Ancient Egyptian origin
Source-reportedOriginal meaning: not settled in the sources.
Uncertain. From Biblical Hebrew פִּינְחָס (Pīnəḥās); further derivation is uncertain. פִּינְחָס (Pīnəḥās) has been suggested to derive from Egyptian pꜣ-nḥsj (literally “the Nubian”), from pꜣ + nḥsj. Alternatively, within Judaism the name has been suggested to be a compound of the elements פה (mouth) and נחש (intuitive knowledge), and so meaning "oracle", but this has been suggested to be an example of folk etymology made after the fact.
Sources for this account (2)
- Wiktionary: PhinehasCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
- Russian Wiktionary: PhinehasCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

