stayed with him and witnessed the battle: Ka, Li, L2, L3 (274) m-dj n3y=j wh3.w n Shnwtj ntj r-gs=j S (274) m-dj n3y=j wdpw.w m Thnwtj ntj r-gs=j emendations, some examples — without claiming completeness — for text corruption can be observed in passages 2,3; 2,6; 4,4; 4,14; 5,4; 6,2; 7,5; 7,9; 9,3; 10,4; 14,1; 15,1; as well as those for miswriting are attested in passages 2,4; 4,13; 5,25-5,10; 6,11; 8,2; 8,10; 8,11; 11,33 12,7} 13,45 13,115 13,35 14,15 15,13; 16,1. For a detailed commentary, see Gardiner, 1990’, 19-95. #7 Kitchen, 1979, 84, §274
