A classic children’s story retold in an unlikely way by a Swanage doctor – The Tale of Peter Rabbit in Egyptian hieroglyphics – has just seen its tenth edition published, although the author sadly died in 2022.
When anaesthetist John Nunn retired to Swanage in 1991, he found himself with plenty of time to indulge his passion for ancient Egypt, so started to translate Beatrix Potter’s well loved tale.
If you’re all sitting comfortably, then we’ll begin … The Tale of Peter Rabbit in hieroglyphics comes home to Swanage
Literature’s baddest bunny
He was also passionate about geology and quickly became the first amateur geologist to be awarded the prestigious Richardson Award by the Geologists’ Association for a groundbreaking detailed survey of Durlston Bay.
However it was his inspired brainwave to recount the adventures of literature’s baddest bunny in the pictorial language of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom of 4,000 years ago that has become his lasting legacy.
The British Museum Press, which first printed his hieroglyph edition of Peter Rabbit in 2005, says that as the book approaches its 20th anniversary it is as popular as ever and heading for 20,000 sales.
Robins, shoes and even potatoes would have been foreign to the Pharaohs
“A charming little book”
A spokesperson for the British Museum Press told Swanage.News:
“The commercial success of The Tale of Peter Rabbit Hieroglyph edition is illustrative of the perennial interest in some of the most treasured objects in the British Museum collection.
“Beatrix Potter’s wonderfully timeless hand-drawn images of Peter Rabbit, one of the world’s best-loved fictional characters, is paired with John F Nunn’s expert translation of the original text into the enigmatic ancient Egyptian script.
“It makes for a charming and delightfully fun little book that will be sure to capture the imagination of generations for years to come.
“The book was hailed as ‘a great novelty gift for the lover of all things Beatrix Potter’ on its first publication in September 2005 and is currently on its 10th printing.”
Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter in the film ‘Miss Potter’
45 million copies sold since 1902
The Tale of Peter Rabbit was first published in English as the debut novel of Beatrix Potter – who also illustrated it herself – in October 1901 with a print run of 250 books.
The original has since become one of the most popular books in history with 45 million copies sold, and has been translated into 36 different languages, including Welsh, Latin, Afrikaans, Russian, Gaelic, Catalan, Arabic and Farsi.
The hieroglyphic for a desert hare is remarkably familiar today
Rabbits like Peter unknown in ancient Egypt
But it wasn’t an easy project for John Nunn and co-author Richard Parkinson, former professor of Egyptology at Oxford University, to translate the book into hieroglyphics.
Linguistic differences between Edwardian England and Pharaohic Egypt were huge – not least of which was the fact that European rabbits like Peter were unknown in Egypt.
The only related species was the desert hare – for which, fortunately, the Egyptian word skhat is well documented and its hieroglyph looks remarkably familiar with its long ears and whiskers.
Unfortunately, the same picture is also widely used to stand for the ‘wn’ sound, so although the first hieroglyph in the story is that of the hare, it is actually starting off the story with the traditional ‘Once upon a time’.
All knowledge of the Egyptian language was lost for hundreds of years
Run along and don’t get into mischief
John Nunn himself, at the time of publication in 2005, said:
“The environment, flora and fauna of England in the time of Beatrix Potter all differed radically from those of Egypt 4,000 years ago.
“All knowledge of the ancient Egyptian language was lost between the fifth century AD and 1822, and our understanding of it still remains limited by the resources available to us, mostly from tomb paintings.
“Beatrix Potter’s words sometimes do not fall readily into ancient Egyptian and the surviving texts provide no easy model for such colloquial phrases as, ‘Now run along and don’t get into mischief’.
“We can only guess at pronunciation, but limited help is available from the Coptic language which developed from ancient Egyptian in the second century AD and is still spoken in church ceremonies in Egypt today.”
The Rosetta Stone was the eventual key to unlocking the language of hieroglyphs
Ancient Egypt had no use for umbrellas
John Nunn added:
“Many botanical species familiar to Peter were quite unknown in ancient Egypt, including blackberry, gooseberry, blackcurrant and potato, so we have used words like ‘sweet fruit’ – which the Egyptians used to mean dates – ‘fruit’, ‘bushes of black fruit’ and ‘apples of the earth’.
“The wheel was a recent introduction in the Middle Kingdom and, so far as we are aware, was only used on chariots. There is no evidence of the existence of wheelbarrows, so we resorted to the well known word for sledge.
“Cotton-tail, one of Peter’s three sisters, has been translated as Linen-tail, since cotton was unknown in ancient Egypt.
“Also, the ancient Egyptians had no need for umbrellas, so when Mrs Rabbit goes off to the baker’s with one, the word for sunshade has been used instead.”
Mr McGregor, hoes, watering cans and cabbages all posed problems for the translators
Pharaohs used weeks of 10 days
Other words, including Peter’s sneeze of ‘Kertyschoo!’, the ‘scritch, scratch’ of Mr McGregor’s hoe, scarecrows, watering cans and even cabbages all needed cunning ways of translation into a pictorial language.
And Beatrix Potter, who used the word ‘fortnight’ in her story, seemed unaware that the kingdom of the Pharaohs used weeks which were 10 days long, so the phrase had to be translated as 20 days.
John who had become fluent in Egyptian hieroglyphics having spent 20 years of evening classes at the British Museum, also published a book on Egyptian medicine and treatises on anaesthetics and global warming.
Dr John F Nunn reviewed his career in conversation with Lady Wendy Ball for the Oxford University archives
Rooms have been named in his honour
John Nunn is also remembered in many universities and hospitals around England for his outstanding contributions to surgical science.
He began a glittering career in medicine with a posting to the Far East in 1949 as a surgical assistant with the Colonial Medical Service.
In 1964 he was invited to be Foundation Professor at the University of Leeds, later becoming head of anaesthesia at Northwick Park Hospital, where rooms were named in his honour.
In 1979 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Anaesthetists, working out of two rooms in the Royal College of Surgeons in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and later served as President of the Section of Anaesthetics at the Royal Society of Medicine.
His wife Sheila died in 2018 and John spent the last four years of his life in residential care in Swanage. He is survived by three children, seven grandchildren and, so far, five great grandchildren.
The Royal College of Anaesthetists commissioned this oil painting of John Nunn on his retirement, which now hangs in their London headquarters
Further information
- The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Hieroglyph edition is published by the British Museum Press ISBN 9780714119694 and be bought from the British Museum shop
