Is there a web page that has a list or table of common Biblical characters showing their names in common languages?
Example:
[ul]
[li]English: Adam Noah Moses Jesus Peter[/li][li]German: Adam Noach Moses Jesus Petrus[/li][li]French: Adam Noé Moïse Jésus Pierre[/li][li]Arabic: آدم نوح موسى المسيح بطرس (Ādam Nūḥ Musa Isa Butros)[/li][li]Russian: Адам Нух Моисей Иисус Пётр[/li][/ul]
If nothing better pops up you can go into Wikipedia and click on the “In other languages”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter
This site, perhaps, may help a bit.
I should point out that “Isa" for "Jesus" is a Muslim rendering, based on the Qur'an. Arab Christians refer to Him as "Yasu”, and say that “`Isa” is actually the Arabic rendering for “Esau”.
Another example of different names in Arabic is John: Yûhannâ in the Bible, Yahyá in the Qur’an. They’re not etymologically connected; Yahyá is a verb literally meaning ‘he lives’. Kind of an American Indian sounding thing to name a person with a verb, like Stands With Fist. The names Yasû‘ and Yûhannâ come from the Syriac version of the Bible, I believe.
Eve: Hawwâ’
Mary: Maryam
Adam is the same in any language.
I’ve often wondered about this; my name is a common American name, and a minor but well-known Biblical character. I often ask how to say it in various languages (even other European languages) and often get told there is no equivalent or translation, but surely there is one in the Bible?
Adam in Spanish is: Adán
Bit of a hijack… But how do translations of biblical names “work” ? For example “John”, “Peter” or “Paul” in English, when the bible was first translated to English were these just a direct translation of the syllables from the Greek/Hebrew or were these an existing name that sounded close to the origianal greek ?
What’s your name?
Yeah, that’s how I got the names for my original posting. But it takes forever to look them up one at a time. I’d rather have a table all on one page.
In Hebrew, the first three are Adam, Noach, and Mosheh. I haven’t heard much discussion of Jesus or St. Peter in any context where I would have heard or seen Hebrew used.
Joshua
joshua should be very easy to find in any language as it is a book in the old testament.
in russian, joshua and jesus are the same name. not very popular as a name there. both are pronounced ee-ee-sus.
In Spanish, Portugese and French, it’s “Josue”. In Romanian, it’s “Iosua” In German, it’s “Josua”. In Magyar, it’s “Jozsue” In Dutch, it’s “Jozua” In Norwegian, it’s “Josvas” In Vietnamese, it’s “Gioa-suea” (Diacritical marks removed in all cases, because I don’t know how to make them)
In the original Hebrew, they were also. The guy who died on the cross had the same name as the fellow who succeeded Moses and finished leading the Israelites into the Promised Land. It’s purely an accident of history that we remember the guy who died on the cross by the Greek version of his name.
So in that sense, you could argue that you’re named after a Biblical character who’s not minor at all.
I understood Joshua and Jesus to be the same name. Jesus is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew Joshua, I believe.
Psychonaut, you write the Arabic version of Jesus’ name as المسيح - this actually is his title, meaning the Messiah, or the Christ. Isa (ee-sa), your correct rendering of the name of Jesus, is written as ﻯﺴﻴﻋ
Damn you, Chronos!
I realize this is violating the “common languages” clause in the OP, but what’s the point of having a Welsh Bible if you don’t use it?
Adam: Adda (atha-ah)
Eve : Efa (ave-ah)
Noah: Noa
Moses: Moses
Jesus: Iesu (yes-ee)
Peter: Pedr (ped-rr)
Joshua: Josua (jos-oo-ah or jos-ee-ah… they’re not entirely consistent with U in the Bible)
Yes and no - technically, Joshua is “Yehoshua” while Jesus is “Yeshua.” They’re varients of the same name, much as Jonathan can be either “Yonatan” or “Yehonatan.”
Joshua wasn’t a minor character! He had a whole (action-filled) book named after him, which isn’t something you can say about JC.
He was also very intolerant. He judged Ruth, after all.