William F. Edgerton

Stress, Vowel Quantity, and Syllable Division in Egyptian

IF THE main-stressed vowel of any Sahidic word derived from a simple (not compound) Old or Middle Egyptian word is placed within the complete consonantal skeleton of its OEg or MEg ancestor in the same relative position which it occupies in S, one of the two following statements will be found to be true in the overwhelming majority of cases: a) If the stressed vowel is long in S, it will be followed by exactly two consonants in OEg or MEg.