Ankh wedja seneb


Ankh wedja seneb is an Egyptian phrase which often appears after the names of pharaohs, in references to their household, or at the ends of letters. The formula consists of three Egyptian hieroglyphs without clarification of pronunciation, making its exact grammatical form difficult to reconstruct. It may be expressed as "life, prosperity, and health" or LFP, but Alan Gardiner proposed that they represented verbs in the stative form: "Be alive, strong, and healthy".

Components

Egyptian hieroglyphs did not record vowel values, making the exact pronunciation of most words unknowable. The conventional Egyptological pronunciations of the words ꜥnḫ, wḏꜢ, and snb are ankh, wedja and seneb respectively.
  • Ankh means "life" and "to have life", "to live", particularly with regard to the longevity and resurrection of the Egyptian deities">Egyptian language">Egyptian deities and pharaohs
  • Wedja means "to be whole" or "intact", with connotations of "prosperity" and "well-being"
  • Seneb means "to be sound", "to be well", "to be healthy"

Rosetta Stone

On the Rosetta Stone, the gods are said to reward the Ptolemaic pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes: