Jesus () is a masculine given name derived from ''Iēsous'' (; in

Classical Latin Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a Literary language, literary standard language, standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It formed parallel to Vulgar Latin around 75 BC out of Old Latin ...

) the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

form of the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

name ''

Yeshua Yeshua () was a common alternative form of the name Yehoshua () in later books of the Hebrew Bible and among Jewish people of the Second Temple period. The name corresponds to the Greek spelling (), from which, through the Latin /, comes the En ...

'' (). As its roots lie in the name '' Isho'' in Aramaic and ''Yeshua'' in Hebrew, it is etymologically related to another biblical name, ''

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

''. The vocative form ''Jesu'', from Latin ''Iesu'', was commonly used in religious texts and prayers during the Middle Ages, particularly in England, but gradually declined in usage as the English language evolved. ''Jesus'' is usually not used as a given name in the

English-speaking world The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English language, English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the ...

, while its counterparts have had longstanding popularity among people with other language backgrounds, such as the Spanish ''Jesús''.

Etymology

Linguistic analysis

There have been various proposals as to the literal etymological meaning of the name ''Yəhôšuaʿ'' (

, ), including Yahweh/Yehowah saves, (is) salvation, (is) a saving-cry, (is) a cry-for-saving, (is) a cry-for-help, (is) my help.Philo, ''De Mutatione Nominum'', §21Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius, ''Hebrew and English Lexicon With an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic'' (Hendrickson, 1985), . Cf. ''Blue Letter Bible''
H3442
/ref> A recent study proposes that the name should be understood as "

Yahweh Yahweh was an Ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic deity of Weather god, weather and List of war deities, war in the History of the ancient Levant, ancient Levant, the national god of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Judah, Judah and Kingdom ...

is lordly".

Yehoshua–Yeshua–Iēsous–IESVS–Iesu–Jesus

This early biblical Hebrew name (''Yehoshuaʿ'') underwent a shortening into later biblical (''Yeshuaʿ''), as found in the Hebrew text of verses Ezra 2:2, 2:6, 2:36, 2:40, 3:2, 3:8, 3:9, 3:10, 3:18, 4:3, 8:33; Nehemiah 3:19, 7:7, 7:11, 7:39, 7:43, 8:7, 8:17, 9:4, 9:5, 11:26, 12:1, 12:7, 12:8, 12:10, 12:24, 12:26; 1 Chronicles 24:11; and 2 Chronicles 31:15 – as well as in

Biblical Aramaic Biblical Aramaic is the form of Aramaic that is used in the books of Daniel and Ezra in the Hebrew Bible. It should not be confused with the Targums — Aramaic paraphrases, explanations and expansions of the Hebrew scriptures. History During ...

at verse Ezra 5:2. These Bible verses refer to ten individuals (in Nehemiah 8:17, the name refers to

son of

Nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

). This historical change may have been due to a phonological shift whereby guttural

phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...

s weakened, including . Usually, the traditional theophoric element (''Yahu'') was shortened at the beginning of a name to (''Yo-''), and at the end to (''-yah''). In the contraction of ''Yehoshuaʿ'' to ''Yeshuaʿ'', the vowel is instead fronted (perhaps due to the influence of the ''y'' in the

triliteral root The roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or " radicals" (hence the term consonantal root). Such abstract consonantal roots are used in the formation of actual words by adding the vowel ...

''y-š-ʿ''). Yeshua was in common use by

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

during the

Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...

and many Jewish religious figures bear the name, including

in the Hebrew Bible and

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

.Catholic encyclopedia: Origin of the name Jesus Christ
/ref>Liddell and Scott. ''

A Greek–English Lexicon ''A Greek–English Lexicon'', often referred to as ''Liddell & Scott'' () or ''Liddell–Scott–Jones'' (''LSJ''), is a standard lexicographical work of the Ancient Greek language originally edited by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, H ...

'', p. 824. During the post-biblical period the further shortened form '' Yeshu'' was adopted by Hebrew speaking Jews to refer to the Christian Jesus, however ''Yehoshua'' continued to be used for the other figures called ''Jesus''. However, both the Western and Eastern Syriac Christian traditions use the

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

name (in Hebrew script: ישוע) ''Yeshuʿ and Yishoʿ'', respectively, including the ''ʿayin''.Jennings
/ref> The name ''Jesus'' is derived from the Hebrew name ''Yeshua'', which is based on the

Semitic root The roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or " radicals" (hence the term consonantal root). Such abstract consonantal roots are used in the formation of actual words by adding the vowel ...

''y-š-ʕ'' (Hebrew: ), meaning "to deliver; to rescue." Likely originating in

proto-Semitic Proto-Semitic is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Semitic languages. There is no consensus regarding the location of the linguistic homeland for Proto-Semitic: scholars hypothesize that it may have originated in the Levant, the Sahara, ...

