Yeshua Meaning
What Does Yeshua Mean in Hebrew?
Yeshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus. Meaning “Salvation” in English, it is derived from the word meaning “deliverance.” The Arabic name for Jesus is Isa. In the years since Jesus’ death and resurrection, the name “Yeshua” has changed into the name “Jesus”.
The Hebrew name “Yeshua” is related to the name “Joshua.” The prophet Joshua was a famous leader in Jewish tradition and Yeshua has a similar position as a spiritual leader for the Jewish people, as well as all who believe.
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”When did Yeshua Change to Jesus?
The name ‘Jesus’ is a transliteration of the Hebrew name ‘Yeshua’, which is a shortened form of ‘Yehoshua’ (Joshua). The name Yeshua begins with the Hebrew letter ‘yod’ which has the same sound as the letter ‘Y’ in the English word “yellow”. It is true that nobdody called the messiah ‘Jesus’ during his 33 years of his incarnate existence because the letter ‘J’ had not yet been added to the Latin alphabet. In the year 1524 Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian known as the father of the letter J, made a clear distinction between the sounds of the letter I and the letter ‘J’. Both the letter ‘I’ and the letter ‘J’ were used interchangeably by scribes to express the sound of both the vowel and the consonant. At that time the letter ‘J’ was pronounced like the letter ‘Y’ in English after a consonant and at the beginning of a word.
The History of the Letter ‘J’ in the English Alphabet
The letter ‘J’ is one of the most common letters in the English alphabet. However, surprisingly not everyone knows how it got there. The letter ‘J’ did not become common in modern English until the 17th century. Early 17th century works such as the first edition of the King James Version of the Bible (1611) continued to print the name of ‘Jesus’ with the letter ‘I’, so it was written as ‘Iesus’. It is a fact that ‘Jesus’, the English transliteration of ‘Yeshua’, has only been written and spoken for a little more than 400 years.
Which Bibles Did Not Have the Letter ‘J’?
The Bible is composed of many different cultures and languages. Understanding how these cultures and languages shape the way we read this text is essential to grasping its meaning. The letter ‘J’ was borrowed from the English and French languages and was used as a phonetic representation for the sound of ‘Y’ from the Hebrew letter ‘yod’. The earliest known printed book was the Gutenberg Bible, which was printed in Germany in 1455. The Gutenberg Bible which was written in Latin is known as the ‘Vulgate’ spells the name ‘Jesus’ as ‘Iesvs’ because there was no letter ‘J’ or letter ‘U’ in the Latin alphabet. The King James Version was translated in 1611 and used the letter ‘I’ to spell the name ‘Jesus’ as ‘Iesus’ until the letter ‘J’ becamse more common in the 1630s.