“Potiphar” and “Potipherah”
I. “Potiphar”
Based on my research, it appears that no university scholar has ever asked in print what the name “Potiphar” would mean if defective spelling applies. That has resulted in the untenable scholarly view that Pharaoh’s Captain of the Guard [a military man], and the high-priest of Ra from On (Joseph’s father-in-law) [a priest], allegedly have the s-a-m-e Biblical Egyptian name. Surely we on the b-hebrew list can do better than t-h-a-t .
A. Linguistic Analysis of “Potiphar”, Using Defective Spelling
“Potiphar” : פוטיפר : PW+YPR. Analyzed, using defective spelling, as:
P-W+ -Y- P-R : pA wAt -- pA ra : “The Distant [one] -- The Ra”, being a colorful way of saying: “Devoted to Ra”.
Per Hebrew defective spelling, an Egyptian aleph [A] or ayin [a] in a CV or CVC syllable is treated for Hebrew purposes as being a vowel, and hence no Hebrew letter is used to represent such an Egyptian aleph or ayin.
(i) Hebrew P/peh is Egyptian p. The best-known one-syllable Egyptian word featuring p is pA, meaning “the”.
(ii) Hebrew vav/W is Egyptian w, and Hebrew teth/+ is Egyptian t. The best-known one-syllable Egyptian word featuring wt (being a CVC word) is wAt, meaning “distant”. Although wAt is primarily an adjective, it can be used as a noun: “distant one”.
(iii) As a matter of Hebrew orthography, Hebrew yod/Y in between two words or phrases can be a ḫireq compaginis, being essentially identical to a modern dash: --.
(iv) Per #i above, the second p is also pA.
(v) Hebrew resh/R is Egyptian r. The best-known one-syllable Egyptian word [per the Amarna Letters] featuring r is ra, meaning the Egyptian sun-god Ra.
The Biblical Egyptian name “Potiphar” thus effectively means: “Devoted to Ra”.
B. Historical Identity of “Potiphar”
If “Pharaoh” is a grander, Year 13 Patriarchal version of the name “Akhenaten” (as shown in a prior thread), then we would rightly expect “Potiphar” to be Akhenaten’s Captain of the Guard, who was in charge of Akhenaten’s personal security, in Year 13. Historically that was Ra-mose.
The name of the military man with the largest private home at Amarna, who was Akhenaten’s Captain of the Palace Guard (having the critically important job of providing personal security for this unpopular pharaoh, who challenged traditional Egyptian religion), was Ra-mose. Note that the historical Egyptian name, borne by Akhenaten’s Captain of the Palace Guard in Year 13, has exactly the same two key aspects as does the Biblical Egyptian name “Potiphar”. Like “Potiphar”, the divine name “Ra” is expressly rendered in the historical name Ra-mose. And although the literal meaning of Ra-mose is “Born to Ra”, the effective meaning is the same as the above analysis of the Biblical name “Potiphar”, namely: “Devoted to Ra”.
* * *
The preceding analysis is extremely straightforward, for anyone who is willing to do what no university scholar has ever done in print: a-s-k what the name “Potiphar” would mean if Hebrew defective spelling applies.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
"Potiphar" and "Potipherah"
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Jim Stinehart
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Re: "Potiphar" and "Potipherah"
II. “Potipherah”
A. Linguistic Analysis of “Potipherah”
“Potipherah” : פוטיפרע : PW+YPR‘/ġ. Analyzed, using defective spelling and treating the Hebrew letter ע as ghayin/ġ, as:
P-W+ -Y- P-Rġ : pA wAt -- pA rx
“The Distant [one] -- The One Who Knows”, that is: “The One Who Knows the Distant God Ra”
As will be shown in #B below, both Biblically and non-biblically this is the name and title of the high-priest of Ra from On at Amarna in Year 13.
