| Pronunciation | /ˈdʒiːzəs/ |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Hebrew,Ancient Greek |
| Meaning | "YHWH is salvation" |
| Region of origin | West Asia,Greece |
| Other names | |
| Related names | Isa,Isho,Joshua,Yeshua, Yashu, Jezús, Jézus. |
Jesus (/ˈdʒiːzəs/) is a masculine given name derived fromIēsous (Ἰησοῦς;Iesus inClassical Latin) theAncient Greek form of theHebrew nameYeshua (ישוע).[1][2] As its roots lie in the nameIsho in Aramaic andYeshua in Hebrew, it is etymologically related to another biblical name,Joshua.[3]
The vocative formJesu, from LatinIesu, 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 theEnglish-speaking world, while its counterparts have had longstanding popularity among people with other language backgrounds, such as the SpanishJesús.
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There have been various proposals as to the literal etymological meaning of the nameYəhôšuaʿ (Joshua,Hebrew:יְהוֹשֻׁעַ), including Yahweh/Yehowah saves, (is) salvation, (is) a saving-cry, (is) a cry-for-saving, (is) a cry-for-help, (is) my help.[4][5][6][7] A recent study proposes that the name should be understood as "Yahweh is lordly".[8]
This early biblical Hebrew nameיְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yehoshuaʿ) underwent a shortening into later biblicalיֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshuaʿ), as found in the Hebrew text of versesEzra 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 inBiblical Aramaic at verse Ezra 5:2. These Bible verses refer to ten individuals (in Nehemiah 8:17, the name refers toJoshua son ofNun).
This historical change may have been due to a phonological shift whereby gutturalphonemes weakened, including[h].[9] Usually, the traditionaltheophoric elementיהו (Yahu) was shortened at the beginning of a name toיו (Yo-), and at the end toיה (-yah). In the contraction ofYehoshuaʿ toYeshuaʿ, the vowel is instead fronted (perhaps due to the influence of they in thetriliteral rooty-š-ʿ). Yeshua was in common use byJews during theSecond Temple period and many Jewish religious figures bear the name, includingJoshua in the Hebrew Bible andJesus in theNew Testament.[2][1]
During the post-biblical period the further shortened formYeshu was adopted by Hebrew speaking Jews to refer to the Christian Jesus, howeverYehoshua continued to be used for the other figures calledJesus.[10] However, both the Western and Eastern Syriac Christian traditions use theAramaic nameܝܫܘܥ (in Hebrew script: ישוע)Yeshuʿ and Yishoʿ, respectively, including theʿayin.[11]
The nameJesus is derived from the Hebrew nameYeshua, which is based on theSemitic rooty-š-ʕ (Hebrew:ישע), meaning "to deliver; to rescue."[12][13][14] Likely originating inproto-Semitic (yṯ'), it appears in several Semitic personal names outside of Hebrew, as in the Aramaic nameHadad Yith'i, meaning "Hadad is my salvation". Its oldest recorded use is in anAmorite personal name from 2048 B.C.[15]
By the time theNew Testament was written, theSeptuagint had already transliterated ישוע (Yeshuaʿ) intoKoine Greek as closely as possible in the 3rd-centuryBCE, the result beingἸησοῦς (Iēsous). Since Greek had no equivalent to the Semitic letterשshin[ʃ], it was replaced with aσsigma[s], and a masculine singular ending[-s] 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. Thediphthongal[a] vowel of MasoreticYehoshuaʿ orYeshuaʿ would not have been present in Hebrew/Aramaic pronunciation during this period, and some scholars believe some dialects dropped thepharyngeal sound of the final letterעʿayin[ʕ], which in any case had no counterpart in ancient Greek. The Greek writings ofPhilo of Alexandria[16] andJosephus frequently mention this name. In thePanarion ofEpiphanius of Salamis, the nameIēsous comes from Hebrew/Aramaic and means "healer or physician, and saviour," and that the earliest Christians were namedJessaeans based on this name before they were calledChristians. This etymology of 'physician' may derive from the sect of the θεραπευταί (Therapeutae), of which Ephanius was familiar.[17]
From Greek,Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous) moved intoLatin at least by the time of theVetus Latina. The morphological jump this time was not as large as previous changes between language families.Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous) wastransliterated to LatinIESVS, where it stood for many centuries. The Latin name has an irregular declension, with a genitive, dative, ablative, and vocative ofJesu, accusative ofJesum, and nominative ofJesus.Minuscule (lower case) letters were developed around 800 and some time later theU was invented to distinguish thevowel sound from theconsonantal sound and theJ to distinguish the consonant fromI. Similarly, Greek minuscules were invented about the same time, prior to that the name was written incapital letters (ΙΗϹΟΥϹ) or abbreviated as (ΙΗϹ) with a line over the top, see alsoChristogram.
