Haremhab und Ar-ma-a-aš: Einige ägyptologisch-sprachwissenschaftliche Bemerkungen

Abstract

In recent years, a high-ranking personage Ar-ma-a- (Ar-ma-a-aš) in a Hittite cuneiform letter from the time of the late Egyptian 18th Dynasty has been identified with Haremhab, generalissimo under Tutankhamun and later king himself. Despite convincing reconstructions of historical events and courses of events, substantial linguistic difficulties, among them the representation of Egyptian ḥ as cuneiform ḫ or its ommission, have not been addressed from an Egyptological perspective. This contribution reviews previous research and analyses the onomastic and linguistic background to the result that Egyptian ḥ, if preserved in Egyptian itself, is always rendered with cuneiform ḫ, and that Ar-ma-a- (Ar-ma-a-aš) therefore cannot represent the Egyptian full name Haremhab. Instead, and following a widespread practice of Egyptian officials to use hypocoristic names in cuneiform correspondence, it is a hypocoristic name *(’)ăr-mắ derived from the full name Haremhab which Haremhab must have used prior to his ascension to the throne.