What Does The Name Moses (Musa or Moshe) Actually Mean?

The name Moses is Musa in Arabic and Moshe in Hebrew. So how was it actually pronounced in his time? And what does this name really mean? We asked the British Egyptologist, currently a professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology at University College London, Stephen Quirke, to find out more.

"Ms was used as a name or as part of a name for very many people in the New Kingdom period of ancient Egyptian history" says Quirke. Ms means 'to give birth', so for example Rames means Ra (the sun God) is the one who gave birth (to me). To understand this better look at the breakdown in image 2 of the two names Ramse and Ramessu (often shortened to Ramses).

Moses is another name where ms is used but this time without other consonants. Used alone, this could mean 'the one who has been born' or more specifically 'newborn'. The American Egyptologist James Hoffmeier wrote a book in 1996 titled 'Israel in Egypt: the evidence for the authenticity of the Exodus tradition' in which he provides a useful summary of the main debates, and he seems to support these two meanings 'the one who has been born' and '(newborn) child."

TreeSparks, What Does The Name Moses (Musa or Moshe) Actually Mean?, 2017