Editing Cartouche

{{short description|Oval enclosing hieroglyphs of a royal name in Ancient Egypt}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Distinguish|Louis Dominique Bourguignon|text=[[Louis Dominique Bourguignon]] who had "Cartouche" as his nickname}}
[[file:Birth and Throne cartouches of pharaoh Seti I, from KV17 at the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Neues Museum.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A stone face carved with coloured hieroglyphics. Two cartouches - ovoid shapes with hieroglyphics inside - are visible at the bottom.|Birth and throne cartouches of Pharaoh [[Seti I]], from [[KV17]] at the [[Valley of the Kings]], Egypt. [[Neues Museum]], Berlin]]

In [[Egyptian hieroglyph]]s, a '''cartouche''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ɑr|'|t|uː|ʃ}} {{respell|kar|TOOSH}}) is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a [[pharaoh|royal]] name.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Cartouche}}</ref> The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the [[Third Dynasty of Egypt|Third Dynasty]], but the feature did not come into common use until the beginning of the [[Fourth Dynasty of Egypt|Fourth Dynasty]] under Pharaoh [[Sneferu]]. While the cartouche is usually vertical with a horizontal line, if it makes the name fit better it can be horizontal, with a vertical line at the end (in the direction of reading). The [[Egyptian language|ancient Egyptian]] word for cartouche was {{lang|egy-Latn|shenu}} (compare with Coptic {{Wikt-lang|cop|ϣⲛⲉ}} ''šne'' yielding eventual sound changes), and the cartouche was essentially an expanded [[shen ring]]. [[Demotic (Egyptian)|Demotic]] script reduced the cartouche to a pair of brackets and a vertical line.

[[File:Cartouche.svg|left|100px|thumb|drawing of a typical empty Cartouche]]
Of the five [[Ancient Egyptian royal titulary|royal titularies]] it was the [[Prenomen (Ancient Egypt)|''prenomen'']] (the [[throne name]]), and the "Son of Ra" titulary<ref>{{cite web|date=2014-10-29|title=Royal Titulary|url=https://www.ancient-egypt.org/language/royal-titulary.html|website=The Ancient Egypt Site|url-status=live|archive-date=2014-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141115113731/https://www.ancient-egypt.org/language/royal-titulary.html}}</ref> (the so-called ''[[Nomen (Ancient Egypt)|nomen]]'' name given at birth), which were enclosed by a cartouche.<ref>Allen, James Peter, ''[[Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs]]'', Cambridge University Press 2000, p. 65.</ref>

At times [[amulet]]s took the form of a cartouche displaying the name of a king and placed in tombs. Archaeologists often find such items important for dating a tomb and its contents.<ref>Compare [[Thomas Eric Peet]], William Leonard Stevenson Loat, ''The Cemeteries of Abydos. Part 3. 1912–1913'', Adamant Media Corporation, {{ISBN|1-4021-5715-0}}, p.23</ref> Cartouches were formerly only worn by pharaohs. The oval surrounding their name was meant to protect them from evil spirits in life and after death. The cartouche has become a symbol representing good luck and protection from evil.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.dcsd.org/district.cfm?subpage=541292 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110721060756/https://www.dcsd.org/district.cfm?subpage=541292 |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2011-07-21 |title= 2. Ancient Egyptian Cartouche |publisher= Dcsd.org |access-date= 2013-08-22 }}</ref>{{qn|date=January 2020}}

The term "cartouche" was first applied by French soldiers who fancied that the symbol they saw so frequently repeated on the pharaonic ruins they encountered resembled a muzzle-loading firearm's [[paper cartridge |paper powder cartridge]] ({{lang|fr|cartouche}} in [[French language|French]]).<ref>White, Jon Manchip, ''Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt'', Courier Dover 2002, p.175</ref>{{qn|date=January 2020}}<ref>
Compare:
{{cite book | last1 = Najovits | first1 = Simson R. | chapter = The Social Context of the Egyptian Politico-Religious System | title = Egypt, Trunk of the Tree | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Y72qrAmKcfEC | series = Espiritualidad y religion | date = May 2003 | volume = 1: The Contexts | location = New York | publisher = Algora Publishing | publication-date = 2003 | page = 251 | isbn = 9780875862347 | access-date = 25 January 2020 | quote = The {{lang|egy-Latn|shenu}} has come to be known as the 'cartouche' – it was so named after a rifle cartridge, whose shape it resembled, by the French scientific team that accompanied Napoleon's occupying force in Egypt between 1798 and 1801.}}</ref>

{{Hiero|Cartouche|<hiero>V10</hiero>|align=right|era=egypt}}
As a hieroglyph, a cartouche can represent the [[Egyptian-language]] word for "name". It is listed as no. V10 in [[Gardiner's Sign List]].
<div>The cartouche in half-section, Gardiner no. V11 (as seen below) has a separate meaning in the Egyptian language as a [[determinative]] for actions and nouns dealing with items: "to divide", "to exclude".<ref name="Betrò1995">{{cite book|title=[[Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt]] |last=Betrò |first=Maria Carmela |date=1995 |publisher=Abbeville Press Publishers |location=New York, London, Paris |isbn=0-7892-0232-8 |page=195}}</ref> <hiero>V11</hiero></div>
<div>The cartouche hieroglyph is used as a [[determinative]] for Egyptian language ''šn''-(sh)n, for "circuit", or "ring"-(like the [[shen ring]] or the cartouche). Later it was used for ''rn'', the word "name".<ref name="Betrò1995"/> The word can also be spelled as "r" with "n", the [[mouth (hieroglyph)|mouth]] over the [[water ripple (hieroglyph)|horizontal n]]. <hiero>V10</hiero>  <hiero>D21:N35</hiero></div>

==See also==
* [[Serekh]], a predecessor to the cartouche

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary | cartouche}}
{{Commons category}}
*{{Merriam-Webster|Cartouche}}
*{{cite web|url=https://www.artyfactory.com/egyptian_art/cartouche_lesson/cartouche_lesson.htm |title=Ancient Egyptian Cartouche Lesson |publisher=Artyfactory.com |access-date=2024-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019200343/https://www.artyfactory.com/egyptian_art/cartouche_lesson/cartouche_lesson.htm |archive-date=2023-10-19}}
*{{cite web|url=https://www.sis.gov.eg/PDF/Ar/History/0809000000000000210001.pdf |title=Cartouches |publisher=Egypt State Information Service |language=ar |format=PDF, 8.87 MB |access-date=13 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615170023/https://www.sis.gov.eg/PDF/Ar/History/0809000000000000210001.pdf |archive-date=June 15, 2011 }}
*[https://www.egy-king.com/2020/12/ancient-egyptian-cartouche-facts.html Ancient Egyptian Cartouche facts]
*[https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/cartouches.htm The Ancient Egyptian Cartouche]

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[[Category:3rd-millennium BC establishments in Egypt]]
[[Category:Ornaments (architecture)]]
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[[Category:Egyptian hieroglyphs]]