Is there any connection with the Korban Mincha and the Prayer Mincha (that we daven to correlate the Tamid shel ben Harbaim)
Why do we call the prayer "Mincha" ?
Someone showed me a beautiful answer in the Artscroll , in the name of the Ramban, that it represents the Minchas Nesachim of the Tomid Shel Ben Harbayim, which was the last thing brought on the Mizbayach every day. (of course there are a lot of answers to the question, but this one made the most sense to me).
Chag Samayach,
Shmuel Katz
That is a very nice answer. Here is what the Kollel wrote about your question in Berachos, I hope you find it helpful. We cite an answer similar to yours from the Vilna Gaon; perhaps you could share with us the source Artscroll brought for the Ramban you quote.
Be well,
Mordecai Kornfeld
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Berachos 26
1) "MINCHAH"
QUESTION: The Shacharis prayer is called Shacharis because it is the morning ("Shachar") prayer, and it corresponds to the morning Tamid offering. The nighttime prayer, Arvis (or Ma'ariv) is called such because it is said at night (Erev). Why, though, is the afternoon prayer called Minchah?
ANSWERS:
(a) TOSFOS (Pesachim 107a, DH Samuch) explains that a Minchah (flour) offering was brought together with the afternoon Tamid, and therefore the prayer that corresponds to the afternoon Tamid is called Minchah (as opposed to Arvis, which corresponds only to the offering of the Tamid's limbs and not to the offering of a Minchah). Even though a Minchah offering was also brought with the *morning* Tamid, for the morning prayer there is a more general name that can be used ("Shacharis"). The word that is used to refer to the afternoon ("Erev"), though, is already being used to refer to the nighttime prayer, Arvis.
(b) TOSFOS (ibid.) answers further that the Gemara (Berachos 6b) says that Minchah is a special prayer, because that was the time of day that G-d answered Eliyahu and the idolaters were proven wrong. Perhaps Eliyahu was bringing a Minchah offering at the time, and Hash-m answered his prayers because it was a propitious time of Divine favor. We therefore call the afternoon prayer, "The prayer of the Minchah (of Eliyahu)," to remind ourselves that it is prayed during a time of Divine favor.
The VILNA GA'ON in Shenos Eliyahu adds that we find that a person is allowed to recite Minchah until the very end of the day. If the afternoon prayer was instituted to correspond to the afternoon Korban Tamid as the Gemara (26b) states, that Korban's slaughtering was never done later than 8 1/2 hours into the day, so why should we be able to Daven after the time of the slaughtering of the Tamid?
Rather, answers to Gaon, the Minchah prayer was instituted to correspond not to the offering of the Tamid, but to the Minchah offering that was brought with the Korban Tamid (during which Eliyahu's prayer's were answered), which could be brought until the very end of the day (sunset according to the Rabanan, Plag ha'Minchah according to Rebbi Yehudah). He explains that the reason the time for the afternoon prayer was determined by the Minchah offering (and the morning prayer was not) is because the Korban along with all of its associated offerings make up one single group called the Korban Tamid. In the morning, the time of prayer is determined by the *first* part of the Korban, which is the sacrificing of the Korban, while in the afternoon, one may Daven until the *last* part of the Korban, which is the Minchah offering.
(d) RAMBAM (Perush ha'Mishnayos) says that the late afternoon is called "Minchah" in Hebrew, and therefore the afternoon prayer is called as such. The AVUDRAHAM adds that the Torah refers to the late afternoon as "Ruach ha'Yom" (Bereishis 3:8), which the Targum translates as "*li'Menach* Yoma", which means the time when the sun can be seen to be setting. Hence, the prayer said at that time is called Minchah.