Genesis 41:45

45. Zaphnath-paaneah An Egyptian name signifying bread of life, a most appropriate designation of Joseph, in his relation to the Egyptians . Others have explained the word as meaning, revealers of secrets, (Targ . , Syr . ,) saviour of the world, (Vulgate,) but the deciphering of the hieroglyphic inscriptions has led to the explanation first given above . See Cook’s Essay on Egyptian Words . The same writer explains Asenath to mean sacred to Neith, the Egyptian Athene, or Minerva; or perhaps a combination of Isis and Neith, names of two deities Isis-neith, a name very likely to be given to his daughter by an Egyptian priest . So also Potipherah is explained as meaning devoted to Ra, the sun god, a suitable name for the priest of On, or Heliopolis, the great city and seat of the worship of the sun . This city stood about two hours’ ride north-east of Cairo, and its site is now “marked by low mounds inclosing a space about three quarters of a mile in length, by half a mile in breadth; which was once occupied partly by houses and partly by the celebrated temple of the Sun. The solitary obelisk which still rises in the midst, is the sole remnant of the former splendours of the place. The Seventy translate the name On by Heliopolis, city of the sun; and the Hebrew prophet calls it in the same sense, Bethshemesh. Jeremiah 43:13. The city suffered greatly from the invasion of Cambyses; and in Strabo’s time it was a mass of splendid ruins . ” Robinson .