Until we get to the last two Hebrew letters of “Potipherah” (which are רע/R‘), the rest of the Hebrew letters in “Potipherah” are identical to the Hebrew letters in “Potiphar”. Thus prior to the Hebrew letters רע at the end of the name “Potipherah”, what we have is (for the reasons explained in detail in my prior post on this thread) the following: P-W+ -Y- P… = pA wAt -- pA…., meaning: “The Distant One -- The…”
In analyzing the name “Potipherah”, using defective spelling, the critical issue is how the last two Hebrew letters in “Potipherah”, namely רע, should be properly analyzed. The Hebrew letters רע are not necessarily the expected Hebrew spelling, in the Patriarchal narratives, of “Ra”/ra. After all, everyone agrees that “Ra”/ra is spelled simply ר at the end of “Potiphar” : פוטיפר. Moreover, one would not expect the Captain of the Palace Guard and the high-priest of Ra from On to have the same Egyptian name, so that if ר alone at the end of “Potiphar” means “Ra”/ra, then רע at the end of “Potipherah” should logically have a different meaning. Furthermore, if Hebrew defective spelling applies, then we would not expect two Hebrew letters, רע, to render an Egyptian word or name that was pronounced ri as a single syllable (as we know is the case from the Amarna Letters); rather, we would expect רע to render a two-syllable Egyptian word.
In the case of the non-west Semitic Biblical proper name “Tidal”, there is general agreement that the Hebrew letter ayin in that Hittite name is a ghayin rendering the Hittite ghayin-heth: the Hebrew letters TD‘L represent the Ugaritic alphabetical spelling of “Tudhaliya” as tdġl. Accordingly, where a non-west Semitic language (Hittite, Hurrian and Egyptian) had two or three kinds of heth, then in the Hebrew rendering of a proper name in such non-west Semitic language in the Patriarchal narratives, it can rightly be expected that the Hebrew letter ע will be used in non-initial position as a Hebrew ghayin/ġ, in order to render whichever one of such non-west Semitic forms of heth was closest to Hebrew ghayin. As such, רע would be expected to render something like ri ḫi in cuneiform signs, being the two-syllable Egyptian word (as discussed below) rx. Since we know from the name “Tidal” that the Hebrew letter ע could be used to render a type of foreign heth that is related to Hebrew ghayin/ġ, we should then ask if such is the case as to the last letter in the name “Potipherah”: רע.
In linguistic terms, Hebrew ghayin/ġ is a velar fricative, which I see as consistently mapping to a velar fricative in the applicable non-west Semitic language (Egyptian, Hittite, Hurrian). (Hebrew ayin/‘, by contrast, is a pharyngeal fricative.) True, the linguistic matches were closer in rendering Hittite and Hurrian names than in rendering Egyptian names (as Hittite and Hurrian, unlike Egyptian, have a voiced vs. unvoiced distinction in this regard that corresponds to Hebrew), but the general principle was the same. Hebrew velar fricative (the Hebrew letter ע as Hebrew ghayin/ġ) was used to render the closest form of a velar fricative heth in Hittite, Hurrian and Egyptian (rather than the Hebrew letter ע as Hebrew ayin/‘ being used to render an ayin in any non-west Semitic language).
Thus when we see the Hebrew letter ע at the end of the Biblical Egyptian name “Potipherah” (which is a non-west Semitic name where ע appears in non-initial position), we must consider that such Hebrew letter is likely a Hebrew ghayin/ġ (a velar fricative), which is being used to render Egyptian ḫ/Gardiner hieroglyph AA1/placenta/Buurman transliteration x, which likewise is a velar fricative. Accordingly, the Hebrew letters רע at the end of the name “Potipherah” are Hebrew resh - Hebrew ghayin/ġ, and render the well-known Egyptian word rx, meaning “to know”. rx, which is probably a two-syllable word in Egyptian, is the Buurman transliteration of the following two Egyptian hieroglyphs that comprise the phonemic portion of the Egyptian hieroglyphic spelling of “to know”: (i) D21 – AA1. Gardiner D21/mouth is r. Gardiner AA1/placenta is ḫ [Buurman x] (a voiceless velar fricative). (These two hieroglyphs are then followed by Gardiner hieroglyph Y1, which is an ideogram of a papyrus scroll that was used as a determinative in spelling “know”.)
