موسى: Moshe by any other name?

[Daniel Levy]

We make a big deal out of the fact that Loshon Hakodesh was unique and only the Jews in Egypt could speak it. Par’oh knew all languages besides Hebrew when Yosef meets him, the brothers talk openly in front of Yosef because no-one speaks Hebrew, “they didn’t change their names, clothes or language” etc. So when Batya takes Moshe out the Nile and names him – וַתִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ, מֹשֶׁה, וַתֹּאמֶר, כִּי מִן-הַמַּיִם מְשִׁיתִהוּ – how is she able to name him with this unique language?

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[Jonathan Ross]

> She spoke Hebrew and recognised that he was circumcised so she gave him a Hebrew name.

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Jonathan Ross" <Jona...@ross.re>
Date: 6 Jan 2015 11:10
Subject: Re: موسى: Moshe by any other name?
To: <beisp...@googlegroups.com>
Cc:

She spoke Hebrew and recognised that he was circumcised so she gave him a Hebrew name.

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[Joel Kahan]

See Ibn Ezra on the passuk - he says that Moshe is a Hebrew translation of an Egyptian name (which he gives as Munyom (?) presumably meaning 'drawn out'). He then goes on to say that maybe she had learned Hebrew (against the premise of your question) or maybe she asked someone for a Hebrew translation of the Egyptian name she chose.

See also the Netziv in Ha'amek Davar - he says that Moshe in Egyptian means 'son'. When she says 'ki min hamayim mishisihu' she is saying he is my son because I took from him from the water i.e. his parents abandoned him so I can claim him as my own son. The Torah uses the word mishisihu as a play on words, but there is really no etymological connection between Moshe (Egyptian, 'son') and mishisihu (Hebrew, 'I drew him out').

[Ganz, Rafi (UK - London)]

It was a common suffix to Egyptian names (ironically often prefixed with the name of a god) – e.g. Rameses - as Joel pointed out it means “son” which is quite poignant in the context given that Batya was adopting him

 

Rafi Ganz
Deloitte LLP
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