Zaph'nath-Paane'ah (Heb. Tsaphenath' Paa- ne'dch, n3>S rSSU; Sept. '^ov^oj.Kpavijx, Vulg. sul- vator mundi), a name given by Pharaoh to Joseph (Gen xli, 45). See Joseph.
I. Finm of the Word. — Various forms of this name, all traceable to the Hebrew or Sept. original, occur in the works of the early Jewish and Christian writers, chiefly Josephus, from different MSS. and editions of whose AiUiquities (ii, 6, 1) no less than eleven forms have been collected following both originals, some va- riations being very corrupt; but from the translation given by Josephus it is probable that he transcribed the Hebrew. Philo {De Nominum Mut. [ed. Col. 1613], p. 819 c) and Theodoret (i, 106, ed. Schulz) follow the Sei)t., and Jerome the Hebrew. The Coptic version nearly transcribes the iiept., psontho7nphimek.
In the Hebrew text the name is divided into two parts. Every such division of Egyptian words being in accordance with the Egyptian orthography — as No- Ammon, Pi-beseth, Poti-Pherah — we cannot, if the name be Egyptian, reasonably propose an\' change in this case; if the name be Hebrew, the same is certain. There is no prima facie reason for any change in the consonants.
The Sept. form seems to indicate the same division, as the latter part, (patn'iy. is identical with the second part of the Hebrew, while what precedes is different. There is again no prima facie reason for any change from the ordinary reading of the name. The cause of the difference from the Hebrew in the earlier part of the name must be discussed when we come to examine its meaning.
II. Proposed Etymolofiies of the Word. — This name has been explained as Hebrew or Egyptian, and always as a proper name. It has not been supposed to be an oflScial title, but this possibility has to be considered.
1. The rabbins interpreted Zaphnath-paaneah as He- brew, in the sense "revealer of a secret." This expla-
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nation is as old as Josephus (Koinrrwi' ivpeTtjv, Anf. ii, 6, 1), and Tlieodoret also follows it (tmv c'nrof>piinov ipi.a]vevTi)v, i, IdG, Scliuiz). I'liiio offers an explana- tion, which, tliough seemingly different, may be the same (tp ('nroicpian aroj-ia Kpivor; but Mangcy con- jectures the true reading to be tv t'tTroKpvxl/ei (tto^ici airoKpiv6i.itvov, loc. cit.). It must be remembered that Josephus perhaps, and Tlieodoret and Philo certainly, follow the Sept. form of the name. We dismiss the Hebrew interpretation as unsound in itself and demand- ing the improbable concession that Pharaoh gave Jo- sepli a Hebrew name.
2. Isidore, though mentioning the Hebrew interpre- tations, remarks that the name should be Egyptian, and otters an Egyptian etymology: "Joseph . . . hunc Pharao Zaphanath Phaaneca appellavit, quod Hebraice absconditonmi repertorem sonat . . . taaien quia hoc nomeu ab .Egyptio ponitur, ipsius lingiise debet habere ratiouem. Interpretatur ergo Zaphanath Phaaneca iEgyptio sermone salvator muudi" (Oriff. vii, 7, vol. iii, p. 327, Arev.). Jerome adopts the same rendering.
3. Modern scholars have looked to the Coptic for an explanation of this name, Jablonski and others proposing as the Coptic of the Egyptian original psot-in-phenet, etc., " the preservation (or preserver) of the age." This is evidently the etymology intended by Isidore and Jerome. — Smith. See Jablonski, Opnsc. c. 207-216; Rosellini, Mon. Storici, i, 185 ; Champollion, Gramm. p. 380; Pezron, Lex. Copt. p. 207; Gesenius, Thesaur. s. V.
III. Comparison u-itfi Er/yptian Elements. — 1. The He- brew Form. — This, after eliminating the Masoretic vow- els, is Z-ph-n-th P-'-n-ch, which transcribed in hiero- glyphics stands thus:
^
•Xf
ph
th
A«vs(\v- #
cb
The first syllable, ziif, signifies "provisions;" the sec- ond,««?, is the preposition "of;" ^j is the definite article " the ;" and the last syllable, diic/i, means " life." The whole name, therefore, may well be translated "food of the living."
2. The Septuagint Form. — This is more difficult of rendering. The most literal transcription of the Greek ipov^oixcpai'iix, omitting the vowels as unessential, i. e. p-s-n-t-m-2)-H-'-7i-c/i, would be in hieroglyphics thus:
/V>NVVl/
p S 11 t 111 \i u
This means "he who gives joy to the world," a sense evidently taken by Jerome in the Vulg., who lived while the Egyptian was yet vernacular, and who ren- ders it " saviour of the world" (see the Speukei-''s Com- mentary [Amer. ed.], i, 480 sq.).
Za'phon (Heb. Tsaphon', "13!^, north, as often; Sept. 2(-r0(>j)' v. r. 2a0aj/; Vulg. Sapho7t), the name of a place mentioned (in connection with Beth-aram, Beth- nimrah, and Succoth) in the enumeration of the allot- ment of the tribe of Gad (Josh, xiii, 27). It is one of the places in "the valley" (i.e. of the Jordan), which appear to have constituted the " remainder ("ir|^) of the kingdom of Sihon" — apparently referring to the portion of the same kingdom previously allotted to Reuben (ver. 17-21). The enumeration appears to proceed from south to north, and from the mention of the Sea of Chin- neroth it is natural to infer that Zaphon was near that lake. The Talmud ((iemara Jerus. <S7;fit7M, vi) identi- fies it with the ancient Anuithns (q. v.), the remains of which are still called Amatch on Wady Rejib (Schwarz, Palest, p. 232), and this position is not an improbable one.
In Judg. xii, 1 the word rendered " northward" {tsaphdnuh) may with ocpial accuracy be rendered "to Zajiiion." This reuik'ring is supi)orted by the Alex- andrian copy of the Sept. {KKpuva.) and a host of other MSS., and it has consistency on its side, since the Ephraimites were marching eastward rather than northward. See jErirniAii.