(yṯ'), it appears in several Semitic personal names outside of Hebrew, as in the Aramaic name Hadad Yith'i, meaning "Hadad is my salvation". Its oldest recorded use is in an

Amorite The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC ...

personal name from 2048 B.C."A.2 The Proto-Semitic root *yṯ' now seems to lie behind Hebrew �שָׁע being attested in proper names in NWSem and most of the ESA languages. The Ug evidence attests to the second consonant being ṯ (Sawyer 1975:78). This new evidence counters some earlier interpretations based on Arb (see B.1). The main arguments outlined by Sawyer (1975) are the evidence of proper names in NW Sem (A.3, A.4, B.3), the collocation of yṯ' terms with deities’ names (as with ישׁע; see A.1, 3, 5, 7-10; also Syntagmatics A.1), chronological evidence (see A.5, 7-10) and phonological equivalence (B.1). Earlier KB (412, along with wasiʿa), Huffmon (1965: 215) and Stolz (1971: 786, citing Sawyer 1965:475-76, 485) had supported this view; and at the conference where Sawyer originally presented his paper T.L. Fenton and H.W.F. Saggs had indicated their strong agreement with it (Sawyer 1975: 83-84). Significantly this view was adopted in the latest Hebrew lexicon to incorporate philological data (Ges18: 510

995 Year 995 (Roman numerals, CMXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 17 May - Fujiwara no Michitaka (imperial regent) dies. * 3 June: Fujiwara no Michikane gains power and becomes Rege ...

." (Aitken & Davies, 2016) By the time the

was written, the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

had already transliterated ישוע (''Yeshuaʿ'') into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

as closely as possible in the 3rd-century BCE, the result being (''Iēsous''). Since Greek had no equivalent to the Semitic letter '' shin'' , it was replaced with a ''

sigma Sigma ( ; uppercase Σ, lowercase σ, lowercase in word-final position ς; ) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 200. In general mathematics, uppercase Σ is used as an operator ...

'' , and a masculine singular ending was added in the nominative case, in order to allow the name to be inflected for case (nominative, accusative, etc.) in the grammar of the Greek language. The

diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...

al vowel of Masoretic ''Yehoshuaʿ'' or ''Yeshuaʿ'' would not have been present in Hebrew/Aramaic pronunciation during this period, and some scholars believe some dialects dropped the pharyngeal sound of the final letter ''ʿ

ayin ''Ayin'' (also ''ayn'' or ''ain''; transliterated ) is the sixteenth letter of the Semitic scripts, including Phoenician ''ʿayin'' 𐤏, Hebrew ''ʿayin'' , Aramaic ''ʿē'' 𐡏, Syriac ''ʿē'' ܥ, and Arabic ''ʿayn'' (where it is si ...

'' , which in any case had no counterpart in ancient Greek. The Greek writings of

Philo of Alexandria Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian Je ...

Philo Judaeus, "De ebrietate" in ''Philonis Alexandrini opera quae supersunt'' ed. P. Wendland, Berlin: Reimer, 1897 (repr. De Gruyter, 1962) vol. 2:170-214, Section 96, Line 2. and

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

frequently mention this name. In the

Panarion In early Christianity, early Christian heresiology, the ''Panarion'' (, derived from Latin , meaning "bread basket"), to which 16th-century Latin translations gave the name ''Adversus Haereses'' (Latin: "Against Heresies"), is the most important o ...

Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis (; – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the Christianity in the 4th century, 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Churche ...

, the name ''Iēsous'' comes from Hebrew/Aramaic and means "healer or physician, and saviour," and that the earliest Christians were named ''Jessaeans'' based on this name before they were called

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

. This etymology of 'physician' may derive from the sect of the θεραπευταί (

Therapeutae The Therapeutae were a religious sect which existed in Alexandria and other parts of the ancient Greek world. The primary source concerning the Therapeutae is the ''De vita contemplativa'' ("The Contemplative Life"), traditionally ascribed to the ...

), of which Ephanius was familiar.Williams, Frank; translator. "Introduction".
The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Book I (Sects 1-46)
'. 1987. (E.J. Brill, Leiden) . From Greek, (''Iēsous'') moved into

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

at least by the time of the ''

Vetus Latina The ''Vetus Latina'' ("Old Latin" in Latin), also known as ''Vetus Itala'' ("Old Italian"), ''Itala'' ("Italian") and Old Italic, and denoted by the siglum \mathfrak, are the Latin Bible translations, translations of biblical texts (both Old T ...

''. The morphological jump this time was not as large as previous changes between language families. (''Iēsous'') was

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...

to Latin ''IESVS'', where it stood for many centuries. The Latin name has an irregular declension, with a genitive, dative, ablative, and vocative of , accusative of , and nominative of .

Minuscule Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally '' minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing system ...

(lower case) letters were developed around 800 and some time later the U was invented to distinguish the

vowel A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...

sound from the

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...

al sound and the J to distinguish the consonant from I. Similarly, Greek minuscules were invented about the same time, prior to that the name was written in

capital letters Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''#Majuscule, majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally ''#Minuscule, minuscule'') in the written representation of certain langua ...

