Note 8 — Chapter XV
P. Le Page (Peter Le Page) Renouf translation
308. The Ant and the Abṭu are sometimes represented by the side of the solar bark. From the egg of the Abṭu there rises the great Cat, the Sun. It is, as M. Loret has proved, the Tortoise of the Nile. As ȧbṭu, ‘the month,’ is phonetically homonymous with ȧbṭu, the Tortoise, and that the latter is characterised by , , ‘its rotation, revolving or turning,’ the word ȧbṭu, whether applied to ‘month’ or ‘tortoise’ clearly signifies ‘the revolving one.’ Our modern words Tortoise, Tortue, Tortuga, rather express the turning or twisting of the creature’s feet. In some texts, e.g., the inscriptions of Amenhotep, the son of Hapu, Mariette, Karnak, pl. 36, line 22, and at the beginning of the Ani Papyrus, the word is written abtu. In the later part of the Ani Papyrus it is written with the initial .
