On Mon, 29 Aug 2011, Rich Alderson wrote:
ITYM "to remember". IIRC, the last
Egyptian scribe who could read and
write the script died in the 3rd Century CE; Champollion did his work
on the Rosetta stone in the very late 18th and early 19th, so at least
1500 years--and it took another century to get some of the readings
right.
So, the loss happened quicker than I had thought, and the recovery took
longer.
(Wearing my historical linguist hat today.)
Thank you!