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When the child grew up. Extant documents suggest that in Egypt, as elsewhere in the ancient Near East, mothers usually weaned their children at around the age of three. [As long ago as the 18th century B.C.E., Mesopotamian contracts and other documents—including even lawsuits—mention a three-year period for wet-nursing (see previous note). —Ed.] She named him Moses. The narrator gives a Hebrew etiology for Moses’ name, but the name is actually Egyptian, meaning “gave birth.”