Pr (𓉐 Gardiner sign listed no. O1) is the hieroglyph for 'house', the floor-plan of a walled building with an open doorway.
While its original pronunciation is not known with certainty, modern Egyptology assigns it the value of per, but purely on the basis of a convention specific to the discipline. However, the Ancient Greek rendering of the title pr-`3 as suggests the reconstruction of the historical (Late Egyptian) pronunciation as *par, see Pharaoh#Etymology.
Pr combined with an associated "personal name", god, or location becomes the "house of .... ." An example for pharaoh Setnakhte is the city of: Pr-Atum, (city of Pithom). Pr and ankh-(life) is a "combination hieroglyph" and is the "word" for house of life. The "house of life" is a library for papyrus books-(scrolls), as well as a possible scriptorium.
The shape of pr in beginning dynasties had variations in the shape of a square, with the opening. See Garrett Reference for tomb of Official Ti.
Pr is one of hieroglyphs adopted into the Proto-Sinaitic script, the earliest known alphabetic writing system. It was used to represent the phoneme /b/ as in bayt, the Canaanite word for "house", after the hieroglyph's original meaning. The Latin letter B is a distant descendant of this letter.
"Pr-name" /associations
pr-aa– Pharaoh pa-pr-aa– Papyrus Pr-Ab– Thoth Per-Amun– Pelusium Pr-Aat– Heliopolis Pr-Atum– House of Atum: Heliopolis Pr-Atum– Setnakhte Pr-Banebdjedet– Mendes Pr-Bast– House of Bast: Bubastis Pr-Bastet– Zagazig Pr-Djet– a type of early Egyptian tomb Pr-Hai– Malqata Pr-Hay– Amenhotep III Pr-Hay– Great Temple of the Aten Pr-Hathor– Aphroditopolis Pr-Hedj– Treasury (House of Silver) Pr-Medjat– Library Pr-Nebu– Treasury (House of Gold) Pr-Nebyt– Ramesses V Pr-Nemty– Hieracon Pr-Ramesses– Avaris, History of ancient Egypt Pr-Sekhemkheperre– Osorkon I Pr-Sopdu– Sopdu Pr-t– Season of the Emergence Pr-Temu Tjeku– Necho II Pr-Wadjet– Buto, Wadjet Pr-Yinepu– Anubis
See also List of Egyptian hieroglyphs Pr-Bast Pr-Medjed Pr-Nemty Pr-Wadjet Pi-Ramesses Pi-Sekhemkheperre Per-Sopdu Egyptian biliteral signs
Notes
The Per Ankh was also known as "The House of Life."It was made by Thoth, the Egyptian god.
References
Garrett, Kenneth. Treasures of Egypt, National Geographic Collector's Ed. No. 5. Kenneth Garrett, Egyptian Museum, Cairo. 2003.
External links Per-Ankh; Article; List of sources to the Per-ankh Per-ankh: The House of Life