Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Gary Hedrick" <garyh AT cjfm.org>]

     I realize that most authorities say the name of Moses comes from
ancient Egyptian ("mose," meaning "born" or "offspring," as in Thutmose) and
not Hebrew.  This makes sense because the name was conferred on him by the
Egyptian princess rather than by his own parents (Ex. 2:10).  Yet my Israeli
friends who speak modern Hebrew say Moshe comes from the Hebrew LIMSHOT,
meaning "to draw out," which is essentially the connection made in Ex. 2:10.
They say you could say, "Gary Moshe et Ha-yeled meh-Hamayim," that is, "Gary
is drawing out the boy from the water."  In this usage, Moshe functions more
as a present active participle rather than as a passive, which I guess
brings up yet another issue (the verb form).  So I'm wondering, is there
anything in the B-Hebrew archives about this?

 

Gary Hedrick

San Antonio, Texas USA