מִצְרִי

From the study of Genesis 39:5

Range of meaning

'The Egyptian,' a word for someone belonging to Mitsrayim (Egypt).

Against the English

Most versions keep 'the Egyptian.' NLT substitutes the name 'Potiphar,' which is clearer but drops the narrator's emphasis on his nationality.

Used elsewhere in the period

The narrator uses this label repeatedly: 39:1 ('an Egyptian man'), 39:2 ('in the house of his master the Egyptian'), 39:5. The repetition is noticeable because being Egyptian in Egypt hardly needs saying.

From the study of Genesis 16:1

Range of meaning

Egyptian (feminine form), from Mitsrayim, 'Egypt'.

Against the English

All versions translate it accurately. The loss is that English readers rarely hear how much Egypt carries in Genesis and Exodus.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 12:10-20: Abram's stay in Egypt, during which Pharaoh gives him 'male and female slaves'. In 15:13 God foretells that Abram's descendants will be strangers, enslaved and 'afflicted' (anah) in a foreign land. In 16:6 Sarai 'afflicts' (same verb, anah) her Egyptian slave. Later Hagar finds Ishmael an Egyptian wife (21:21).

From the study of Genesis 21:9

Range of meaning

'The Egyptian (woman)', a word for where she came from. Often in Genesis it is a marker of being foreign and outside the family line.

Against the English

Translations agree on 'the Egyptian'. What English readers may miss is how the narrator repeats the label at points of tension (16:1, 3; 21:9; 25:12).

Used elsewhere in the period

Egyptian servants in Semitic households are well attested. Abraham had received servants from Pharaoh (Gen 12:16), which may be where Hagar came from, as later Jewish tradition assumed (Genesis Rabbah 45:1).