The Names of most, if not all, of the Egyptian Gods are susceptible of a perfectly unequivocal explanation by means of the Hebrew and the Indo-European languages.(106) This will be evident from the following analysis, in which I have availed myself of the account of their names and attributes given by a high authority—Mr. Wilkinson.(107)
“Neph, Phtah, and Khem,” the first three of the Egyptian Gods noticed below, represent attributes of the Deity.
KNEPH, or, more properly, NEPH or NEF, “The Spirit of God which moved on the face of the Waters.”(108) Nouf, “Spirit.” Nife, “To breathe, to blow.” Nifi, “Inspiration,” (_Egypt._) This word, Neph, has been shown to exist in the same and in analogous senses in the Hebrew and Indo-European tongues. It has also been pointed out as occurring in a remarkable instance as a word for a “Spirit,” and also as a name of the “Supreme Being,” among the North American Indians. (See p. 24.(109))
PTHAH, “The Creative Power that made the World,” styled “The Father of the Gods.”(110)
Pita, Pitre (_Sanscrit_,) “A Father.” Phu-o, “Gĭgnō, Produco.” Phu teuō, “Machinor Semĭno.” Pat-er, “A Father,” (_Greek._)
RAH, “Sun,” “The Material and Visible Orb.” (See App. pp. 2 and 3.)
_Ph-Rah_, “Ph,” “The,” and Rah, “Sun.” Hence the name “Pharaoh,” applied to the Kings of Egypt.
AMUN-RA, “The splendour and beneficent property of the Sun,” “Jupiter-Ammon” of the classical nations.
The word A.m.n, in Hebrew, implies “nurturing or fostering care, to support, to sustain,” In Egypt there is a verb Amoni “To hold,” and Āmoni “To feed.” Amoun in Hebrew, and Mone in Egypt, mean “A Nurse,” and in Egypt “A Shepherd.”
Amoni, “Patience,” (_Egypt._) Amyn-edd “Patience,” Amoun “To defend,” M-ou yn, “Kind,” (_Welsh._)
NEITH or MAUT, “Minerva, called the Mother of the Gods.” Mata (_Sanscrit._) Mat-er (_Latin._) Maau (_Egypt._) A.m.a (_Heb._) “A Mother.”
The names of Osiris and Serapis have been explained at p. 20; that of Hor (“Horus,”) in Appendix A, p. 2; that of Io, “The Visible Body of the Moon,”(111) in Appendix A, pp. 24-25.
It will be observed that the Egyptian mythology, like that of the Indo-European nations, as noticed in the last section, distinctly combines with Personifications of the powers of nature, views of the attributes and agencies of the Supreme Being which occur in the Hebrew Scriptures, as in the instance of “Neph.” It is remarkable that the same allusion as this name presents, occurs in the Hindoo mythology in Náráyana, one of the names given to Vishnu, the Deity viewed as a preserver or Saviour. Sir William Jones thus explains this term in a quotation from a passage in which Menu, the son of Brahma, begins his address to the Sages who consulted him on the formation of the Universe. “The waters are called _nárà_, since they are the offspring of NERA, (or I’SWARA;) and thence was Náráyana named, because his first _ayana_ or _moving_, was on them!”(112)