Jesus/Archive 22 - Etymology of Name

Etymology of Name

Further information: Jesus (name), Holy Name of Jesus, Name of God in Christianity, and Yeshua (name)

"Jesus" is a transliteration, occurring in a number of languages and based on the Latin Iesus, of the Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), itself a hellenization of the Aramaic/Hebrew ישוע‎ (Yēšûă‘) which is a post-Exilic modification of the Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ (Yĕhōšuă‘, Joshua) under influence from Aramaic. In the Quran, it is عيسى‎ (‘Īsa).

The etymology of the name Jesus in the context of the New Testament is generally expressed as "Yahweh saves", "Yahweh is salvation" The name Jesus appears to have been in use in Judaea at the time of the birth of Jesus. The first century works of historian Flavius Josephus refer to at least twenty different people with the name Jesus. Philo's reference (Mutatione Nominum item 121) indicates that the etymology of the name Joshua was known outside Judaea at the time.

In the New Testament, in Luke 1:26–33, the angel Gabriel tells Mary to name her child "Jesus", and in Matthew 1:21 an angel tells Joseph to name the child "Jesus". The statement in Matthew 1:21 "you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" associates salvific attributes to the name Jesus in Christian theology.

"Christ" ( /ˈkraɪst/) is derived from the Greek Χριστός (Khrīstos), meaning "the anointed" or "the anointed one", a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Māšîaḥ), usually transliterated into English as "Messiah" ( /mɨˈsaɪ.ə/). In the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible (written well over a century before the time of Jesus), the word "Christ" (Χριστός) was used to translate the Hebrew word "Messiah" (מָשִׁיחַ) into Greek. In Matthew 16:16, the apostle Peter's profession "You are the Christ" identifies Jesus as the Messiah. In postbiblical usage, "Christ" became viewed as a name, one part of "Jesus Christ", but originally it was a title ("Jesus the Anointed").