Once one realizes that the Hebrew letter ע in non-initial position in rendering non-west Semitic proper names in the Patriarchal narratives was used as a Hebrew ghayin/ġ (not as Hebrew ayin/‘ as previously supposed), and that the Hebrew letter ע accordingly maps to a velar fricative heth in each applicable non-west Semitic language, then it becomes apparent that the Hebrew letters רע at the end of the name “Potiphar”, being Hebrew resh - Hebrew ghayin, render the well-known Egyptian word rx, meaning “know”. As such, the name “Potipherah” is a different Biblical Egyptian name than “Potiphar”, as the Hebrew resh at the end of the latter renders the Egyptian word ra [where a as Egyptian ayin was treated by the Hebrews as being a vowel, which as such would not be represented by any Hebrew letter in defective Hebrew spelling], whereas the Hebrew resh - Hebrew ghayin at the end of the former renders, by contrast, the Egyptian word rx. The two names are thus not the same, and as we will see in my next post, both “Potiphar” and “Potipherah” have, on that basis, ideal (and different) meanings.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
A. Linguistic Analysis of “Potipherah”
“Potipherah” : פוטיפרע : PW+YPR‘/ġ. Analyzed, using defective spelling and treating the Hebrew letter ע as ghayin/ġ, as:
P-W+ -Y- P-Rġ : pA wAt -- pA rx
“The Distant [one] -- The One Who Knows”, that is: “The One Who Knows the Distant God Ra”
As will be shown in #B below, both Biblically and non-biblically this is the name and title of the high-priest of Ra from On at Amarna in Year 13.
Until we get to the last two Hebrew letters of “Potipherah” (which are רע/R‘), the rest of the Hebrew letters in “Potipherah” are identical to the Hebrew letters in “Potiphar”. Thus prior to the Hebrew letters רע at the end of the name “Potipherah”, what we have is (for the reasons explained in detail in my prior post on this thread) the following: P-W+ -Y- P… = pA wAt -- pA…., meaning: “The Distant One -- The…”
In analyzing the name “Potipherah”, using defective spelling, the critical issue is how the last two Hebrew letters in “Potipherah”, namely רע, should be properly analyzed. The Hebrew letters רע are not necessarily the expected Hebrew spelling, in the Patriarchal narratives, of “Ra”/ra. After all, everyone agrees that “Ra”/ra is spelled simply ר at the end of “Potiphar” : פוטיפר. Moreover, one would not expect the Captain of the Palace Guard and the high-priest of Ra from On to have the same Egyptian name, so that if ר alone at the end of “Potiphar” means “Ra”/ra, then רע at the end of “Potipherah” should logically have a different meaning. Furthermore, if Hebrew defective spelling applies, then we would not expect two Hebrew letters, רע, to render an Egyptian word or name that was pronounced ri as a single syllable (as we know is the case from the Amarna Letters); rather, we would expect רע to render a two-syllable Egyptian word.
In the case of the non-west Semitic Biblical proper name “Tidal”, there is general agreement that the Hebrew letter ayin in that Hittite name is a ghayin rendering the Hittite ghayin-heth: the Hebrew letters TD‘L represent the Ugaritic alphabetical spelling of “Tudhaliya” as tdġl. Accordingly, where a non-west Semitic language (Hittite, Hurrian and Egyptian) had two or three kinds of heth, then in the Hebrew rendering of a proper name in such non-west Semitic language in the Patriarchal narratives, it can rightly be expected that the Hebrew letter ע will be used in non-initial position as a Hebrew ghayin/ġ, in order to render whichever one of such non-west Semitic forms of heth was closest to Hebrew ghayin. As such, רע would be expected to render something like ri ḫi in cuneiform signs, being the two-syllable Egyptian word (as discussed below) rx. Since we know from the name “Tidal” that the Hebrew letter ע could be used to render a type of foreign heth that is related to Hebrew ghayin/ġ, we should then ask if such is the case as to the last letter in the name “Potipherah”: רע.
In linguistic terms, Hebrew ghayin/ġ is a velar fricative, which I see as consistently mapping to a velar fricative in the applicable non-west Semitic language (Egyptian, Hittite, Hurrian). (Hebrew ayin/‘, by contrast, is a pharyngeal fricative.) True, the linguistic matches were closer in rendering Hittite and Hurrian names than in rendering Egyptian names (as Hittite and Hurrian, unlike Egyptian, have a voiced vs. unvoiced distinction in this regard that corresponds to Hebrew), but the general principle was the same. Hebrew velar fricative (the Hebrew letter ע as Hebrew ghayin/ġ) was used to render the closest form of a velar fricative heth in Hittite, Hurrian and Egyptian (rather than the Hebrew letter ע as Hebrew ayin/‘ being used to render an ayin in any non-west Semitic language).
