Messiah - Etymology

Etymology

Messiah (Hebrew: מָשִׁיחַ, Mashiaẖ Māšîăḥ; in modern Jewish texts in English sometimes spelled Moshiach; Aramaic: משיחא, Greek: Μεσσίας, Syriac: ܡܫܺܝܚܳܐ, Məšîḥā, Arabic: المسيح‎, al-Masīḥ, Latin: Messias) literally means "anointed ". In standard Hebrew, the Messiah is often referred to as מלך המשיח (Méleḫ ha-Mašíaḥ in the Tiberian vocalization, pronounced Méleḵ haMMāšîªḥ), literally meaning "the Anointed King."

The Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament renders all thirty-nine instances of the Hebrew word for "anointed" (Mašíaḥ) as Χριστός (Khristós). The New Testament records the Greek transliteration Μεσσίας, Messias twice in John.

Masih is the Arabic word for messiah. In modern Arabic, it is used as one of the many titles of Jesus. Masih is used by Arab Christians as well as Muslims, and is written as Yasu' al-Masih (يسوع المسيح )by Christian Arabs or Isa al-Masih (عيسى المسيح) by Muslims. The word Masih literally means "The anointed one" and in Islam, Isa al-Masih is believed to have been anointed from birth by Alläh with the specific task of being a prophet and a king. The Israelites, to whom Isa was sent, had a traditional practice of anointing their kings with oil. An Imam Bukhari Hadith describes Jesus as having wet hair that looked as if water was dripping from it, possibly meaning he was naturally anointed. Muslims believe that this is just one of the many signs that proves that Jesus is the Messiah.