ABSTRACT
From the hieroglyphic texts of all periods of the dynastic history of Egypt we learn that the god of the dead, par excellence, was the god, whom the Egyptians called by a name which may be tentatively transcribed Ȧs-Ȧr, or Us-Ȧr, who is commonly known to us as “Osiris.” The oldest and simplest form of the name is https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203040713/0679aeac-0ac5-4de4-8323-4903ae48a861/content/page113_03.tif"/>, that is to say, it is written by means of two hieroglyphics, the first of which represents a “throne” and the other an “eye,” but the exact meaning attached to the combination of the two pictures by those who first used them to express the name of the god, and the signification of the name in the minds of those who invented it cannot be said. In the late dynastic period the first syllable of the name appears to have been pronounced Ȧus or Us, and by punning it was made to have the meaning of the word usr, “strength, might, power,” and the like, and there is little doubt that the Egyptians at that time supposed the name of the god to mean something like the “strength of the Eye,” i.e., the strength of the Sun-god Rā. This meaning may very well have suited their conception of the god Osiris, but it cannot be accepted as the correct signification of the name. For similar reasons the suggestion that the name Ȧs-Ȧr is connected with the Egyptian word for “prince,” or “chief,” ser, cannot be entertained. It is probable that the second hieroglyphic in the name Ȧs-Ȧr is to