Thus when we see the Hebrew letter ע at the end of the Biblical Egyptian name “Potipherah” (which is a non-west Semitic name where ע appears in non-initial position), we must consider that such Hebrew letter is likely a Hebrew ghayin/ġ (a velar fricative), which is being used to render Egyptian ḫ/Gardiner hieroglyph AA1/placenta/Buurman transliteration x, which likewise is a velar fricative. Accordingly, the Hebrew letters רע at the end of the name “Potipherah” are Hebrew resh - Hebrew ghayin/ġ, and render the well-known Egyptian word rx, meaning “to know”. rx, which is probably a two-syllable word in Egyptian, is the Buurman transliteration of the following two Egyptian hieroglyphs that comprise the phonemic portion of the Egyptian hieroglyphic spelling of “to know”: (i) D21 – AA1. Gardiner D21/mouth is r. Gardiner AA1/placenta is ḫ [Buurman x] (a voiceless velar fricative). (These two hieroglyphs are then followed by Gardiner hieroglyph Y1, which is an ideogram of a papyrus scroll that was used as a determinative in spelling “know”.)
Once one realizes that the Hebrew letter ע in non-initial position in rendering non-west Semitic proper names in the Patriarchal narratives was used as a Hebrew ghayin/ġ (not as Hebrew ayin/‘ as previously supposed), and that the Hebrew letter ע accordingly maps to a velar fricative heth in each applicable non-west Semitic language, then it becomes apparent that the Hebrew letters רע at the end of the name “Potiphar”, being Hebrew resh - Hebrew ghayin, render the well-known Egyptian word rx, meaning “know”. As such, the name “Potipherah” is a different Biblical Egyptian name than “Potiphar”, as the Hebrew resh at the end of the latter renders the Egyptian word ra [where a as Egyptian ayin was treated by the Hebrews as being a vowel, which as such would not be represented by any Hebrew letter in defective Hebrew spelling], whereas the Hebrew resh - Hebrew ghayin at the end of the former renders, by contrast, the Egyptian word rx. The two names are thus not the same, and as we will see in my next post, both “Potiphar” and “Potipherah” have, on that basis, ideal (and different) meanings.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
-
Jim Stinehart
- Posts: 352
- Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:33 am
Re: "Potiphar" and "Potipherah"
B. Historical Identity of “Potipherah”
Per the linguistic analysis set forth in my prior post, we will now see in this post that the Biblical Egyptian name “Potipherah” turns out to be the Biblical Hebrew equivalent of the name and title of the high-priest of Ra from On at Amarna in Year 13, just as we previously saw that the Biblical Egyptian name “Potiphar” is the Biblical Hebrew equivalent of the name of the Captain of the Palace Guard at Amarna in Year 13.
For the reasons set forth in my prior post, the last two Hebrew letters in “Potipherah”, namely רע, are rx in the Buurman transliteration scheme (where x is the only one of the three Egyptian heths which, like Hebrew ghayin/ġ, is a velar fricative). rx is the Egyptian word for “know”. As we can see in Akhenaten’s Great Hymn, an important part of Akhenaten’s theology was the claim that Akhenaten “knew”/rx Ra/Aten:
iw.k m ib.i nn wn ky rx.tw
You [Ra, Aten] are in my heart, there is none other who knows [rx] you
[To supplement my prior post, let me note here that 800 years after the Patriarchal narratives were composed and recorded in cuneiform writing in Late Amarna, and 100 years after the Patriarchal narratives were transformed into alphabetical Hebrew writing under Hebrew King Josiah in 7th century BCE Jerusalem, post-exilic Hebrew authors and editors in the 6th century began to spell Ra with a Hebrew ayin as R‘ : רע. This may well have intentionally been done in order to generate a nasty Hebrew pun by which Ra was deftly characterized as being “evil” in Hebrew, since the Hebrew word for “evil” is spelled the same as the Hebrew spelling of Ra with an ayin. Thus at Jeremiah 44: 30, Jeremiah may well have deliberately chosen to give the Egyptian word “Ra” in the name “Chophra” the spelling of רע because Jeremiah considered that pharaoh to be “evil”, and the Hebrew letters רע are the Hebrew common word that means “evil”. By that intentional double entendre, this hated pharaoh’s very name thus neatly branded him as being “evil”. Set forth below is the only passage in the Bible not dealing with “Potipherah” where a Biblical Egyptian name ends with the Hebrew letters רע. In order to make the point that Jeremiah may have deliberately wanted to spell “Ra” in a manner that would brand this hated pharaoh as being “evil” (רע), the bracketed portion of this quoted passage, in each of two words, features the Hebrew letters רע:
“Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra [חפרע פרעה] king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.” Jeremiah 44: 30
I see “Ramses” in the phrase “land of Ramses” at Genesis 47: 11, where “Ra” is spelled with a Hebrew ayin, as being an editorial addition, and with perhaps a majority of today’s scholars I see such phrase as dating to the 6th century BCE, which is also the historical time period of Jeremiah. The fact that “Ra” was spelled with a Hebrew ayin beginning in the 6th century BCE does not mean that “Ra” was spelled with a Hebrew ayin in the original, Late Bronze Age written cuneiform text version of the Patriarchal narratives!]
