Egyptian Background to the Yosef Narratives/0

Egyptian Background to the Yosef Narratives

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Egyptian Loanwords

The stories of Yosef in Egypt contain many loanwords from Egyptian.  Given the Egyptian milieu of the stories, this is to be expected.¹  For a discussion of each of t

• Proper names and titles – Many of the characters' names and titles have Egyptian origins, including Paroh, Potiphar, Zafenat Paneach (the name given to Yosef by Paroh), and Potiphera.
• Other words –
• Material culture –

Age of Yosef at Death

¹ See B. Noonan, "Egyptian Loanwords as Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus and Wilderness Traditions," Did I Not Bring Israel out of Egypt? ed. J. K. Hoffmeier, A. R. Millard, and G. A. Rendsbur, (Indianna, 2016): 48-68, who notes that the preponderance of Egyptian loanwords in these and the Exodus stories (in contrast to the rest of Tanakh) provides evidence of the authenticity of the Biblical text, as the borrowing points to a period of intense contact between the groups. There is further evidence that some of the words were borrowed during the Late Bronze Age, the period of the sojourn and Exodus, making the case even stronger.