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  • From: Thomas Thackery <tthackery AT comcast.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Fwd: Yahoshua/Yehosua
  • Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 13:07:49 -0700

Dear Baruj,

The name Jeshua i.e. ישוע appear in the Scriptures 29 times according to a simple query: these include 1 Chr 24:11, 2 Chr 31:15, Ezr chapters 2 & 3, and in Neh chapters 9 - 12. As for the form "Yeshu," in my limited exposure, I have only encountered this as a pejorative acronym ישׁ"ו, though this form is seen in Shem Tov ibn Saphrut's Matthew Hebrew (Howard, 1995).

According to Davidson (Hebrew and Chaldae Lexicon) the proper name "Yeshua" is a name meaning "he shall be a deliverance, i.e. deliverer, for יְהִי־יְהֵי שׁוּע comp. יֵהוּא) pr. name of several persons, and stands often for יְהוֹשוּע) (Davidson). The name is a combination of one of two source, both of which employ the use of the 'to-save' root. The name "Yeshua" can either mean "he shall be a deliverance'---where this is a combination of 'y'he + shua' thus "Yeshua"; or it is a variant form of "Yehoshua" (i.e. Joshua), where 'yeho' is an abbreviated form of 'Yehovah' (Yehowah) + shua' where the meaning is Yehovah is his salvation. Wether Davidson's rending is tenable, I leave to others.

Groetjes,
Thomas Thackery
Sacramento, CA

On Apr 4, 2006, at 12:40 PM, Herman Meester wrote:

Dear Baruj,

There is no such basis; Jesus' original name was neither Yehoshua or
Yahoshua, it was just Yeshu. Unlike Christians nowadays, Jews in
Antiquity didn't have "official" names, as far as I think is known at
least, so even if we claim that the "original version" of "Yeshu" had
been "Yehoshua", this would have been irrelevant to the Galilean
family he was born in.
By the way, both /h/ and /`/ (`ayin) were likely not to have been
pronounced in Galilee anymore, as the sources suggest, and the name
Yehoshua (as a biblical name) was probably pronounced, if people would
discuss a "biblical" subject, simply "Yeshu" too.

Writing this, I suddenly worry I misinterpret your question; maybe
you'd mean to ask if the name that "Yeshu" ultimately derives of would
have been pronounced "Yahoshua" instead of "Yehoshua"?
In the latter case, that is likely, because instead of shwa, the
biblical authors likely did pronounce /a/ in this case. However, then
they would have pronounced Yahoshu` (or Yahushu`) and not Yahoshua;
for the `ayin was not replaced with /a/ yet for Scripture recitation
(as the Masoretes resolved their inability to pronounce the
gutturals).

best regards,
Herman Meester,
Rotterdam, Netherlands


2006/4/4, Baruj Diez <barujdiez AT yahoo.es>:
Dear friends,

I would like to know if there is a sound basis to
claim that Jesus's original name was "Yahoshua" instead
of "Yehoshua." I would appreciate very much any
comment.

Best wishes,

--
Baruj Diez
Asturias, España



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  • [b-hebrew] Fwd: Yahoshua/Yehosua, Thomas Thackery, 04/04/2006

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