lot of Mizraim, the third son; while the descendants of Phut, the youngest, were driven forth to seek a comfortless home amid the trackless wastes of the Sahara. These names are all found on the monuments of Egypt (for as we shall see hereafter the hieroglyphic name of Canaan is still extant) with the exception of the name of Mizraim, which may however possibly be detected in that of the well known demigod and hero of the Egyptian mythology, Osiris, whose hieroglyphic name is thus written (
Hieroglyphic characters). The first character is a throne, the Egyptian word for which is ⲟϭ or ⲟⲩϭ; the second, the eye, denotes the verb ⲓⲣⲓ, to do; together ⲟⲩϭⲓⲣⲓ that is, Osiris. This syllabic mode of writing names, is very uncommon in hieroglyphics; and never used, but when the name is a word foreign to the Egyptian language.[1] The first and last characters of the word Mizraim מצרים are serviles, and may therefore be omitted, or changed, without altering the radical signification, so that there is nothing improbable in the supposition that the Mizraim (מִצְרַיִם) of the Shemites may have been pronounced אוצרי, or יוצרי (either of which would reproduce exactly the elements of the Egyptian word, ⲟⲩϭⲓⲣⲓ) by the descendants of Ham.
The countries to the north east of Egypt were—(Hieroglyphic characters), the land of the shepherds or Canaanites; (Hieroglyphic characters), the land of the ϣⲧⲓ, the identification of which will require our attention hereafter; and (Hieroglyphic characters), ⲛϥⲁⲣⲁⲓⲛ. in which we perceive at once the elements of the Hebrew word נַהֲרַיִם,[2] i.e. Mesopotamia, the well-known native country of Abraham.