The rest of the name “Potipherah” is spelled the same as “Potiphar”, but in the name “Potipherah” the second pA has the alternate meaning of “the one who”, rather than its most common meaning of “the”. So the name “Potipherah” as pA wAt -- pA rx literally means “The Distant [One] -- The One Who Knows”. Using normal English word order, the actual intended meaning of this name of the high-priest of Ra from On in Genesis is: “The One Who Knows The Distant [God (Ra)]”. Note that the divine name “Ra” is not expressly rendered, but rather the sun-god Ra is only indirectly referenced, using the colorful phrase “the distant [god]”.
Now let’s compare that with the name and abbreviated title of the high-priest of Ra from On at Amarna in Year 13 (being the priest with the largest private home at Amarna): “Pawah, Greatest Seer”. We might note for starters that the two syllables of the historical name “Pawah” : pA wAH sound somewhat like the first two syllables [pA wAt] of the Biblical Egyptian name “Potipherah” : pA wAt -- pA rx. In Egyptian, “Pawah” : pA wAH literally means “the one that sets [in the west]”, and is a colorful, indirect reference to the sun, and hence to the sun-god Ra. Like “Potipherah”, the divine name “Ra” is not expressly rendered in the name Pawah : pA wAH. The effective meaning of the name and title is identical to that of the above analysis of the name “Potipherah”, namely: “The One Who Knows The Distant God Ra”.
* * *
Thus by interpreting the two Biblical Egyptian names “Potiphar” and “Potipherah” strictly on the basis of Hebrew defective spelling, and asking if the final Hebrew letter ע in “Potipherah” may, as is clearly the case with the non-west Semitic proper name “Tidal” earlier in the Patriarchal narratives, have been intended to render a particular type of foreign heth (namely a foreign heth that relates by sound to Hebrew ghayin/ġ), we find first and foremost that these two Biblical Egyptian names are something other than merely different spellings of the same underlying Egyptian name (the scholarly view that perhaps most everyone would agree simply does not make good sense). But beyond that, we also find that each such Biblical name turns out to be the Biblical Hebrew equivalent of the attested names at Amarna in Year 13 of the Captain of the Palace Guard and the high-priest of Ra from On. That is to say, these two Biblical Egyptian names now make complete sense, on all levels.
Within a generation or two after Amarna, no one would have remembered the names of the obscure personages the Captain of the Guard and the high-priest of Ra from On in Year 13. The notable fact that “Pharaoh”, “Potiphar” and “Potipherah” are Patriarchal versions of the names “Akhenaten” and his Captain of the Guard and the high-priest of Ra from On in Year 13 admits of only one rational explanation. The Patriarchal narratives were composed, and recorded in writing on cuneiform tablets, in Late Amarna, in and shortly after Year 13, and have phenomenal historical accuracy.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
Per the linguistic analysis set forth in my prior post, we will now see in this post that the Biblical Egyptian name “Potipherah” turns out to be the Biblical Hebrew equivalent of the name and title of the high-priest of Ra from On at Amarna in Year 13, just as we previously saw that the Biblical Egyptian name “Potiphar” is the Biblical Hebrew equivalent of the name of the Captain of the Palace Guard at Amarna in Year 13.