() or abbreviated as () with a line over the top, see also

Christogram A Christogram () is a monogram or combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ, traditionally used as a Christian symbolism, religious symbol within the Christian Church. One of the oldest Christograms is the C ...

Modern English Modern English, sometimes called New English (NE) or present-day English (PDE) as opposed to Middle and Old English, is the form of the English language that has been spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England England is a Count ...

''Jesus'' derives from Early Middle English (attested from the 12th century). The name participated in the

Great Vowel Shift The Great Vowel Shift was a series of English phonology, pronunciation changes in the vowels of the English language that took place primarily between the 1400s and 1600s (the transition period from Middle English to Early Modern English), begi ...

in late

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

(15th century). The letter J was first distinguished from 'I' by the Frenchman Pierre Ramus in the 16th century, but did not become common in Modern English until the 17th century, so that early 17th century works such as the first edition of the

King James Version of the Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, b ...

(1611) continued to print the name with an I. From the Latin, the English language takes the forms ''Jesus'' (from the nominative form), and ''Jesu'' (from the vocative and oblique forms). ''Jesus'' is the predominantly used form, while ''Jesu'' lingers in some more archaic religious texts.

Declension

In both Latin and Greek, the name is declined irregularly:

Biblical references

The name ''Jesus'' (''Yeshua'') appears to have been in use in the Land of Israel at the time of the birth of

.''Matthew'' by Douglas Hare 2009 page 11 Moreover,

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...

's reference in '' Mutatione Nominum'' item 121 to Joshua () meaning salvation () of the Lord indicates that the etymology of ''Joshua'' was known outside Israel.''Matthew 1-7'' by William David Davies, Dale C. Allison 2004 page 209 Other figures named ''Jesus'' include Jesus

Barabbas According to the New Testament, Barabbas () was a Jewish bandit and rabble-rouser who was imprisoned by the Judaea (Roman province), Roman occupation in Jerusalem, only to be chosen over Jesus by a crowd to be pardoned by Roman governor Pontius ...

, Jesus ben Ananias and

Jesus ben Sirach Ben Sira or Joshua ben Sirach (; ) was a Hellenistic Jewish scribe, sage, and allegorist from Seleucid-controlled Jerusalem of the Second Temple period. He is the author of the Book of Sirach, also known as "Ecclesiasticus". Ben Sirach wr ...

. In the

, in Luke 1:31 an angel tells Mary to name her child ''Jesus'', and in Matthew 1:21 an angel tells Joseph to name the child ''Jesus'' during Joseph's first dream. Matthew 1:21 indicates the

salvific Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

implications of the name ''Jesus'' when the angel instructs Joseph: "you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins".''Bible explorer's guide'' by John Phillips 2002 page 147 It is the only place in the New Testament where "saves his people" appears with "sins".''The Westminster theological wordbook of the Bible'' 2003 by Donald E. Gowan page 453 Matthew 1:21 provides the beginnings of the

Christology In Christianity, Christology is a branch of Christian theology, theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would b ...

of the name ''Jesus''. At once it achieves the two goals of affirming Jesus as the savior and emphasizing that the name was not selected at random, but based on a heavenly command.''Who do you say that I am?: essays on Christology'' by Jack Dean Kingsbury, Mark Allan Powell, David R. Bauer 1999 page 17

Other usage

Medieval English and Jesus

John Wycliffe John Wycliffe (; also spelled Wyclif, Wickliffe, and other variants; 1328 – 31 December 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, Christianity, Christian reformer, Catholic priest, and a theology professor at the University of Oxfor ...

(1380s) used the spelling ''Ihesus'' and also used ''Ihesu'' ('J' was then a swash glyph variant of 'I', not considered to be a separate letter until the 1629 Cambridge 1st Revision

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

where "Jesus" first appeared) in

oblique case In grammar, an oblique ( abbreviated ; from ) or objective case ( abbr. ) is a nominal case other than the nominative case and, sometimes, the vocative. A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role except as subject, ...

s, and also in the accusative, and sometimes, apparently without motivation, even for the nominative. Tyndale in the 16th century has the occasional ''Iesu'' in oblique cases and in the vocative; The 1611

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...

uses ''Iesus'' throughout, regardless of syntax. ''Jesu'' came to be used in English, especially in

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

s. ''Jesu'' ( ; from

''Iesu'') is sometimes used as the

vocative In grammar, the vocative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed or occasionally for the noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and numeral ...

in English. The oblique form, ''Iesu'', came to be used in

Other languages

In East Scandinavian,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and several other languages, the name ''Jesus'' is used. Some other language usage is as follows:

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{cite web, last=Schochenmaier, first=Eugen, title=How did Jesus get his English name, date=28 September 2022, website=Mondonomo, issn=2833-6496, url=https://mondonomo.com/article/How_did_Jesus_get_his_English_name/, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928150336/https://mondonomo.com/article/How_did_Jesus_get_his_English_name/, archive-date=28 September 2022 Given names of Greek language origin * Spanish masculine given names Masculine given names Given names of Hebrew language origin