The languages dominant at the time of Jesus were Greek and Aramaic (irrespective of what Mel Gibson might think), but the transliterations into English of Biblical names come through the Greek Bible. They don't always get an "s" when they end in a vowel (Eli, for example, stays Eli), and I don't know if there's a rule in Greek for when they do.
As mnarciso said, Jesus was Yeshua in Hebrew (ישוע) which means "he will save". There was also at least one high priest with that name in the Temple and we have reason to believe that it was a fairly common name. The full name is Yehoshua (English "Joshua") which means "God will save", but it is possible that Yeshua is understood (in Christian tradition anyway) as a participle rather than a verb: "saviour".
As for Judas, yes that is Yehuda. The Hebrew "y" (י) becomes a German "j" (pronounced the same, of course) and then that spelling persists in English with the different pronounciation. Hence "Jew" with a "j" as well, while the German "Jude" is a better approximation of the Hebrew. In case you're interested, Judas' last name is a real poser!
The best theory (in my opinion) is that Iscariot is a Greek conflation for the Hebreo-Aramaic Ish Qeriyot (איש קריות) which means, "resident of Qeriyot" - a known Palestinian town. Actually, there were lots of places with that name (it literally meant "enclosed city/ies") and topographical 'surnames' were very common.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-10-22 04:03 am (UTC)The languages dominant at the time of Jesus were Greek and Aramaic (irrespective of what Mel Gibson might think), but the transliterations into English of Biblical names come through the Greek Bible. They don't always get an "s" when they end in a vowel (Eli, for example, stays Eli), and I don't know if there's a rule in Greek for when they do.
As mnarciso said, Jesus was Yeshua in Hebrew (ישוע) which means "he will save". There was also at least one high priest with that name in the Temple and we have reason to believe that it was a fairly common name. The full name is Yehoshua (English "Joshua") which means "God will save", but it is possible that Yeshua is understood (in Christian tradition anyway) as a participle rather than a verb: "saviour".
As for Judas, yes that is Yehuda. The Hebrew "y" (י) becomes a German "j" (pronounced the same, of course) and then that spelling persists in English with the different pronounciation. Hence "Jew" with a "j" as well, while the German "Jude" is a better approximation of the Hebrew. In case you're interested, Judas' last name is a real poser!
The best theory (in my opinion) is that Iscariot is a Greek conflation for the Hebreo-Aramaic Ish Qeriyot (איש קריות) which means, "resident of Qeriyot" - a known Palestinian town. Actually, there were lots of places with that name (it literally meant "enclosed city/ies") and topographical 'surnames' were very common.
Simon
PS: I've almost finished! Woohoo!