From the Latin pharao and this of its Greek homophone derived from the Hebrew par"oh taken in turn from the Egyptian per-aa, hieroglyphic compound for house and column: palace, large house, as the RAE Dictionary tells us. Name of the ancient kings of Egypt perhaps from 3100 BC. C . According to the Egyptian priest and historian Manetho from the third century BC. C . , the first pharaoh would have been Narmer, also known as Menes, founder of the First Dynasty around 3100 BC. C .