Ba
/bɑː/noun
In ancient Egyptian religion, the ba was an aspect of a person’s personality or soul, often depicted as a human-headed bird.
Did you know?Egyptian funerary texts portray the ba as mobile after death, able to travel between the tomb and the wider world while the deceased’s other spiritual aspects remained connected to the body.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Egyptian
Egyptian
bꜣ
“A mobile spiritual personality or manifestation of a person, commonly represented as a human-headed bird.”
New Kingdom, c. 1550–1070 BCE
Egyptian
bꜣ
“A vital aspect of the deceased that could move beyond the tomb and reunite with the body.”
Late Egyptian and Coptic periods
Egyptian/Coptic
ba
“The term continued in Egyptian religious vocabulary for the soul or spiritual manifestation.”
19th Century
English
ba
“An Egyptological borrowing used in translations and scholarly descriptions of ancient Egyptian religion.”
Modern English
English
ba
“An aspect of the soul or personality in ancient Egyptian belief, especially the traveling, individual expression of the deceased.”