# Why is one of the Egyptian hieroglyphs a placenta? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2001, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378 "2001-11-14T20:49:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iadoraeudora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@iadoraeudora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iadoraeudora)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/1 "2001-11-14T20:49:40Z")
Why is one of the Egyptian hieroglyphs a placenta? Did they have a use for placentas, such as making magical balms or something? Other cultures, like Celtic with Runes, used really common objects as the names of letters. ---
**Author:** ![fandango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5ac83/32.png) [@fandango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fandango)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/2 "2001-11-14T21:31:55Z")
I think Celtic societies were more associated with Ogham, and that Runes are associated with Teutonic societies. But as for Egyptian, unlike Ogham or Runes, which were limited in number, Egyptian was a lot like modern Japanese, where you have some phonetic components and some logographic components. There were (or are?) hundreds or thousands of hieroglyphs, one which just happened to be a placenta. I’m not sure what the Egyptian word for placenta was, but if it was short or easy to to convey with a simple picture, a placenta could make as much sense as any other object. A placenta may not be an everyday thing to most people, but it does hold reverence with many cultures as the original cradle of life. ---
**Author:** ![Firx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Firx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Firx)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/3 "2001-11-14T22:17:25Z")
Do you have a link to the character you’re thinking of? There is a uniliteral (phonetic) character that sort of looks, I think, like a placenta, but isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/4 "2001-11-15T02:41:08Z")
Excuse my density, but for the life of me, I can’t visualize what a placenta looks like. Does it have a distinctive shape that is instantly recognizable to everyone but me? I never thought about it before, but upon reflection, all I come up with is an amorphous blob of bloody tissue connected to an umbilical vord. Please point me at a picture of the international symbol for “placenta”, the better to stamp out my ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/5 "2001-11-15T02:55:35Z")
Egyptian [hieroglyphic](http://www.eyelid.co.uk/pics/kh.gif) for the sound “kh”, whose symbol is a stylized placenta. Fascinating [home page](http://www.eyelid.co.uk/hiero1.htm) of same. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/6 "2001-11-15T03:01:48Z")
How do they know it’s a placenta? **Duck Duck Goose** ’s link is pretty much just a circle. How do they know it’s not supposed to be a cookie? ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/7 "2001-11-15T04:09:05Z")
My book “Middle Egyptian” by James Allen (which seems like a pretty darn reputable book) says that the third h (the kh sound and symbol that you refer to) is an “unknown object”. Who started the placenta thing? ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/8 "2001-11-15T04:58:44Z")
In _How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs_ by Mark Collier and Bill Manley, they refer to the symbol as > [@](#): > > placenta (?) > ball of string (?) I have gone through all my other books on Egyptian history and they all refer to it as either an ‘unknown’ or a ‘placenta’. As to why, I am not really sure, nor do I have any idea at the moment when it started. ---
**Author:** ![Firx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Firx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Firx)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/9 "2001-11-15T07:30:37Z")
Like **Laurange** , I’ve always seen that labelled as an “unidentified object”, and never, before now, as a placenta. Does it even look like a placenta? Incidentally, the character I was thinking of in my previous post can be seen on [this page](http://www.greatscott.com/hiero/hiero.html), right after the inexplicably labelled, and controversial, “placenta”. It is most certainly _not_ identified as a placenta, but it is an organ of sorts, and I thought it might be confused with a placenta. In retrospect that was a bit silly, since I haven’t the slightest idea what a placenta, in the flesh, looks like. [sub]But I imagine it looks sort of like this hieroglyph.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Flypsyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Flypsyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flypsyde)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/10 "2001-11-15T15:49:15Z")
That thing looks like the old “Death Star” AT&T logo to me. Now it’s all coming together!!! _That’s_ why they were called Baby Bells! ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/11 "2001-11-15T16:26:51Z")
A placenta looks like a sack with an umbilical cord coming out of it. [You asked for it.](http://www.shef.ac.uk/~smtw/2000/og/og1101a.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/12 "2001-11-15T19:53:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Firx \* > **Incidentally, the character I was thinking of in my previous post can be seen on [this page](http://www.greatscott.com/hiero/hiero.html)** This link will get you there a bit quicker: [http://www.greatscott.com/hiero/hierf1b.html](http://www.greatscott.com/hiero/hierf1b.html) Not that I’ve seen a placenta in person - but neither the one labeled as such or the one below it “animal’s belly” look like what I would think of… BTW- did anyone else see the door lock hieroglyph and think “Dilbert glasses”? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/13 "2001-11-15T20:46:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Podkayne \* > A placenta looks like a sack with an umbilical cord coming out of it. > > [You asked for it.](http://www.shef.ac.uk/~smtw/2000/og/og1101a.htm) Well, _I_ sure didn’t ask for it. Blechhh. But DDG’s link looks less like a placenta than a ball of string. I think the placenta connection is a stretch, unless someone can back it up. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/14 "2001-11-15T21:00:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FlyingDragonFan \* > Well, _I_ sure didn’t ask for it. Blechhh. Hey, bucko, it’s the circle of life. If you think it looks bad lyin’ there, imagine it comin’ out of ya. This thread’s bonus factoid: my name in heiroglyphs is: mat hand slope-of-a-hill water. ---
**Author:** ![Firx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Firx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Firx)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/15 "2001-11-15T21:17:18Z")
Well, what can I say? I always figured a placenta was sort of an amorphous tussue blob. Turns out I was right. The “animal belly”, though, that was really off the cuff. I don’t know what I was thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Firstfoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Firstfoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Firstfoot)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-one-of-the-egyptian-hieroglyphs-a-placenta/93378/16 "2001-11-29T05:08:35Z")
I think the answer to the original question is that the placenta may not be very “everyday”, but it’s sound is probably not available in other words. This is why so many children’s abecediaries have Queen and Xylophone in with the Apples, Bananas, and Cats. The rare sounds have few choices to demonstrate them. The Egyptians needed a few “letters” to spell names and foreign words. You might never need a placenta in a tomb diarama of a warrior’s career, but you might need one in his cartouch if his name had that sound.