MOSES' NAME

The name "Moses" is Latin or Greek transliteration of Hebrew "Moseh," derived from the Egyptian theophorous name "Mose" or "Mesu" from hieroglyphic 

"msj" 

or

"msw," 

which means " give birth." 

His name could be spelled too as

"Mesi,"

"Mesusa" ("Meshusha"),

"-messu," 

" -mosis" or "- meses."

In the Hittite-Egyptian peace treaty, the name "Ra-moses" is spelled "Ria-mashesha," making the suffix " -moses" as

 " -mashesha."

The name "Moses" in Egyptian means 

" Born of ..."

suggestive that Moses omitted the first part of his name, which was expectedly a name of an Egyptian god.

 This short form is a hypocoristic name which was a usual practice by foreigners for Egyptian theophorous name. 

King Rameses III (1186-1155 BCE) shortened further his name into 

" -Su " 

(" Born ...") 

and to insult him the pharaoh called him 

"jrsw"

or  "Yarsu" ("He made himself ")

to put on historical record that it's not the Egyptian god who anointed him, rather he himself acted as one of the gods and usurped the authority - that is, he is a plunderer. 

The teacher of Manetho might have identified him 

"Osarsu" ("Oyarsu "),

which is translated into Greek 

" Osarseph."

According to Aegyptiaca ("History of Egypt" ), written by Manetho (fl. c. 285 - c 240 BCE), that name was from Osiris (Wsjr), as expected because Osiris was syncretised with 

" iah " (yah). 

Therefore the long name of Moses could be

" Yar-Mesu,"

where "Yar " (likely read by Egyptians as "Yah") is a shortened moon god's name. 

Egyptians declined to use the name "Yah" for their moon god during this Late Bronze Age, as obviously Moses popularized the word "Yah" for the Hebrew God's name. "Yāreah" is the word 'moon ' for Canaanites, and a short form of it ("yar-" in exchange of "yah") could be the prefix of the theophorous name of "Moses." 

Thus, his name might have evolved as follows:

Yah-Mesu.

Yar-Mesu.

Mesu.

Su.

Yarsu.

Osarsu.

Osarsiph.

And if Moses bore the syncretic name of Osiris (as Osiris is described " iah-djehuty" or Yah-Thoth, i.e. "god of the new moon," god of calculation, knowledge, writing), it may mean that Moses was born on the day of feast of Osiris.

If he was born during the feast of Osiris in 1309 BCE, then the Egyptian calendar that year has "July 12 - Thursday" also known

 1st day of the Egyptian year (called " Osiris [birthday]"). 

Moses possibly used "yah" as to mean "fullmoon" and was inclined to celebrate feast during fullmoon, and as a process of this practice, the Hebrew letters for "yah" was later popularized to be understood as the number "15." In Hebrew number system, 

"y h"

means "15,"

and the Egyptian word "yah" means "moon" when it comes to calendar mid-month feasts.

This suggests that Moses might have used the symbol for  " yah " as a logogram for "15" and as an ideogram for "moon."

We can trace from Moses' practice the number 15 of the fullmoon.

For example, Moses intended the escape of the Hebrews from Rameses on 

Abib yah (Abib 15), 

which was a fullmoon in that night. 

Numbers 33:3

" And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the

 fifteenth day of the first month; 

on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. " - Numbers 33:3 (KJV)

Incidentally, the Egyptian word " yah" is homophone to the Ugaritic theophoric suffix word 

" - ia " ("ya").

Abraham and the Hebrews from Amorite Ebla or Mari might have used the word 

"ya"

 as a generic term for "god " and might have borrowed it from the name "Ea," the God who saved Utnapishtim (Noah) from a river flood in Ararat area.

Knowing that "yah" was a generic term for "god " during the time of Abraham down to Moses, 

"Abib Yah"  

may mean "Abib 15",

"Fullmoon of Abib"

and Abib of God (i.e. feast or holiday for God).

Why Moses omitted the term " Yah-" from his original name? 

In official Egyptian naming system, the name of a god must be a prefix. 

For an instance:

"Amen-hotep" ("god Amun is satisfied").

"Ra-meses" ("It is Re, who has born him").

" Ah-mose" ("moon god Jah born him").

His longer name "Yar-Mesu" may mean "Born of [moon god] Jah." 

Since Moses (Su) was teaching people to abandon Egyptian religious practices, it is expected that he would rather retain the hypocorism of his name than to use the traditional naming system. 

