Display of, and search for, hieroglyphic spellings is based on a list of signs. Basically, the list of signs used by the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae follows the organisation, content and encoding of the sign list contained in A. H. Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar (1957). Unlike Gardiner's list, the TLA's sign codes use only upper-case letters. The asterisk (*), used by Gardiner to mark certain sign variants, is replaced by "S" (G7*, for example, is G7S).

This list of signs has been extended as required, with additions being made to the data inventory. Wherever possible, the codes assigned follow the numbering used in the lists by Buurman et al. (1988) and Grimal et al. (2000). Wherever this was not feasible, new code numbers were assigned according to the same system.

In contrast to other collections of signs, the list of signs used by the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae explicitly discriminates between (base) signs and sign variants. Codes of sign variants will be translated into codes of base signs whenever this search option is chosen. The same procedure applies to ligatures and monograms, provided these are functionally equivalent to the constituent signs of a combination. In most cases, it will be a graphic combination of logograms and complements. It goes without saying that this will not apply to sign combinations opening up a new range of functions.

The sign list will be displayed in a separate window. The window allows to navigate between an overview of the sign groups, and a view of particular sign groups. For individual signs, codes of basic signs will be shown in black and those of variants in grey.

The sign list will be displayed in a separate window. The window allows to navigate between an overview of the sign groups, and a view of particular sign groups. For individual signs, codes of basic signs will be shown in black and those of variants in grey.

In addition, the window displaying the list of signs will include a dialogue option when opened from a page allowing hieroglyphic sign codes to be entered. Clicking on the image of a sign will automatically insert the corresponding code into the appropriate field of the query form. However, this function will be available only if the browser being used allows JavaScript programmes to be run.

References:
Gardiner, A. H. 1957 Egyptian Grammar, (3rd Ed.) Oxford, 438-548
J. Buurman et al. Inventaire des Signes hiéroglyphiques, Informatique et Egyptologie 2, Paris 1988
N. Grimal et al., Hieroglyphica, sign list, PIREI 1, Utrecht 2000