# Where Matthew, Mark, Luke and John originally called Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2008, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456 "2008-06-19T10:58:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ignis\_glaciesque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@ignis\_glaciesque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignis_glaciesque)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456/41 "2008-06-21T03:47:12Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] “Eve” is actually very close to how the name is pronounced in Hebrew [/QUOTE] Huh? From what a Hebrew-speaking friend told me, the Hebrew for ‘Eve’ is ‘Chava’. ‘Ch’ as in ‘Chanukka’. Nothing like ‘Eve’ as it’s pronounced in English. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456/42 "2008-06-21T03:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=ignis\_glaciesque] Huh? From what a Hebrew-speaking friend told me, the Hebrew for ‘Eve’ is ‘Chava’. ‘Ch’ as in ‘Chanukka’. Nothing like ‘Eve’ as it’s pronounced in English. [/QUOTE] I have to confess to not checking before I posted, but as I remember it Eve is spelt Aleph Bet with the vowel denoting an “ee” sound, making it, pretty much, “Eve”. I’ll check my Hebrew Bible when I get home. