_still less is it a verb_. It is a demonstrative particle, like the
Latin _en_, _ecce_, or the Hebrew הֵו. Nothing is more common than this
particle followed only by a proper name, _e.g._, on the funereal
figures. There is not the slightest reason for supposing that there is
an ellipse of the verb ‘saith.’ The particle is used like the
corresponding Latin one under the Scottish picture of Edward I—
‘En rex Edwardus debacchans ut leopardus.’
When I translate ⁂⁂⁂ ⁂⁂⁂, “It is Thoth—who is here,” I
do not wish to imply that ⁂⁂ is the verb _to be_, any more than I
should in the frequent expression ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “It is his
son who revives his name.” ⁂ is a demonstrative particle and nothing
else.
Instead of looking out for moods and tenses and paradigms, Egyptologists
ought to wake to the consciousness that the Egyptians never rose to the
conception of what we mean by a _verb_.