<strong>ASENATH</strong> (ăs'ĕn-ăth). A daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, the modern Heliopolis, near Cairo. Pharaoh gave her to Joseph as his wife (<bibleref ref="Gen.41.45-Gen.41.50">Gen.41.45-Gen.41.50</bibleref>), and she bore Manasseh and Ephraim before the famine began. The form of this name is well attested in Egyptian usage from 2100-1600 <span class="small-caps">b.c.</span><br /><br />

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<strong>ASENATH</strong> <strong>ăs’ ə năth</strong> (<span class="hebrew">אָֽסְנַ֗ת</span>). Daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. The pharaoh gave her to Joseph as a wife, and she became the mother of Ephraim and Manasseh (<bibleref ref="Gen.41.45">Gen 41:45</bibleref>, <bibleref ref="Gen.41.50">50</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Gen.46.20">46:20</bibleref>). Jewish legends suggest that she renounced her heathen religion and became a worshiper of Jehovah when she married Joseph.<br /><br />

<h2>International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)</h2>

The wife of Joseph, daughter of Potiphera, mother of Manasseh and Ephraim (<bibleref ref="Gen.41.45">Ge 41:45</bibleref>,<bibleref ref="Gen.41.50">50</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Gen.46.20">46:20</bibleref>). She was evidently an Egyptian woman and bore an Egyptian name. ’-c-n-t, pointed by the Massoretes as ’acenath, appears in the Septuagint as aseneth 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 ’aleph (’) must then be explained as ’aleph prostheticum and the taw (t) would be less regular than a he (h) to stand for the Egyptian feminine t.<br /><br />

J. Oscar Boyd<br /><br />

Asenath