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HaMa:LiTZ occurs in Tanakh 5 times but has the meaning "interpreter" only once,at Genesis 42:23 in the weekly parsha Miketz which tells about the travels of Joseph's brothers to Egypt. When they stood before Joseph, they did not realize he was their brother. One reason is that Joseph spoke with them through an interpreter, haMa:LiTZ.
The oral tradition says the interpreter was Menasha, Joseph's older son.
Egyptian was written with hieroglyphics/pictures. The Hebrew root for image (make a picture) is
TZ-L-M. To translate from Egyptian to other languages is to un-picture, hence, the reversal to haMa:LiTZ.
