Abstract
In recent years it has often been maintained that the texts of the ‘Amduat' should date to the Old Kingdom because they contain so many linguistic features known from Old Egyptian. On closer inspection this view cannot be corroborated. It is true that there are many words and forms that look very ancient, and some of them may indeed have their origin in Old Egyptian texts. But most of these elements are different in certain aspects (writing, syntax, or frequency) from those found in genuine texts of the Old Kingdom. The more probable conclusion is that most of them have been adopted to make the texts of the Amduat look as if they had been composed in very ancient times.
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