ieroglyphs, formed
by the scribe with the reed pen on papyrus, leather, wooden tablets,
&c., have their outlines more or less abbreviated, producing
eventually the cursive scripts hieratic and demotic. The written
hieroglyphs were employed at all periods, especially for religious
texts.

_Hieratic._--A kind of cursive hieroglyphic or hieratic writing is
found even in the Ist Dynasty. In the Middle Kingdom it is well
characterized, and in its most cursive form seems hardly to retain
any definable trace of the original hieroglyphic pictures. The style
varies much at different periods.

+------------+-------------+-----------------+-----------+----------+-----------------+
| Sign. | Description.| Name. | Word-sign | Phonetic | Determinative |
| | | | Value. | Value. | Value. |
+------------+-------------+-----------------+-----------+----------+-----------------+
| [HRG: Xrd] | child | hrd (khrod) | | | youth |
| | | | | | |
| [HRG: Hr] | face | hr (hor) | hr | [hr] | |
| | | | | | |
| [HRG: ir] | eye | ir.t (yori.t) | ir | ir | see, &c. |
| | | | | | |
| [HRG: r] | mouth | r (ro) | r | r | |
| | | | | | |
| [HRG: a] | forearm | '('ei) | ' | ' | [action of hand |
| | | | | | or arm] |
| | | | | | |
| [HRG: D40] | arm with | nht "be strong" | nht | | violent action |
| | stick | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| [HRG: A24] | man with | nht "be strong" | nht | | violent action |
| | stick | | | | |
|