Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 27/09/2003 13:42, Dave Washburn wrote:

> ...  I have a friend 
> named John; if he moved to Mexico he would probably be called Juan, while if 
> he moved to Russia he'd be called Ivan. ...
Not true, actually. I know of several Americans and Brits called John 
who have lived in Russia and other Russian speaking countries. They are 
never called Ivan. No one ever tried to call me Pyotr. It is not a 
Russian custom to Russianise names of foreign men, though oddly they do 
tend to do it with women's names which are similar to common Russian 
ones e.g. Cathy becomes Katya.

> ... Same name, varying pronunciation, no 
> loss of referent.  Your comment that you have been "influenced" by the 
> sacred-name movement says a lot, and I don't mind being the first to tell you 
> that you have been persuaded to major on something very, very minor.  If I 
> may be forgiven for waxing theological for a moment, God doesn't care what 
> you call Him; all He cares is that He hears from you once in a while! ;-)
>  
Agreed!

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/