Modern EnglishJesus derives from Early Middle EnglishIesu (attested from the 12th century). The name participated in theGreat Vowel Shift in lateMiddle English (15th century). The letterJ was first distinguished from 'I' by the FrenchmanPierre 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 theKing James Version of the Bible (1611) continued to print the name with an I.[18]
From the Latin, the English language takes the formsJesus (from the nominative form), andJesu (from the vocative and oblique forms).Jesus is the predominantly used form, whileJesu lingers in some more archaic religious texts.
In both Latin and Greek, the name is declined irregularly:[citation needed]
| Latin | Greek | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Jēsūs | Iēsūs (Iēsus) | Ἰησοῦς |
| accusative | Jēsūm | Iēsūm (Iēsum) | Ἰησοῦν |
| dative | Jēsū | Iēsū | Ἰησοῦ |
| genitive | |||
| vocative | |||
| ablative | – | ||
The nameJesus (Yeshua) appears to have been in use in the Land of Israel at the time of the birth ofJesus.[2][19] Moreover,Philo's reference inMutatione Nominum item 121 to Joshua (Ἰησοῦς) meaning salvation (σωτηρία) of the Lord indicates that the etymology ofJoshua was known outside Israel.[20] Other figures namedJesus include JesusBarabbas,Jesus ben Ananias andJesus ben Sirach.
In theNew Testament, inLuke 1:31 an angel tells Mary to name her childJesus, and inMatthew 1:21 an angel tells Joseph to name the childJesus duringJoseph's first dream. Matthew 1:21 indicates thesalvific implications of the nameJesus when the angel instructs Joseph: "you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins".[21][22] It is the only place in the New Testament where "saves his people" appears with "sins".[23] Matthew 1:21 provides the beginnings of theChristology of the nameJesus. 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.[24]
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John Wycliffe (1380s) used the spellingIhesus and also usedIhesu ('J' was then aswash glyph variant of 'I', not considered to be a separate letter until the 1629 Cambridge 1st RevisionKing James Bible where "Jesus" first appeared) inoblique cases, and also in the accusative, and sometimes, apparently without motivation, even for the nominative.Tyndale in the 16th century has the occasionalIesu in oblique cases and in the vocative; The 1611King James Version usesIesus throughout, regardless of syntax.Jesu came to be used in English, especially inhymns.
Jesu (/ˈdʒiːzuː/JEE-zoo; fromLatinIesu) is sometimes used as thevocative ofJesus in English. The oblique form,Iesu, came to be used inMiddle English.
