son of Seb and Renenut. The etymology of the name is indicated in the
Pyramid texts. ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _neḥbu_ is to ‘carry, sustain, support’
(whence ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _neḥbet_ a neck, and ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _neḥb_ a
yoke), and the rest of the word is the plural of _ka_, which is
susceptible of more than one meaning. It might signify the divine or
human _ka_, but the word is sometimes (_e.g._, Todt., 125, 32) written
⁂ ‘victuals.’ The god is one of the forty-two judges of the dead, and
in some copies of the Book of the Dead he is described as coming forth
from his ⁂⁂⁂, a word most frequently used for the source of the
Nile. The serpent ⁂ which is a most frequent determinative of the
name, is an additional reason for identifying this god with the Nile: a
conclusion which seems fully justified by the Pyramid texts, which speak
of him as Water ⁂, and describe him as ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, “of
many windings.” (See Pepi I, 341 and 487.)