Note 622 — Chapter X · THE SYSTEM OF THE PISTIS SOPHIA AND ITS RELATED TEXTS[459]

In the address of Jesus beginning “O my Father, Father of every Fatherhood, boundless light” with which this part of the Μ. τ. σ. opens, we can, with a little good will, identify nearly every word of the “galimatias” which at first sight seems mere gibberish. Thus, the whole invocation reads: αεηιουω, ϊαω, αωϊ, οϊαψινωθερ, θερ[ι]νοψ, νωψιθερ, ζαγουρη, παγουρη, νεθμομαωθ, νεψιομαωθ, μαραχαχθα, θωβαρραβαυ, θαρναχαχαν, ζοροκοθορα Ιεου Σαβαωθ. The seven vowels to which many mystical interpretations have been assigned, and which have even been taken for a primitive system of musical notation (C. E. Ruelle, “Le Chant des Sept Voyelles Grecques,” Rev. des Ét. Grecques, Paris, 1889, t. II. p. 43, and pp. 393-395), probably express the sound to Greek ears of the Jewish pronunciation of Yahweh or Jehovah. The word Iao we have before met with many times both as a name of Dionysos and otherwise, and is here written anagrammatically from the difficulty which the Greeks found in dealing with Semitic languages written the reverse way to their own. The word ψινωθερ which follows and is also written as an anagram is evidently an attempt to transcribe in Greek letters the Egyptian words P, Shai, neter (P = Def. article, Shai = the Egyptian God of Fate whose name Revillout, Rev. Égyptol. Paris, 1892, pp. 29-38, thinks means “The Highest,” and neter or nuter the determinative for “god”), the whole reading “Most High God.” The words ζαγουρη παγουρη (better, πατουρη) are from the Hebrew roots סגר פטר and seem to be the “he that openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man openeth” of Rev. iii. 7. Νεθμομαωθ, which is often found in the Magic Papyri, is reminiscent of the Egyptian neb maat “Lord of Truth,” the following νεψιομαωθ being probably a variant by a scribe who was uncertain of the orthography. Μαραχαχθα I can make nothing of, although as the phrase νεφθομαωθ μαραχαχθα appears in the Magic Papyrus of Leyden generally called W (Leemans, Papyri Graeci, etc. t. II. p. 154) in a spell there said to be written by “Thphe the Hierogrammateus” for “Ochus the king,” it is evidently intended for Egyptian. In the same spell appear the words θαρνμαχαχ ζοροκοθορα and θωβαρραβαυ which are evidently the same as those in the Μ. τ. σ., and of which I will only say that, while Mr King supposes ζοροκοθορα to mean “light-gatherer,” θωβαρραβαυ is in the leaden tabula devotionis of Carthage (Molinier, “Imprecation gravée sur plomb,” Mem. de la Soc. Nat. des Antiquaires de France, série VI. t. VIII. Paris, 1897, pp. 212-216) described as τον θεὸν του τῆς παλινγενεσιας “the god of rebirth.” The concluding words are of course merely “Yahweh of Hosts.”