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(Heb. id., ðֹ ; Sept. ÌÝìöéò ; Vulg. Memphis, Isa_19:13; Jer_2:16; Eze_30:13; Eze_30:16; doubtless identical with îֹ , foph; Sept. ÌÝìöéò ; Vulg. Memphis, Hos_9:6), a city of Egypt, better known bv its classic name Memphis. These forms are contracted from the ancient Egyptian common name, Men-Nufr, or Men Nefru, “the good abode,” or perhaps “the abode of the good one;” also contracted in the Coptic forms menphi, memphi, menbe, membe (Memphitic), menrphe (Sahidic); in the Greek ÌÝìöéò , and in the Arabic Menf. The Hebrew forms are to be regarded as representing colloquial forms of the name, current with the Shemites, if not with-the Egyptians also. As to the meaning of Memphis, Plutarch observes that it was interpreted to signify either the haven of good ones or the sepulcher of Osiris ( êáὶ ôὴí ðüëéí ïἱ ìὲí ὅñìïí ἀãáèῶí ἑñõçíåýïõóéí ïἱ ä᾿ [ ἰäß ] ùò ôÜöïí Ï᾿óßñéäïò , De Iside et Osiride, 20). It is probable that the epithet “good” refers to Osiris, whose sacred animal Apis was here worshipped, and here had its burial-place, the Serapeum, whence the name of the village Busiris (Pa-Hesar? “the [abode ?] of Osiris”), now represented in name, if not in exact site, by Abu-Sir, probably originally a quarter of Memphis. As the great upper Egyptian city is characterized in Nahum as “situate among the rivers” (3:8), so in Hosea the lower Egyptian one is distinguished by its Necropolis, in this passage as to the fugitive Israelites: “Mizraim shall gather them up, Noph shall bury them.;” for its burial-ground, stretching for twenty miles along the edge of the Libyan desert, greatly exceeds that of any other Egyptian town. See Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr. 1:234 sq. SEE MEMPHIS.