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Cartouche
šnwWhat it actually depicts
A shen ring pulled into an elongated oval, with the tie at one end, drawn around a group of signs.
What it meant
That what is written inside is a royal name, and that it is under protection.
Where you see it
Around two of the king's five names, the prenomen and the nomen, on every royal monument.
What gets said that is wrong
The modern name is French, for a paper cartridge, given by Napoleon's soldiers. Its real value is practical: because royal names are ringed, a cartouche is instantly visible in an unreadable wall of text, which is exactly why Champollion used the cartouches of Ptolemy and Cleopatra as the wedge that opened the decipherment.
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