Toto

Who'se objecting violently? :huh:

And if we are talking about Aramaic vs. Greek names, why does Paul refer to both Cephas and Peter? If they are the same person, a Greek manuscript can use an Aramaic name at times.

ph2ter

Becuse we are not sure that such a person even existed.
Aramaic form maybe never existed and was never used for Jesus.

Does anybody knows any languange which uses for Jesus' a name not inherited from the Greek? What about Assyrian, Arabic, Coptic, Armenian...?

Toto

The Arabic form used in the Qur'an is Isa, which looks like it is derived from Iesous. In Armenian it is Heesoos.

dog-on

Ring around the rosey....

Semantic games aside, I clearly said that there is no relevant text referencing an Aramaic name for Jesus. I did say that if I had missed one, I would be interested in seeing it.

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angelo

The Jews of that time spoke Aramic or Greek . And whatever way the name is interpreted, it was a very popular name, you could stand in the town square and call out ''Jesus''and at least 15% of the males would answer you. So in fact, the gospelers could be talking about any number of Jesus's. Maybe one got himself hung and started the messiah cult that became the NT. Just an idea.

dog-on

I do not doubt the popularity of the name. I simply have no knowledge of an Aramaic version of the name Jesus being used in any of the relevant text.

Is this penchant, by some, to use this Aramaic translation an attempt to solidify the flesh? I wonder...

Sarai

Hi all--Very interesting discussion! I hope you don't mind a newcomer asking what may be a very silly question. While I can hold my own in Hebrew and Aramaic (to some extent), I can't read Greek,--so I'm stuck reading an English translation of the Septuagint and the NT. In the original Greek of the Sept., and quotes from the Sept. in the NT which include proper names of individuals, are the names of people rendered in Hebrew or Aramaic transliterated into Greek, or are they given in the Greek equivalent?

Sarai

Ben C Smith

They are almost always transliterations into Greek, both in the LXX and in the NT. Ιησους, for example, is not a Greek name, but is rather a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew ישוע (Joshua); both the LXX and the NT use the Greek Ιησους for the Hebrew ישוע, and the addition of a final sigma in Greek is common.

The Talmud and the Shem Tov Matthew edited by G. Howard later give this name as ישו, without the final ayin.

As an aside, I do not understand all the fuss over the name Jesus in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. Our NT manuscripts are in Greek; of course they are going to use the Greek transliteration of a Hebrew name. Someone here said that there is no evidence Jesus was ever called Yeshua. This is odd; our Greek authors can use different transliterations if they wish, but nothing requires them to do so.

If Jesus was a Jew who spoke Aramaic or Hebrew (or both), then it seems beyond question that he was referred to as Yeshua or something very similar. If Jesus is a made-up character, then somebody gave him a Hebrew name but had to write it in Greek.

Ben.

Sarai

Thanks Ben--That's just what I wanted to know!

Sarai

Toto

Unless, of course, the people who made up the character spoke Greek and not Hebrew or Aramaic.