InEast Scandinavian,German and several other languages, the nameJesus is used. Some other language usage is as follows:
| Language | Name/variant |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Jesus[25] |
| Albanian | Jezu[25] |
| Arabic | عيسى (ʿIsà) (Islamic or classical Arabic) /يسوع (Yasūʿ) (Christian or latter Arabic)[26] |
| Amharic | እየሱስ። (Iyesus)[25] |
| Aragonese | Chesús |
| Aramaic/Syriac | ܝܫܘܥ (Isho) |
| Arberesh | Isuthi |
| Armenian | Հիսուս (reformed orthography) Յիսուս (classical orthography) (Hisus) |
| Australian Kriol | Jisas |
| Azerbaijani | İsa[25] |
| Belarusian | Ісус (Isus) (Orthodox)[25] /Езус (Yezus) (Catholic) |
| Bengali | যীশু (Yɪśu) (Christian)[25]'ঈসা (Īsā) (general) |
| Bosnian | Isus[25] |
| Breton | Jezuz |
| Bulgarian | Исус (Isus)[25] |
| Burmese | ယေရှု (Yay-shu) |
| Catalan | Jesús[25] |
| Chinese | simplified Chinese:耶稣;traditional Chinese:耶穌;pinyin:Yēsū[25] |
| Coptic | Ⲓⲏⲥⲟⲩⲥ (Isos) |
| Cornish | Yesu |
| Corsican | Ghjesù |
| Croatian | Isus[25] |
| Czech | Ježíš[25] |
| Dutch | Jezus[25] |
| Estonian | Jeesus[25] |
| Filipino | Jesús,Hesús orHesukristo[25] |
| Fijian | Jisu |
| Finnish | Jeesus[25] |
| French | Jésus[25] |
| Galician | Xesús[25] |
| Garo | Jisu |
| Georgian | იესო (Ieso)[25] |
| German | Jesus[25] |
| Ewe | Yesu |
| Greek | Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs) /Ιησούς[25] (Iisoús) (pronounced[i.iˈsus] in modern Greek) |
| Haitian Creole | Jezi[25] |
| Lai-Hakha | Jesuh |
| Hausa | Yesu[25] |
| Hawaiian | Iesū[25] |
| Hebrew | יֵשׁוּעַ[25] (Yeshua) |
| Hindi | यसू (Yesu) orयीशु (Yeshu) orईसा (Īsā) |
| Hmong Daw | Yexus[25] |
| Hungarian | Jézus[25] |
| Icelandic | Jesús[25] |
| Igbo | Jesus[25] |
| Indonesian | Yesus (Christian)[25] /Isa (Islamic) |
| Irish | Íosa[25] |
| Italian | Gesù[25] |
| Japanese | イエス (Iesu)[25] |
| Jinghpaw | Yesu |
| Kannada | ಯೇಸು (Yesu) |
| Kazakh | Иса (Isa)[25] |
| Khasi | Jisu |
| Khmer | យេស៑ូ (Yesu),យេស៑ូវ (Yesuw)[25] |
| Kikuyu | Jeso |
| Kisii | Yeso |
| Korean | 예수 (Yesu)[25] |
| Kurdish | Îsa[25] |
| Latvian | Jēzus[25] |
| Ligurian | Gesû |
| Limburgish | Zjezus |
| Lithuanian | Jėzus[25] |
| Lombard | Gesü |
| Luganda | Yezu[25] |
| Māori | Ihu[25][27] |
| Marathi | येशू (Yeshu Christa)[25] |
| Malagasy | Jeso,Jesoa,Jesosy |
| Malay | Isa |
| Malayalam | ഈശോ (Īśo) Syriac-origin;യേശു (Yēśu) from Portuguese; |
| Mirandese | Jasus |
| Mizo | Isua (In Mizo names, ana has to be added behind every male name),Isu |
| Maltese | Ġesù |
| Mongolian | Есүс[25] (Esüs) |
| Neapolitan | Giesù |
| Norman | Jésus |
| Occitan | Jèsus |
| Piedmontese | Gesù |
| Polish | Jezus[25] |
| Portuguese | Jesus[25] |
| Romanian | Iisus (Orthodox),Isus (Catholic)[25] |
| Russian | Иисус (Iisus)[25] |
| Sardinian | Gesùs |
| Serbian | Isus /Исус |
| Sicilian | Gesù |
| Sinhala | යේසුස් වහන්සේ[25] (Yēsus Vahansē) |
| Scottish Gaelic | Ìosa |
| Shona | Jesu |
| Slovak | Ježiš[25] |
| Slovenian | Jezus[25] |
| Somali | Ciise[25] |
| Spanish | Jesús[25] |
| Swahili | Yesu[25] |
| Tajik | Исо (Iso)[25] |
| Tamil | இயேசு கிறிஸ்து (Yesu Christu) |
| Telugu | యేసు (Yesu)[25] |
| Thai | พระเยซู[25] (Phráʔ Yēsū) |
| Turkish | İsa[25] |
| Turkmen | Isa |
| Ukrainian | Ісус (Isus)[25] |
| Urdu | یسوع (Yesu) orیشوع (Yeshu) orعیسیٰ (Isa)[25] |
| Uzbek | Iso[25] |
| Venetian | Jesu |
| Vietnamese | Chúa Giêsu[25] |
| Welsh | Iesu[25] |
| Xhosa | uYesu[25] |
| Yoruba | Jesu[25] |
| Zomi (Tedim-Chin) | Zeisuh (most common),Jesuh |
| Zulu | uJesu[25] |
