Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Kevin L. Barney" <klbarney AT yahoo.com>]

I'm on another list where a couple of questions came up I thought some here 
might be able to help with:

1.  Is Yeshua simply a shortened Hebrew variant of Yehoshua, or is it an 
Aramaic form?  (Orthographic differences between Hebrew and Aramaic often 
seem to revolve around the letter hey, so I would guess it's Aramaic, but 
that is just a guess.)

2.  How do we derive Yeshua as the Semitic name of Jesus?  Do we work 
backwards from the Greek transliteration Iesous based on the names of other 
people named Yeshua, or is there some other evidence scholars have brought 
to bear on this question?

Thanks in advance for your help.  (Unless you request otherwise, I may 
forward useful responses to my other [English-based scripture study] 
list.)

Kevin L. Barney
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
klbarney AT yahoo.com