Hi MJ,

That the division of the cubit into 7 palms and each palm divided into 4 fingers, was probably derived from the forearm, hand, and the four fingers of the hand, is indicated by the determinative for cubit (mH), the D42 sign, 'forearm with palm down'. The 'palm' (Szp) unit was about 75 mm - approximately the width across the knuckles of the 4 fingers of the hand, and each 'finger' unit, about 19mm, about the average width of a finger across the knuckle - the 'finger' unit (Dba, 1/28th of a cubit) was written with the ideogram for 'finger', D50.

28 fingers in a cubit, is a consequence of the human hand having 4 fingers. Once the length from about the elbow to the tip of the middle finger was accepted as a standard unit of length, and this was then divided up into the nearest number of whole palms, it came to within a few centimetres, 7 palms - and 7 x 4 = 28.

Nature did not 'design' the forearm / hand to be exactly 7 palms, but that's nature for you. The AE had a similar problem with the year - they divided up the year into twelve 30 day months that came to 360 days. However the year has 365 days so they simply added on another 5 days. Even that was not enough to create a calendar that kept in time with the seasons as the solar year is actually 365.25 days long so their 'civil' calendar 'wandered'. Even their 30 month was an idealized month as the average length of the month is 29.53 days and 12 x 29.53 = a 354.36 day lunar 'year', which is 11 days shorter than the 365.25 day solar year.


The cubit may be also related to the lunar cycle - four phases of the moon were named by the ancient Egyptians - smdt (full moon, half month festival), snt (first quarter, 6th day festival), psDtyw (new moon), dnit (last quarter).

Month (Abd), was written with a combination of N11 (crescent moon) and N14 (five-pointed star), and 'half-month' with half crescent moon sign N11, and N14 (five-pointed star) - the rising of certain stars and the phases of the moon were both used for the timing of sacred rituals.


The 'palm' (Szp, 1/7th of a cubit) could be written simply with what appears to be N11, the 'crescent moon', an abbreviation of O42 (Szp) Q3 (p) + determinative N11 ('crescent moon').

The use of the crescent moon sign for 'palm' suggests an association with the lunar cycle.


The name of Thoth (DHwty) was written with the 'sacred ibis on standard' sign, G26. The long curved beak of the ibis is reminiscent of the shape of the crescent moon. Seshat the female scribe had a crescent moon-like symbol over her head as part of her headdress. Both Thoth and Seshat had a role to play in the reconstitution of the king, with scribal tasks, numbering, timekeeping and building. Both Thoth and Seshat are attested apparently from the early dynastic period and certainly early in Dyn 4.

CT