The following comes from:
Dictionary of Proper Names and
Foreign Words in the Book of Mormon,
ed. Stephen D. Ricks, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Robert F. Smith, and John Gee (Orem,
Utah: Interpreter Foundation; Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2022)
Paanchi
The
Lehite PN PAANCHI may plausibly derive from the Egyptian name p3-nḫ,
first attested in the Thirteenth Dynasty (ca. 1800-1600 BC) (Smith, Fortress
of Buhen, plate V [#1078], line 5; translation on p. 16), becoming popular
from the Twenty-First through Twenty-Seventh Dynasties (Ranke, Personnamen,
1:103), and surviving until Roman times (transcribed into Greek as Ponchēs)
(Lüddeckens, Demotisches Namenbuch 1.3.162). The name means “the living
one” (Lüddeckens, Demotisches Namenbuch 1.3.162). (pp. 271-72)
Pachus
The
PN PACHUS may derive from the ancient Egyptian p3-ḫ3=s,
listed in Lüddeckens’s Demotisches Namenbuch, which may be rendred as
“he who cast it off.” Robert F. Smith suggests that Pachus may also be
connected with the Egyptian pr ks, “House of Cush” (Smith, “Egyptianisms
in the Book of Mormon, 6). (p. 273)
Pacumeni
Unless
the PN PACUMENI contains what appears to be the Jaredite name element
kumen/cumen, several Egyptian etymologies for this name seem promising. Hugh
Nibley suggests that Palumeni is the name of an Egyptian hero (Nibley, Approach
to the Book of Mormon, 186. See Smith, “Egyptianisms in the Book of
Mormon,” 6, for i3-kwmni and other suggestions). Nibley also observes
that the PN PACUMENI “resembles that borne by some of the last priest
governors of Egypt, whose names are rendered Pamenech, Pamnkh, Pamenches, etc.
The Greeks (who often furnish the key to the correct reading of Egyptian names)
put the guttural before the nasal Pachomios. The most famous man of the name
commanded all the forces of the south and was also high priest of Horus. At
least one other governor-general of Egypt bore the name” (Nibley, Lehi in
the Desert, 23, citing Spiegelberg, “Der Stratege Pamenches,” 88-92, and
Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna Tafeln, 1566). One may also compare the Egyptian
PN p3-kmn, Pakamen, “he is blind, the blind man” (Nibley, Lehi in the
Desert, 28; Nibley, Approach to the Book of Mormon, 284). (pp.
273-74)
Pahoran
The
PN PAHORAN may most plausibly be compared with the Egyptian p3-ḥr-3n
(compare the Canaanite form of the name Pi-ḫr-ra, the name of the
Egyptian administrator in Palestine mentioned in the Amarna letters (El-Amarna
Texts #117:61, 123:13, 132:47; written as Paḫu-ra in 122:31) (cited in
Mercer and Hallock, Tell El-Amarna Tablets, 1:392-93, 408-9, 440-41,
406-7). Hugh Nibley equates this name with the Egyptian p3-ḥry, “the
Syrian” (Nibley, Approach to the Book of Mormon, 184); see Genesis 14:6
where ḥōrī means “Hurrian” (i.e., Syrian”). (p. 275)
With respect to Pahoran, it
appears that the original spelling is Pahoron. As Royal Skousen noted in
Analysis
of Textual Variants,
4:2636-37:
The
earliest occurrences of the name Pahoran are actually spelled Parhoron
in the original manuscript, with an r before the h and an o
for the last vowel. Joseph Smith probably pronounced this name with stress on
the second syllable (just as we do today), but this pronunciation made it very
difficult for Oliver Cowdery, the scribe here, to hear the r before the h.
As a result, by the 5th occurrence (in Alma
51:5), Oliver started to spell the name as Pahoron in [the Original
Manuscript] . . . Based on the earliest spellings of the name in [the Original
Manuscript], the correct spelling of Pahoran is probably Parhoron;
even if there is no r before the h, the last vowel is definitely an o,
which means that Pahoron is an alternative possibility while Pahoran,
the spelling in the standard text, is not.
