The Name of Wesir:
by Djedetmiwesir © 2001- 2005

The Hieroglyphs which spell the name of Wesir, are visualized as an Eye above the symbol for the throne, with a Determinative seated god to represent his Divinity and his sex. There is much debate amongst scholars about the definition of his name. Speculations of his name's definitions are:

• "He who copulates with Aset (Isis)" - Reflecting his Marriage to the goddess and the conception of their Son Heru-Sa-Aset (Horus son of Isis)
• "The Seat of the Eye" - A literal combination of the throne and the Eye, which may reflect Devine Kingship
• "She who belongs to the womb" - Opening up possibilities that Wesir has Bi-sexual aspect, or derives from an original mother goddess.

The most accepted, and likely idea for the definition Wesir's name, may be found in the wide use of Puns by Ancient Egyptians. The hieroglyphs of his name transliterate to "3sir." A very similar word to "Woser" -- "Mighty one."

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The Name of Wesir:
Used with permission by the article's author Neferuhethert*

The Name of God Wesir (Osiris in Greek), is written in its earliest hieroglyphic form with the sign for the throne, followed by the sign for an eye. The phonetic value for this is wsir (pronounced "wa-seer," "wesir" or "usir"), and this is the standard way of transliterating it in dictionaries of Middle Egyptian, and in scholarly papers. The insertion of a short "e" between the first two consonants is a custom used by Egyptologists in order to make the syllable pronounceable.

In Coptic, it is written OYSIPE (pronounced wa-seer) or OYSIPI (wa-seer-ee). In Aramaic, it is written Asr (with the letters, aleph-samach-resh) or Ousiri (pronounced oo-seer-ee or oh-seer-ee). The first Aramaic spelling may be an abbreviation of the second, which is written out more fully and shows the vowel in the first syllable (either "oo" or "oh").

There is much debate among modern scholars concerning the explanation of the name. Some possibilities are "He who takes his seat or throne," or "The Mighty One," or "He who sees the throne."

The name may also have a foreign origin, and "Asar" (a form of the Babylonian god Marduk) may be a cognate (according to the scholar Sidney Smith.) We don't, however, believe that Wesir is a form of Marduk, though Marduk has some similarities to Wesir.

*Sources:
Griffiths, John G., "Osiris," Lexikon der Ägyptologie,
Band IV, col. 623-625
Lambkin, Thomas O., Introduction to Sahidic Coptic
Erman, Adolf, and Hermann Grapow, "wsir," Wörterbuch der Aegyptischen Sprache , Band I, p. 359.