(4 and 5) which constantly
recur in the texts published by Brugsch, and which reveal that the thigh,
accompanied by a single star, constituted the essential elements of the
sign. It is one of the curiosities of Egyptian hieroglyphics that the
image of a star may express either seb=star, or the numeral five=tuau.
This being the case, and the word for thigh being either khepes or uart,
it is obvious that the thigh and star yield more than one interpretation
from the rebus point of view, and may either be read as seb khepdes,
seb-uart or tuau-uart--in one case containing the divine title "creator"
and in the second a play upon the name ua=One, the favorite appellation
given to Amen-Ra.

The following star names contained in the Brugsch texts, and which have
avowedly not been satisfactorily identified, up to the present, will speak
for themselves and will be found to be comprehensible and appropriate only
when identified with Polaris: Seb-uati=the lone, single, only, or sole
star (_cf._ title "One" given to Amen-Ra); Seb-seta=the hidden star, in
Greek texts, sebkhes, sebkhe, the sebses, anagrams of khebs, or khepdes
(_cf._ "hidden" god). This star is found pictured in the astronomical
texts by a turtle, the name for which is seta, sita, sit or set; in Greek
texts cit.

To me it seems clear that the turtle constituted a rebus sign for the
"hidden star" and concealed god, and I find that another Egyptian word
could have served equally well for the same purpose, viz., seta=the
vulture. What is more, the following names, mentioned in the astronomical
texts, yield the sound of the first vowel of the words seb=star and
seta=hidden, and attention is drawn to the fact that, as the goose and
egg, for instance, were known under several names, the secrecy of the true
meaning of these sacred symbols was insured: goose=se, ser, sar, seb,
smen, apt, aq; egg=se, sa, ser, sar, ar, suht; nest=ses; pool of water=se;
heron=sent.

A curious double similarity of sound exists between the name for turtle
and one of the names for goose, inasmuch as the turtle=seta is also called
aps, and the goose=se is named apt (fig. 63, 17-18). Another name for
goose being aq or ak, we find that its value as a rebus must have been
supreme, since it so perfectly expressed the word ak=middle. A proof that
its merits were duly appreciated by the ancient scribes, is its constant
and widespread employment in decorative art as a so-called "solar symbol,"
in associ