Earlier this fall, John Beckett was looking for a Hymn to Nut for the Under the Ancient Oaks Video series. It appears no ancient ones survived as such, though Nut is the focus of  some of the Cosmology Texts such as the Fundamentals of the Course of the Stars (usually called the Book of Nut until quite recently) and the Books of the Day and Night. We do have, however, many epithets for the Goddess, distributed across those works, the funerary literature, and Temple texts. So I offered to assemble a hymn using the Wake in Peace framework for the video.

The video has just appeared:
Under the Ancient Oaks: Devotion to Night

Cynthia Talbot, who recites the Hymn in English, does a beautiful job, and there are other devotional pieces and talks as well. I heartily recommend watching the whole video!

If you want to hear how the Hymn might have sounded in Egyptian, I have recorded it here:

 

Hymn in Translation:

 

Awake in Peace! May you awake beautifully in peace! May Nut awake in life!

Awake Nut, the Sky and Undersky, Who raises the sun disk at dawn, Ruler of Earth and the Duat, Mother of Water, Who lifts her entourage of stars in her encircling, in peace!

 

Awake in Peace! May you awake beautifully in peace! May Nut awake in life!

Awake Nut, Who gives birth to the Gods and begets the Goddesses, Powerful One in the body of her mother Tefnut before she was born, the One within Atum, Who gives birth to Ra, in peace!

 

Awake in Peace! May you awake beautifully in peace! May Nut awake in life!

Awake Nut, Beautiful Noble One, Perfect Ruler, Powerful One, Mistress of the Gods and Goddesses, Great Unifier, Female Sovereign of the Gods, in peace!

 

Awake in Peace! May you awake beautifully in peace! May Nut awake in life!

Awake Nut, Lady of Joy, Who loves to give life, Who repulses Fury, Who gives protection to the house, Who gives water to every heart, Who makes her children whole, in peace!

 

Vocalization:

 

rassáti! ḥatpáti! rassáṯ náfrat ma ḥátap! rassá Nú:wat ma Ꜥánaḫ!

rassá Nú:wat                                                                                                 

pú’at, náwnat, wáṯsat-’átin-dap-dawá’yat, ḥáq’at-nit-tá’-dú’at, mí’wat-máw, fá’at-ginḥúwat-ári-ma-paẖáris

ma ḥátap!

 

rassáti! ḥatpáti! rassáṯ náfrat ma ḥátap! rassá Nú:wat ma Ꜥánaḫ!

rassá  Nú:wat                                                                                                

másyat-naṯúru, wátṯat-naṯárwat, sáḫmat-ma-ẖut-nit-mí’watis-Tifú:nat-nan-masyátis, amíyat-Atámu, másyat Rí:Ꜥu

ma ḥátap!

 

rassáti! ḥatpáti! rassáṯ náfrat ma ḥátap! rassá Nú:wat ma Ꜥánaḫ!

rassá  Nú:wat                                                                                               

šípsat-náfrat, ḥáq’at-náfrat, wá:srat, ḥanúwat-naṯúru-naṯárwat, ẖánmat-wúrat, yatíyat-naṯúru

ma ḥátap!

 

rassáti! ḥatpáti! rassáṯ náfrat ma ḥátap! rassá Nú:wat ma Ꜥánaḫ!

rassá  Nú:wat                                                                                                

níbat-hí:naw, máryat-díyit-Ꜥánaḫ, ḫásfat-nášnay, áryat-sá’-pá:ru, rádyat-maw-ni-yib-nib, suwáḏ’at-ṯa’yúwis

ma ḥátap!

 

 

Transliteration:

 

Rs.ti ḥtp.ti rs=ṯ nfrt m ḥtp rs Nwt m Ꜥnḫ

rs Nwt pt nnt wṯst-itn-tp-dwꜢyt ḥqꜢt-nt-tꜢ-dwꜢt mwt-mw fꜢt-gnḥwt-iry-m-pẖr.s m ḥtp

 

Rs.ti ḥtp.ti rs=ṯ nfrt m ḥtp rs Nwt m Ꜥnḫ

rs Nwt mst-nṯrw wtṯt-nṯrwt sḫmt-m-ẖt-nt-mwt.s-Tfnt-nn-mst.s ı͗myt-I͗tm mst-RꜤ m ḥtp

 

Rs.ti ḥtp.ti rs=ṯ nfrt m ḥtp Nwt m Ꜥnḫ

rs Nwt špst-nfrt ḥqꜢt-nfrt wsrt ḥnwt-nṯrw-nṯrwt ẖnmt-wrt ı͗tyt-nṯrw m ḥtp

 

Rs.ti ḥtp.ti rs=ṯ nfrt m ḥtp Nwt m Ꜥnḫ

rs Nwt nbt-hnw mrt-dı͗t-Ꜥnḫ ḫsft-nšny ı͗rt-sꜢ-pr rdı͗t-mw-n-ı͗b-nb swḏꜢt-ṯꜢw=s m ḥtp

 

© Matthew Whealton, 2017