Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

Egyptologists discussing the name Mosheh seem to agree that it is an Egyptian 
word, as Yigal mentioned, meaning "descendant" etc.. The PN  we have is 
probably an abbreviation of a longer original name, just like Yaakov  
(Ya(aqob) is an abbreviated form of " *Yaakov-el" or the like.
 
 The fact that the the Biblical author gave the name Mosheh a wrong etymology 
validates, to my mind, an ancient tradition: the name was handed down in 
abbreviated form  at a time when the  the original meaning had been 
completely forgotten.
 
Uri

Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu> wrote:
Of course it is - you don't need the inscription, look at 2 Kings 3:4 (in
Hebrew, of course). Mesha (mem-yod-shin-'aiyn) is derived from the root Y$(
("saved/will save"), and is similar in meaning to Joshua (YH saves) and Jesus.
The precise etymology of Moses, M$H (Mosheh - mem-shin-he) is not clear.
Ex. 2:10 gives a Hebrew etymology - "ki min hammayyim MESHITIHU", "for out
of the water I [Pharaoh's daughter] have drawn him." But I doubt if
Pharaoh's daughter spoke Hebrew. It has been suggested that the source is
Egyptian, "mose" meaning "born of", like in the names Thutmose and Ahmose.

In any case, Mesha' and Moses are totally different.

Yigal




At 11:15 AM 6/19/2003 -0400, Trevor Peterson wrote:
>>===== Original Message From "Walter R. Mattfeld" 
>=====
>>Just curious, is Moabite Mesha a dialectal form of Hebrew Moshe ?
>
>I don't have the inscription handy, but isn't Mesha spelled with a final 
>'ayin?
>
>Trevor Peterson
>CUA/Semitics
>
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Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.
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For anyone who is interested, the current issue of
Bible Review is an article exploring in some detail
the etymology of Moses' name.

> Message: 6
> Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 11:50:31 -0400
> From: Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>
> Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] Mesha & Moshe
> To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID:
> <3.0.6.32.20030619115031.01285118 AT pop.utc.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> Of course it is - you don't need the inscription,
> look at 2 Kings 3:4 (in
> Hebrew, of course). Mesha (mem-yod-shin-'aiyn) is
> derived from the root Y$(
> ("saved/will save"), and is similar in meaning to
> Joshua (YH saves) and Jesus.
> The precise etymology of Moses, M$H (Mosheh -
> mem-shin-he) is not clear.
> Ex. 2:10 gives a Hebrew etymology - "ki min
> hammayyim MESHITIHU", "for out
> of the water I [Pharaoh's daughter] have drawn him."
>  But I doubt if
> Pharaoh's daughter spoke Hebrew. It has been
> suggested that the source is
> Egyptian, "mose" meaning "born of", like in the
> names Thutmose and Ahmose.
> 
> In any case, Mesha' and Moses are totally different.
> 
> Yigal
> 
>

=====
Kevin L. Barney
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
klbarney AT yahoo.com

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