THOTH A) THOTH's NAME As a Rule Thoth's Name Is Written In

CHAPTER FIVE

THOTH

A) THOTH'S NAME As a rule Thoth's name is written in hieroglyphics with the figure of the ibis. R. LEPSIUS was the first to discover that the name must be read as !)~wtj. 1 This reading corresponds with the Coptic translation of the ancient Egyptian name, ew8, ewv8, with the neo-Babylonian transcript Tichut and with the appelation Tautos which Philo gives to the deity. 2 As yet no completely satisfactory explanation has been found for the significance of the name !)~wtj. H. KEEsbelieves no explanation can be found. 3 Other Egyptologists point out that the name could be a so-called nisbe form meaning 'the one of !)~wt'. 4 Since no known city or region is called !)~wt, this interpretation does not provide any insight into the meaning of the name. TH. HOPFNER also holds the name to be a nisbe form, but pursues a different line in his endeavour to decipher !)~wtj. 5 He believes that rJ~w could have been the oldest name of the ibis, which is called h~j in Egyptian. !)~wtj would then mean 'he who has the nature of the ibis'. As an argument for his postulation he cites a passage from the renowned myth of the destruction or salvation of mankind. In it an allusion is made to the name of Thoth. This is one of those figures of speech which appear to have been popular in ancient Egypt, because they were believed to make all sorts of religious quantities more comprehensible. Philologi• cally such allusions are worthless, but for the history of religions they are not without meaning. In the aforesaid myth Re commands Thoth to send out his messengers (h ~b). Thus, the text says, there came into being the ibis of Thoth. 6 This quotation could more aptly be used to support the explanation that the term rJ~wtj is conceived of as mess en-

1 R. PrETSOJDIANN, HermM TriMnegi8to8, 1875, p. 1. I BONNET, Realluikon, p. 805. 8 H. Kus, GoUerglaube, p. 306. 4 P. BOYLAN, Tooth, the Hermes of Egypt, 1922, p. 10; K. SETRE, Amun und die ache Urgotttr von HtrmopoliB, 1929, p. 38. I TH. HOPFNER, Der TierkuU der alten Agypter, 1914, p. 117/8. S G. ROEDER, Urkunden zur Religion des alten Agypten, 1923, p. 147/8. THOTH 107 ger. In his commentary on the name of Thoth, W. WESSETSKY proceeds from the substantive ~wwtj, meaning 'messenger'. 1 By adding the prefix Ij, the name P~wtj is supposed to have been created. 2 Apart from the question whether this conjecture is valid philologically, it can find an ideological basis in the function which Thoth fulfilled in the world of the gods. He is the secretary of Re and also, as has already appeared, his messenger who promulgates the laws of 'the Lord of the All'. 8 This interpretation also agrees with the Greek identification of Thoth with Hermes, who held the same office. Interesting is the cryptic reproduction of the name of Thoth with the hieroglyphic sign for bread, to be read t; or t. . The same sign can be found in the old style of writing tbn, meaning 'ibis'. 4 If this sign is not an ordinary abbreviation, it could be the indication of the participium activum of the verb tj, meaning 'to crush'. 5 Thoth would thus be characterised as 'the crusher', the crusher of Seth and other foes. Thoth is, indeed, the great combatant and destroyer of his opponents. On this point K. SETHE remarks that this cryptic style of writing is not unique. Parallels are Ifr, meaning 'the far one' for Horus and WIj' meaning 'the condemned' for Seth. 8 Since the end of the New Kingdom Thoth is often called Isdes. Isdes was a god who was held to be 'the Lord of the West' and who filled the office of the judge of the dead. 7 Understandably Isdes was associated with Thoth, the famous advocate for the departed in the judgment of the dead. A later spelling is perhaps the name Isden or Isten, which was also used for Thoth. 8 There would be little point in devoting so much attention to the name of Thoth if it were merely a question of an arbitrary appelation. But to the ancient mind a name expresses the being of its bearer. 9

1 W.B. 3, 44. 2 w. WESSETZKY, "Zur Problematik des ej.Pritfixs und der Name des Thot", Z.A.S. 82, p. 152 sq. 3 K. SETHE, Dramatische Texte Z'U altiigypti8chen Mysterie7UIpielen, 1928, p. 104; W.B. 5, 211. 4 W.B. 5, 326. ~ W.B. 5,237. 6 SETHE, op. cit. p. 104. 7 W.B. I, 134. 8 BONNET, op.cit. p. 325/6. 9 H.W. OBBINK, De magiBche beteekeniB van de =am, in zonderheid in het oude Euypte, 1925.