Sun because of the homonymy between the Egyptian name ⁂⁂⁂⁂
_mȧȧu_ of the animal and the attributive ⁂⁂⁂ _mau_, ‘shining’
said of the Sun. But the Egyptian scribe gives a different etymological
explanation. Sau said of Râ “he is ⁂⁂ _maȧu_ of what he hath
made.” ⁂⁂ may, like the Latin _exemplar_, be either the type or
the prototype, the copy or the original. The creatures of Râ were made
after his likeness. Sanskrit literature, from the Çatapatha Brahmana
down to the Vishnu Purâna, is full of similar etymologies. The Egyptians
from the very first delighted in this play upon words.