[B-Greek] Iesous/zeus connection
Dan Gleason
dan-bgreek at hotmail.com
Thu Sep 29 13:15:38 EDT 2005
I agree with the other people who have responded to this thread that the
name of Jesus (ee-ay-sous) was not directly derived from the name of Zeus
(dzous). The only connection I can see is one of punning or word play.
Etymology is the study of word origins and how those words change in meaning
and pronunciation over time. The connection between the sound of the two
names is probably unintential but still coincidental.
One example that comes to mind is when the crucified Jesus called out "Eloi,
Eloi lama sabachthani" and someone standing near to him said "He-is-calling
Elias" (Mk 15:34-35). This was a pun on the similarity of the sound a
between the words Eloi and Elias (coming from a dying man, suffering extreme
thirst, who couldn't finish all of his words).
Matthew was also using word play when he wrote "you are to name him Iesous
because he will save his people from their sins" (Matt 1:21). The connection
was between the Hebrew pronunciation of the name Jesus (Yeho-shua) and it's
meaning Yeho (Yahweh) - shua (saves).
If anyone can find any ancient examples of word play between the name of
Jesus and Zeus I would like to know about it.
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