Zaphnath-Paaneah
Zaphnath-Paaneah
Biblical name
Zaphnath-Paaneah (Biblical Hebrew: צָפְנַת פַּעְנֵחַ Ṣāp̄naṯ Paʿnēaḥ, LXX: Ψονθομφανήχ Psonthomphanḗch) is the name given by Pharaoh to Joseph in the Genesis narrative (Genesis 41:45).
The name may be of Egyptian origins, but there is no straightforward etymology; some Egyptologists accept that the second element of the name may contain the word Ꜥnḫ "life".
Targum Onkelos (1st century CE) gives the meaning of the name as "the man to whom hidden things are revealed";[1] Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, "the man who revealeth mysteries";[2] Josephus[3] (c. CE 94), "a finder of mysteries". Rashi (11th–12th century CE) in his commentary on the Torah gives the meaning "explainer of hidden things".[4] Nachmanides (13th century) gives "explainer of secrets",[5] while Bahya ben Asher (13th–14th century) gives "the one who reveals secrets".[6] The reason for these translations is that the feminine noun צָפְנַת (Ṣāp̄naṯ) refers to something hidden/secret in Hebrew,[7] deriving from the root צפן (ṣ-p-n), meaning "to hide, conceal";[8] while פַּעְנֵחַ (Paʿnēaḥ) is a verb deriving from the root פענח (p-ʿ-n-ḥ),[9] meaning "to discover, decipher, decode".[10] This would give us the literal translation of "Zaphnath-Paaneah" from Hebrew as "He [who] deciphered the Hidden".
The Jewish interpretation is received in early Protestant translations: the Geneva Bible (1599) glosses "The expounder of secrets",[11] while the Authorised Version of 1611 has in the margin: "Which in the Coptic signifies, 'A revealer of secrets', or 'The man to whom secrets are revealed.'"
In his work on Genesis, and in the Vulgate, Jerome gives as the Latin translation salvator mundi "saviour of the world".[12] This Christian interpretation (reinforcing the ancient concept of Joseph as a type of Christ) is influenced by the Greek form of the name, Ψονθομφανήχ Psonthomphanḗkh and Ψομθομφανήχ Psomthomphanḗkh in the Septuagint and the Hexaplaric version, respectively. This, at least, is the suggestion made by Wilhelm Gesenius in his Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon.[13] Early Egyptologists have interpreted the name as equivalent to Coptic ⲡⲥⲟⲧⲙⲫⲉⲛⲉϩ psotmpheneh or ⲡⲥⲱⲧⲙ ⲫⲉⲛⲉϩ psōtm pheneh meaning "the salvation of the age".[14]
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| *(ḏd pꜣ-nṯr jw.f ꜥnḫ) "God speaks and he lives" in hieroglyphs | |||||||||
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Since the decipherment of hieroglyphics, Egyptologists have interpreted the final element of the name (-ʿnêaḫ, -anḗkh) as containing the Egyptian word ꜥnḫ "life"; notably, Georg Steindorff in 1889 offered a full reconstruction of ḏd pꜣ nṯr iw.f ꜥnḫ "the god speaks [and] he lives" (Middle Egyptian pronunciation: ṣa pīr nata yuVf[n 1] anaḫ).[15] Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen, however, has pointed out this interpretation's shortcomings; namely, this name-type is unattested prior to the 11th century BCE while Joseph lived much earlier, and that this name type always mentioned a specific deity, never 'the god'.[16]
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| (*ḏfꜣw n tꜣ pw ꜥnḫ) "the sustenance of the land is he, the living one" in hieroglyphs | |||||||||||||
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Kitchen's objections were already raised in 1929 by Abraham Yahuda, who also pointed out that this type of name makes sense only when it is given to a newborn, placing the baby under the god's protection; he suggested instead ḏfꜣ n tꜣ pꜣ ꜥnḫ "the living one is the sustenance of (the) land"[17] or ḏfꜣ n tꜣ pw ꜥnḫ "the sustenance of the land is he, the living one."[18]
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| (*pꜣ s nty ꜥm=f nꜣ iḫ.t) "the man who knows the things" in hieroglyphs | ||||||||||||
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Jozef Vergote[19] agreed with Yahuda's criticism of Steindorff's hypothesis but in turn considered the expression "living one" in Yahuda's suggestion to be "tellement entortillée qu'elle enlève toute vraisemblance à l'hypothèse."[20] Instead, Vergote returns to the Septuagint version, explaining Ψονθομφανήχ as pꜣ s nty ꜥm=f nꜣ iḫ.t, "the man who knows the things,"[21] consistent with the traditional Jewish interpretation.
