Asenath

as´ē̇ -nath ( Ἀσενέθ , Asenéth ): The wife of Joseph, daughter of Potiphera, mother of Manasseh and Ephraim ( Genesis 41:45 , Genesis 41:50; Genesis 46:20 ). She was evidently an Egyptian woman and bore an Egyptian name. אסנת , pointed by the Massoretes as אסנת , 'āṣenath , appears in the Septuagint as āseneth 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 א must then be explained as 'ālēph prostheticum and the taw ( ת ) would be less regular than a he ( ה ) to stand for the Egyptian feminine t .