Names and Etymologies
His original name was Shimon or Simeon, Simon in modern English. He was later given the name Peter, a name derived from "Petrus" which is a masculinized form of the feminine Latin word petra (f) which means rock (cf. petroleum). For what concerns Greek, the same idea holds: "Πέτρος (Petros)" is derived from πέτρα (petra). The Latin word "petra" is a loanword from Greek.
The English and German "Peter", the French "Pierre", the Italian "Pietro", the Spanish and Portuguese "Pedro", the Polish and Russian "Piotr" are derived from "Petrus". The pun with "rock" also works in Italian (pietra (f)), French (pierre (f)) and Portuguese (pedra (f)).
On the other hand, the Syriac or Aramaic word for "rock" is "cephas", which became Greek: Πέτρος, also meaning "rock". He is also known as Simon Peter, Cephas (Greek: Κηφᾶς) and Kepha (Hebrew: כיפא). Both Cephas and Kepha also mean rock.
The Catholic theologian Rudolf Pesch argues that the Aramaic word "cepha" means "stone, ball, clump, clew", the meaning "rock" is only a connotation. The Greek word "petra" denotes "grown rock, rocky range, cliff, grotto"; "petros", however, means "stone" such as "small stone, firestone, sling stone, moving boulder".
Read more about this topic: Saint Peter
Famous quotes containing the word names:
“Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a couple of Irishmen have a private sparring- match on one of them, as it is a government monopoly; all the great seaports are in a boxing attitude, and you must sail prudently between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of their breasts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)