Amenhotep IV made a naming system for monotheists by putting a god's name at the end of the  theonym (like his own name "Akhen-Aten," which means "Effective for god Aten"). And Moses' family followed that system, as evident in the name of "Aaron" ("Aa-Re", "Great is Ra"), 

Miriam ("Miry-Amun," "Beloved of Amen"),

but his mother and father were before that naming system, so that 

Jochebed  has"Djehuti-ebed," "Servant of Thot"), and so on.

Since Egyptian name is associated to a feast of an Egyptian god, Moses' adopting mother had the right to name him based on the calendar birthday of a god. 

"[He] was by birth of Hellopolis, and his name Osarsiph, from Osyris, who was the god of Heliopolis; but that when he was gone over these people, his name was changed, and he was called Moses." 

- Manetho (c. 260 BCE), Aegyptiaca (verbatim preserved in Against Apion 1.26, by Josephus)

The name "Moses" ("Mesu") may vary from country to country that Late Bronze Age. 

In Athens it was "Musaeos," whereas in Arsawan Lydia "Mukusus." In Kue it was Moxos by ancient Cilicians and "Mopso" (Mopsos) by the Phoenicians.

  

In Egypt it was "Yarsu" or "Su," whereas to Manetho it was "Osarsuph." 

In Alashiya, Cyprus, the name

" Kush-Meshusha " 

may mean "Yah-Moses" ("moon god 'Kushuh' born him"). 

'Kushuh' was a Hurrian god and syncretised with the moon god of Harran, the ancestral country of Abram.

 

Kushmeshusha (Yah-Moses) might have usurped the power probably by calling himself "sharru" ("king") or above rabisu and likely pretending to be one, when in fact the ruler there that was communicating with Egyptian and Hittite kings was usually rabisu (senior prefect ) and did not reveal the name of the king . This Kushmeshusha was sending tonne of copper to Niqmaddu (c. 1222 - c. 1215 BCE), and as a possible consequence the Ugarit king was put in many investigations. 

This could be clearly understood if we will dig deeply what prophet Amos is saying on the military activities that led to the liberation of Israel, Peleset, and Aram. 

According Amos 9:7, Yahweh brought up 

Peleset (Philistines) from Caphtor, and 

Aram (probably Emar, Syria ) from Kir (Ugarit) 

as He brought up Israel from the land of Egypt. He even describes Israel as like Kushiyim ( Kush - Hurrians and/or Kushites of Midianites).

" Haloh ([Are] not)

kibne (like the sons)

Kushiyim (of the Kushites/or Hurrians)

'atem (you)

li (to Me)

bene Yishra'el (sons of Israel)?

naum YHWH (says Yahweh);

Haloh eth- (Did not)

Yishra'el (Israel)

he'eleti (I bring up)

me-eretz Misrayim (from the earth of Egypt)?

u-Pelistiyim (and Peleset)

mi-Kaftwr (from Caphtor),

wa'aram (and Aram, Syria)

mi-Qir (from Kir/Ugarit)?" 

- Amos 9:7

This bringing up of people are said to be as when Israel was brought up from the land of Egypt, and the over all general involved in this escape was Moses.

 Needless to say, by Moses YHWH brought up Aram (Syrian) from Kir, Peleset (ancestors of Philistines) from Caphtor, and Israel from Egypt. 

When Moses enabled to go back to the border of Egypt, in Kadeshbarnea, the teenager pharaoh Siptah executed Chancellor Bay by a crime 

"great enemy." 

"Year 5, [Egyptian] Abib 27th

(That is, 9th May, 1193 BCE, Ziv 7).

 On this day, the scribe of the tomb Paser came announcing 

'sema Par-ao a.w.s kheru aa Bay'

(has killed by Pharaoh L.P.H., Bay [the] great enemy)." 

- Ostraca IF SO 1864, published by Pierre (titled "L'execution du chancelier Bay O. IFAO 1864," BIFAO 100 [2000]: pp. 339–345)

Pharaoh Siptah, most likely under the influence of Queen Tausert, ordered the capital punishment for Chancellor Bay, and according to king Rameses III, they conspired with 

"Su " (Mesu/Moses). 

Chancellor Bay was communicating with Ugarit king Ammurapi, who was a supporter of the deceased Merneptah. It could be under the conspiracy of Su (Moses), Queen Tausert and king Siptah why Chancellor Bay was executed. 

After that, Moses (1309 - 1189 BCE) decided to transfer his family and the Hebrews from Kadeshbarnea to Edom in 1192 BCE.