This paper deals with one of the earliest known activities in the lexicographic field, namely contemporary word-lists of Egyptian hieroglyphics. A brief résumé of the history of hieroglyphic writing in Ancient Egypt is first given. The article then focuses on the onomastica which have been discovered. It is noted that such word lists also have the function of encyclopaedias since they serve not only to list the words, but also to arrange them in a way that reveals the authors’ worldview. The paper discusses the two most famous onomastica, i.e. the Ramesseum Onomasticon and the Onomasticon of Amenope, and broaches the bi- and multilingual glossaries of a much later date, the Greek-Coptic Glossary of Dioscorus and the Coptic-Arabic Scalae. The paper shows that the familiar notions of alphabetical dictionary and structured glossary originated at least as long ago as the early civilisations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and have remained a feature of all great civilisations ever since.