Derek Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 Why are there so many British names in the bible, considering the location of the supposed events therein? For example...Mary, Joseph, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Thomas, Andrew, etc. I'm sure there are others, just can't think of them at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator LogicalFallacy Posted December 30, 2018 Moderator Share Posted December 30, 2018 I think they are just English translations of Greek and Aramaic names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offtheromanroad Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 Hi Derek, They are actually not British names, but e. g. Greek/Hebrew/Latin names with an English form. Look up "Mary (given name)" in Wikipedia for more info, with Mary being just one example, of course. Also, names in the Bible vary from language to language. Mary is Maria in the German translation of the Bible, Luke is Luc in French etc. Does this help a bit? OTRR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted December 30, 2018 Author Share Posted December 30, 2018 It does help, thank you. Despite the fact that I have been out of the church for so many years, I have never done any research on this topic. I always thought that when the bible was translated by king James that the names were changed to make the names more "palatable" for the people of the empire. Guess I don't know everything after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ Fuego ♦ Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Even Jesus isn't the original form. It is closer to what we know as Joshua, Y'shua or Yeshua. The -us ending comes from the Greek version of that: Ιησούς or Iesous John came from Ἰωάννης Ioannes, which came from Yohannan meaning "graced by Yah". Peter comes from the Greek word for rock petros, though his given name was Simon (Simeon). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted December 31, 2018 Super Moderator Share Posted December 31, 2018 Damn, there are some smart fuckers here..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ Fuego ♦ Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 If Peter was his pet name, did that make him a pet rock? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wertbag Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 This site gives some descriptions: https://www.deviantart.com/glee-chan/journal/Original-Hebrew-Names-for-Biblical-characters-577003455 The one that stands out to me is the most common English name; John. In latin it was Yochanan... Not even close. Can you imagine how annoying it must be to be a famous saint only to have everyone forget your name? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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