Moses (given name)

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Moses (Biblical Greek: Μωυσῆς Mōusês; Koine Greek: Μωσῆς Mōsês), Moises, Moyses (Koine Greek: Μωϋσῆς Mōüsês), Moishe (Yiddish: משה), Moshe (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה), Musa (Arabic: موسی), or Movses (Armenian: Մովսես) is a male given name, after the biblical figure Moses. An Egyptian root msy ('child of') has been considered as a possible etymology, arguably an abbreviation of a theophoric name, as for example in Egyptian names like Thutmose ('child of Thoth') and Ramesses ('child of Ra'), with the god's name omitted. However, the biblical scholar Kenneth Kitchen argued that this – or any Egyptian origin for the name – was unlikely, as the sounds in the Hebrew m-š-h do not correspond to the pronunciation of Egyptian msy in the relevant time period. The linguist Abraham Yahuda, based on the spelling given in the Tanakh, argues that it combines "water" or "seed" and "pond, expanse of water," thus yielding the sense of "child of the Nile" (mw-š). The Hebrew etymology in the Biblical story may reflect...

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