The Biblical phrase Zaphenath-Paneah is composed of a Hebrew word, Paneah (to reveal) and an Egyptian sound or name, Zaphenath. The latter, in biblical Hebrew is written as four letters צָ-פְ-נַ-ת (pron. Ṣāp̄naṯ). This transliterates to the four syllables in S-PH-N-X (in modern English, Sphinx). The story relates how Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dreams as anticipating cyclical downturns in food production and general economic hardships due to adverse changes in weather conditions. For this Pharaoh knights Joseph with the designation "revealer of the Sphinx." At that time, 3500 years ago, the Sphinx represented a monument which had been built many millennia earlier and had deteriorated with the ravages of weather. Joseph's explanation reminded Pharaoh that even the great civilization existing in his time could (or would) succumb to circumstances like the weather which were beyond Pharaoh's and his administrations' political control. (Source: original)
- "Onkelos Genesis 41:45". Sefaria.
- "Targum Jonathan on Genesis 41:45". Sefaria.
- Antiquities of the Jews ii.6.1
- "Rashi on Genesis 41:45:1". Sefaria.
- "Ramban on Genesis 41:45:1". Sefaria.
- "Rabbeinu Bahya Bereshit 41:45:1". Sefaria.
- "Klein Dictionary, צָפְנַת". Sefaria.
- "Conjugation of לִצְפּוֹן". Sefaria.
- "Klein Dictionary, פענח". Sefaria.
- "Conjugation of לְפַעְנֵחַ". Pealim.
- "Genesis 41:45 GNV - And Pharaoh called Joseph's name". Bible Gateway. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
- Jerome, Liber Hebraicarum Quaestionum in Genesim, LXI:45. (Migne, J. P. (ed.) Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis presbyteri Opera omnia, Patrologia Latini vol. 23, Paris: 1845, pp. 998.)
- Here ⲡ- is the masculine singular definite article, ⲥⲱⲧ is taken as "salvation" or "savior" (loaned into Coptic from Greek, related to the word Soter, cf. ⲥⲱⲧⲉ "Coptic Dictionary Online (TLA lemma no. C3793)". Retrieved 2021-11-05.), ⲙ is the genitive marker, ⲫ- is the masculine singular definite article, and ⲉⲛⲉϩ is "aion, an age or world". (cf. Gesenius, Wilhelm; Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux (1894). Gesenius's Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures.) This interpretation goes back to the Glossarium Aegyptiacum by Jablonski (published 1809). cf. The Asiatic Journal. Parbury, Allen, and Company. 1837-01-01.
- "Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache," xxvii. 42, modifying Krall's etymology in "Trans. 7th Orientalist. Congr." p. 110
- Kitchen, Kenneth A. (2007). "Genesis 12-50 in the Near Eastern World". In Hess, Richard S.; Wenham, Gordon; Satterthwaite, Philip E. (eds.). He Swore an Oath: Biblical Themes from Genesis 12-50 (2nd ed.). Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 80–84. ISBN 978-1-55635-732-9.
- Yahuda, A. S. (1929). Die Sprache des Pentateuch in ihren Beziehungen zum Aegyptischen. Leipzig: De Gruyter. pp. 32ff., cited by Vergote, p. 143.
- Vergote, Jozef (1959). Joseph en Égypte: Genèse chap. 37-50 à la lumière des études égyptologiques récentes. Orientalia et Biblica Lovaniensia. Vol. 3. Louvain: Publications Universitaires. pp. 141–151.
- Ibid., p. 144.
- Ibid., pp. 144-146.
- Marquardt, Philologus, vii. 676;
- Cheyne and Black, Encyc. Bibl. col. 5379 (where a disfigured Hebrew original is suspected);
- Steindorff, G., Der Name Josephs Saphenat-Pa'neach: Genesis Kapitel 41, 45. ZÄS 27, 1889, 41–42.
- Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch. xx. 208 (where the other theories have been collected). E. G.
- "Zaphnath-Paaneah". JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2015-08-30.