MELZAR (13529 Dn 1" 18), —The LXX (᾿Αβιεσδρί), Theodotion (‘Auedod or ‘Auepodp), the Vulg. (Mala- sar), all regard it as a proper name, and have been followed in this by our AV and other modern versions, This is now universally admitted to be a mistake. The article precedes the noun, and the two together must be rendered ‘the steward (RV), or ‘the cupbearer’ (Kautzsch’s AZ), or ‘the
338 MEM
MEMPHIS
The last It expresses fairly well the functions with The
overseer’ (Nowack’s Handkommentar). is best. which the man in question was charged. prince of the eunuchs bade him superintend the diet, training, and conduct of Daniel and his three faithful companions, until the time when they
should be fit to enter on the king’s service. It has been well said that he thus combined the duties of the παιδαγωγός and τροφεύς, and attention has been called to the inscription on the Bellino cylinder which mentions the son of one ‘who was governor over the young men educated in my [the king of Assyria’s] palace.’ This was hardly the cup- bearer’s work. And the title steward leads our thought to the superintendence of property rather than of persons.
The derivation of the word melzar has been very variously given. Hitzig, in his Commentary, com- pared with it Μολοσσός, Laconian Μολοσσόρ, and connected this with κολοσσός. Halévy compares μυλωθρός, ‘miller’: Griitz, coming a little nearer the meaning, μελέτωρ. The Pers. mul-ser, ‘keeper of the cellar,’ has met with much favour, but. the duties of that official do not square with those assigned to ham-melzar. Lenormant thought of the Assyr. amil ussur, ‘treasurer.’ Other sug- gested Assyr. origins are mul, ‘a star,’ and Mulal- Assur. But the most probable is that of Frd. Delitzsch and Schrader, who point out the frequent interchange of 5 and 3 in Semitic, and hold that our word may be the same as the Assyr. massaru, ‘guardian,’ from the root 1%. Schrader compares massar babi, ‘gatekeeper.’ As to the /, Delitzsch points to βάλσαμον, from oy3. In the Pesh. and Arab. of the two Daniel passages we find the n,
Fea tO, lire.
MEM (1).—The thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and as such employed in the 119th Psalm to designate the 13th part, each verse of which begins with this letter. It is transliterated in this Dictionary by m.
MEMEROTH (A Μαρερώθ, B om., AV Meremoth), 1 Es 8°=MERAIOTH, an ancestor of Ezra (Ezr 73). Also called MArmMoTH, 2 Es 13,
MEMMIUS, QUINTUS(Kéivros Μέμμιος), a Roman legate (2 Mac 11), but no Memmius with this preenomen is mentioned elsewhere. The Memmii were members of a plebeian gens which first appears in history in B.C. 173, and more frequently from the time of the Jugurthine war (B.c. 111). In 170 T. Memmius was sent by the Senate to Macedonia and Achaia (Livy, xliii. 5). See MANIUs. H. A. WHITE.
MEMORIAL, MEMORY.—A memorial is that which preserves alive the memory of some person or event; but in earlier English the words were not carefully distinguished, so that in AV we find ‘memorial’ where we should now use ‘memory,’ and ‘memory’ where we should use ‘memorial.’
MeEmorRIAL: Est 9% ‘The Jews ordained... that these days of Purim should not fail among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed’; Ps 9° ‘Thou hast destroyed cities ; their memorial is perished with them’; 135%; Wis 4! ‘Better it is to have no children, and to have virtue; for the memorial thereof is immortal’ (ἀθανασία γάρ ἐστιν ἐν μνήμῃ αὐτῆς, RV ‘in the memory of virtue is immortality’); 419. ‘their memorial shall perish’ (υνήμη, RV ‘memory’); Sir 45! ‘Moses, beloved of God and men, whose memorial is blessed’ (μνημόσυνον ; so 4910, 1 Mac 37 12°5; else- where μ. is rendered ‘remembrance,’ ‘renown,’ ete., RV prefers ‘memorial’). Cf. Pr 107 Cov.
J. TAYLOR.
‘The memorial of the iust shall have a good reporte, but the name of the ungodly shall stynke’; Ps 145’, Pr. Bk. ‘The memorial of thyne aboundant kyndnes shal be shewed, and men shall synge of thy righteousness.’
Memory: 1 Mac 13” ‘ Upon the pillars he made all their armour for a perpetual memory’ (els ὄνομα αἰώνιον). Cf. Mt 26%, Rhem. ‘Wheresoever this Gospel shal be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done, shal be reported for a memorie of her’; Shaks. Jul. Cas. I. ii. 139—
‘And they would go and kiss dead Cmsar’s wounds And dip their napkins in his sacred blood, Yea, beg a hair of him for memory.’
But ‘memory’ is also used for remembrance, the retaining of the past in memory, 2 Mac 7” ‘But the mother was marvellous above all, and worthy of honourable memory.’ ΟΣ, the Rhem. tr. of Ac 10% ‘thy almesdeedes are in memorie in the sight of God’; Ro 1° ‘I make a memorie of you alwaies in my praiers.’ J. HASTINGS.
MEMPHIS, the capital of Egypt, is, in the Heb. text, only once (Hos 9°) written correctly 4> Moph. In the other passages (Is 191°, Jer 2!° 441 46% 9, Ezk 30": 18) it is corrupted to 43 Noph. EV is correct and in agreement with the ancient versions in render- ing Moph, ‘Memphis’; Noph, which likewise all ancient versions render ‘Memphis,’ is merely transliterated. The name Memphis was in ancient Egyp. Men-nofer (=later Men-nu/e), i.e. ‘the good (or fine) abode.’ Plutarch’s translations (de Iside et Ostride, 20), ὅρμος ἀγαθῶν, ‘landing-place of the good,’ and ‘tomb of the good god’ (#.e. Osiris), are erroneous, betraying little knowledge of Egyptian. The vernacular shortening was Mennefe, Menfe, in the Coptic period Mente, Membe, Memfi, but more frequently Mefe (Arab. Mafe, more commonly Menf). These shortened forms passed over into many lengaseet: Assyrian, Mempi, Mimpi ; Greek- Latin, Memphis (hence Targumic Méphis), ete. The Heb. renders the most abridged form Meph(e). The corruption Noph is, perhaps, due to an attempt at taking > for 42, and, subsequently, shortening this.—The sacred name of \ pe ar