Lettre à M. Dacier, ... relative à l'alphabet des hiéroglyphes phonétiques

You have no doubt noticed, Sir, in my Memoir on Egyptian demotic writing, that these foreign names were expressed phonetically by means of signs that were syllabic rather than alphabetic. The value of each character is recognized and invariably fixed by the comparison of these various names; and from all these comparisons has resulted the demotic alphabet, or rather syllabary, shown on my plate I, second column.

Once the use of these phonetic characters was established in demotic writing, I naturally had to conclude that since the signs of this popular script were, as I have stated, borrowed from the hieratic or sacerdotal script, and since also the signs of this hieratic writing are, as has been recognized by my various memoirs, only an abbreviated representation, a true tachygraphie shorthand or rapid writing of the hieroglyphs, this third species of writing, the pure hieroglyphic, must also have a certain number of its signs endowed with the faculty of expressing sounds; in a word, that there also existed a series of phonetic hieroglyphs. To ensure the truth of this insight, to recognize the existence and even discern the value of some of the signs of this

daughter of the king (Philometor) and Cleopatra his mother. Mr. Raoul-Rochette intends to publish this Egyptian manuscript with some other papyri from the King’s cabinet. This scholar will provide a true gift to Egyptian archaeology.