Monday, May 7, 2018

Egyptian Bakennefi and the Etymology of "Nephi"


Before 2004 it was merely speculation that there was a name Nefi that existed in Egyptian, by analogy of various forms. Since 2004 it has become known that the name Nefi is Egyptian in origin. (It actually was known in English by 1902, but at least as early as 1863 in German publications, but nobody seems to have been paying attention.) It appears in a compound name dating to at least the reign of Shoshenq III (837–798 BCE, 22nd Dynasty). Those below quoting out-of-date information are unaware of the most recent information made public, and some have thought it is a made up name.
But according to Aidan Dodson, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt (2004), pp. 212, 218, a man by the name of Bakennefi (meaning “servant of breath/the wind”) also transliterated in other texts as Bak-en-nefi [which is how the word/name elements of this Egyptian compound name are read] son of Shoshenq III by [Ta]dibast, is "known from a Stela from near Heliopolis." The same name also appears in a 2010 edition of the same work, by Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton, published by Thames & Hudson.

Pyle makes reference to Aidan Dodson’s The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt (London: Thames and Hudson, 2004), which I discovered (happily!) is available online here.

The following table comes from pp.212-13 which contains Bekennefi:



And here is p. 218: