# Names of Biblical characters in other languages **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2006, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059 "2006-04-10T11:01:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059/21 "2006-04-11T19:49:37Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > He was also very intolerant. He judged Ruth, after all. They didn’t even live in the same time period. Joshua lived during the time of the conquest of Canaan, and Ruth lived near the end of the time of the judges. So there’s not any way they even would have known each other. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059/22 "2006-04-11T19:58:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Arabic: آدم نوح موسى المسيح بطرس (Ādam Nūḥ Musa Isa Butros) Just noticed a few things here: - The transliteration for “Musa” should have a macron over the “u”, as that’s a long vowel. - The Arabic text for “Jesus” doesn’t actually say “Jesus”, but “al-Masīḥ”, i.e. “the Messiah”. - The “t” in the transliteration of “Butros” should have a dot under it, as it’s an emphatic “t.aa” instead of a “taa”. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059/23 "2006-04-11T20:09:49Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > They didn’t even live in the same time period. Joshua lived during the time of the conquest of Canaan, and Ruth lived near the end of the time of the judges. So there’s not any way they even would have known each other. whoosh ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059/24 "2006-04-11T20:55:33Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > whoosh Consider me whooshed. Can you explain the joke? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059/25 "2006-04-11T21:43:44Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > Consider me whooshed. Can you explain the joke? Hint: Recite the names of the first eight books of the Bible (Christian version) in order. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059/26 "2006-04-11T22:17:21Z")
Oh. 🙂 Different bible. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059/27 "2006-04-12T00:12:09Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > 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 ? It depends. (Sorry, but it does, although most names have simply been imitative sounds from other languages.) Some names carried over by meaning and others carried over by (perceived) sound. When the Hebrew bible was translated to Greek, Adam (whose etymological roots we can discover, but whose name had already become “just” a name) carried over almost unchanged. On the other hand, the name _Hawwa’_ means “life” and it was translated as [symbol]Zwh[/symbol] (_Zôê_ = life), however, when it was translated to Latin, only the sound was carried over and modified to be _Hava_ that eventually showed up in English as Eve. The original story of Jesus changing the name of Simon would have resulted (in Aramaic) with the new name being _Kepha_. (This is attested by Paul’s references to _Kephas_ with the Greek ending on the name.) Later, when Matthew wrote his Gospel, he translated _Kepha_ into _Petros_ (for the man) and _petra_ (for the stone) in order to show his Greek audience the pun. When the Gospels were carried over to Latin, the name was Latinized by the simple expedient of giving it a Latin ending, _Petrus_ from _Petros_. Then with the name already in the Latin language as a name, the evolution of the Romance languages led to _Pietro_, _Pedro_, _Pierre_, etc. Then, when the name was carried up into Germanic lands, the ending was simply modified to be the more Germanic (and, later, English, Peter), having long lost its aramaic meaning of “rock.” Other names have similarly checkered histories. The Greek [symbol]Petros[/symbol] and [symbol]Zwh[/symbol] still exist in that language, but other names are less likely to have meanings in other languages. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059/28 "2006-04-12T00:15:59Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > 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) For Vietnamese, there’s a “work-around” for the diacritics (you put the diacritic symbol after the letter concerned, and tone mark after the diacritic): _Joshua_ is _Gio^-sue^_ (no tones). ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059/29 "2006-04-12T02:14:52Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Other names have similarly checkered histories. The Greek [symbol]Petros[/symbol] and [symbol]Zwh[/symbol] still exist in that language, but other names are less likely to have meanings in other languages. And it’s usually the major, popular characters that get latter-language versions to evolve for them. BTW, another major biblical name who got “modernized” differently in the NT version vs. the OT version was Yakov – the patriarch from the OT became rendered as Jacob, but the two Apostles of the same name became “James”. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059/30 "2006-04-12T02:35:50Z")
Looks like Vietnamese cribbed from Italian. The Italian form of Joshua is _Giosuè_. In Turkish, _adam_ is a loanword from Arabic, and they use it to mean just ‘person’ or ‘guy’. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059/31 "2006-04-12T06:46:41Z")
Actually, the priests who came up with the Vietnamese writing system were Portuguese and French. So, it’s no surprise at all that they cribbed from certain European languages. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-biblical-characters-in-other-languages/352059.md?page=1)