For the reasons set forth in my prior post, the last two Hebrew letters in “Potipherah”, namely רע, are rx in the Buurman transliteration scheme (where x is the only one of the three Egyptian heths which, like Hebrew ghayin/ġ, is a velar fricative). rx is the Egyptian word for “know”. As we can see in Akhenaten’s Great Hymn, an important part of Akhenaten’s theology was the claim that Akhenaten “knew”/rx Ra/Aten:
iw.k m ib.i nn wn ky rx.tw
You [Ra, Aten] are in my heart, there is none other who knows [rx] you
[To supplement my prior post, let me note here that 800 years after the Patriarchal narratives were composed and recorded in cuneiform writing in Late Amarna, and 100 years after the Patriarchal narratives were transformed into alphabetical Hebrew writing under Hebrew King Josiah in 7th century BCE Jerusalem, post-exilic Hebrew authors and editors in the 6th century began to spell Ra with a Hebrew ayin as R‘ : רע. This may well have intentionally been done in order to generate a nasty Hebrew pun by which Ra was deftly characterized as being “evil” in Hebrew, since the Hebrew word for “evil” is spelled the same as the Hebrew spelling of Ra with an ayin. Thus at Jeremiah 44: 30, Jeremiah may well have deliberately chosen to give the Egyptian word “Ra” in the name “Chophra” the spelling of רע because Jeremiah considered that pharaoh to be “evil”, and the Hebrew letters רע are the Hebrew common word that means “evil”. By that intentional double entendre, this hated pharaoh’s very name thus neatly branded him as being “evil”. Set forth below is the only passage in the Bible not dealing with “Potipherah” where a Biblical Egyptian name ends with the Hebrew letters רע. In order to make the point that Jeremiah may have deliberately wanted to spell “Ra” in a manner that would brand this hated pharaoh as being “evil” (רע), the bracketed portion of this quoted passage, in each of two words, features the Hebrew letters רע:
“Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra [חפרע פרעה] king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.” Jeremiah 44: 30
I see “Ramses” in the phrase “land of Ramses” at Genesis 47: 11, where “Ra” is spelled with a Hebrew ayin, as being an editorial addition, and with perhaps a majority of today’s scholars I see such phrase as dating to the 6th century BCE, which is also the historical time period of Jeremiah. The fact that “Ra” was spelled with a Hebrew ayin beginning in the 6th century BCE does not mean that “Ra” was spelled with a Hebrew ayin in the original, Late Bronze Age written cuneiform text version of the Patriarchal narratives!]
The rest of the name “Potipherah” is spelled the same as “Potiphar”, but in the name “Potipherah” the second pA has the alternate meaning of “the one who”, rather than its most common meaning of “the”. So the name “Potipherah” as pA wAt -- pA rx literally means “The Distant [One] -- The One Who Knows”. Using normal English word order, the actual intended meaning of this name of the high-priest of Ra from On in Genesis is: “The One Who Knows The Distant [God (Ra)]”. Note that the divine name “Ra” is not expressly rendered, but rather the sun-god Ra is only indirectly referenced, using the colorful phrase “the distant [god]”.
Now let’s compare that with the name and abbreviated title of the high-priest of Ra from On at Amarna in Year 13 (being the priest with the largest private home at Amarna): “Pawah, Greatest Seer”. We might note for starters that the two syllables of the historical name “Pawah” : pA wAH sound somewhat like the first two syllables [pA wAt] of the Biblical Egyptian name “Potipherah” : pA wAt -- pA rx. In Egyptian, “Pawah” : pA wAH literally means “the one that sets [in the west]”, and is a colorful, indirect reference to the sun, and hence to the sun-god Ra. Like “Potipherah”, the divine name “Ra” is not expressly rendered in the name Pawah : pA wAH. The effective meaning of the name and title is identical to that of the above analysis of the name “Potipherah”, namely: “The One Who Knows The Distant God Ra”.
* * *
Thus by interpreting the two Biblical Egyptian names “Potiphar” and “Potipherah” strictly on the basis of Hebrew defective spelling, and asking if the final Hebrew letter ע in “Potipherah” may, as is clearly the case with the non-west Semitic proper name “Tidal” earlier in the Patriarchal narratives, have been intended to render a particular type of foreign heth (namely a foreign heth that relates by sound to Hebrew ghayin/ġ), we find first and foremost that these two Biblical Egyptian names are something other than merely different spellings of the same underlying Egyptian name (the scholarly view that perhaps most everyone would agree simply does not make good sense). But beyond that, we also find that each such Biblical name turns out to be the Biblical Hebrew equivalent of the attested names at Amarna in Year 13 of the Captain of the Palace Guard and the high-priest of Ra from On. That is to say, these two Biblical Egyptian names now make complete sense, on all levels.
Within a generation or two after Amarna, no one would have remembered the names of the obscure personages the Captain of the Guard and the high-priest of Ra from On in Year 13. The notable fact that “Pharaoh”, “Potiphar” and “Potipherah” are Patriarchal versions of the names “Akhenaten” and his Captain of the Guard and the high-priest of Ra from On in Year 13 admits of only one rational explanation. The Patriarchal narratives were composed, and recorded in writing on cuneiform tablets, in Late Amarna, in and shortly after Year 13, and have phenomenal historical accuracy.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois