Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Thomas Thackery <tthackery AT comcast.net>]

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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