差分

ホルス及びギリシアのフェニックスのモデルとも言われる。

{{Hiero|Bennu or heron|<hiero>G31-.-G32</hiero>|align=right|era=egypt}}

The [[Pyramid Texts]], which date to the [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]], refer to the 'bnw' as a symbol of Atum, and it may have been the original form of Bennu. In this word the shape of a bird is used that is definitely not a heron, but a small singing bird. The old 'Woerterbuch der Aegyptische Sprache' surmised that this small singing bird might have been a [[Western yellow wagtail|Yellow Wagtail]] ('Motacilla flava', but no clear reason is given. <ref name="Hart"/> However, the same bird used in the spelling of a word 'bn.t' in a painted limestone relief wall fragment from the suntemple of the Vth Dynasty king [[Nyuserre Ini|Niuserre]] from the Old Kingdom, now in the Aegypisches Museum at Berlin (inv.nr. Aeg.Mus. 20038-20039), clearly shows traces of blue-grey paint on much of the body of this bird-sign, so that a different bird species was definitely meant. Shape and colour seem to point rather to a (Mediterranean) [[Common kingfisher|Kingfisher]] (Alcedo atthis) for whom, however, another name was in use: 'hn.t<y'= lit. 'the one of the canal'. Traces of orange(brown)colouring existing on and also outside the chiseled glyph did originally not belong to this particular bird sign. They are caused by natural stains in the white limestone, as the higher lying layer of blue paint on the bird shows as well. The advantage of such bird identification might be, that a Kingfisher flying lowly over watery surfaces and shrieking loudly would be a reasonable mythical example for the creator deity Atum of Heliopolis as having risen from the first dark waters, called Nun, in order to start his creation of the world. If so, this Kingfisher 'bnw' or 'bn.t' is a good match for the mythical and cultic Nilegoose (Eg. 'smn')of the creator deity Amun in later periods, imagined to having been honking loudly in the primeval dark above the still waters in order to bring forth all creation by its voice.{{cn|date=March 2021}}