[Avodah] dvar tora (Micha Berger)

[Shlomo Katz]

> From: Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org>
>
> We do know they're semitic names? How? Even according to Chazal, who
> make them job titles based on Hebrew etymologies, needn't imply the
> name is semitic. Moshe's name is blatantly Egyptian. The Muse (son of)
> root appears in many Eyptian names praising their gods: Thoth inspired a
> number of Phraoahs named Tutmose. And yet Bisyah named Moshe because of
> what seems to be a semitic play on the name "min hamayim meshisihu". Kind
> of neat: Bisyah called him "son" because she was the one who took him /
> had her maid take him out of the water. But back to the point...

It is not at all clear that "Moshe's name is blatantly Egyptian"; see here:
http://parsha.blogspot.com/2004/01/derivation-of-moshes-name.html