ASENATH

as'-e-nath (Aseneth): The wife of Joseph, daughter of Potiphera, mother of Manasseh and Ephraim (Genesis 41:45,50; 46:20). She was evidently an Egyptian woman and bore an Egyptian name. '-c-n-t, pointed by the Massoretes as 'acenath, appears in the Septuagint as aseneth or asenneth. The last two consonants appear to represent the name of the Egyptian goddess Neith. The first part of the name will then represent either ns = "belonging to" (so Brugsch and generally), or 'ws-n (note the doubled "n" in the Septuagint transcription) = "she belongs to" (so Spiegelberg). It is possible that these four letters represent the Egyptian name Sn-t (so Lieblein and others), though the 'aleph (') must then be explained as 'aleph prostheticum and the taw (t) would be less regular than a he (h) to stand for the Egyptian feminine t.

J. Oscar Boyd

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.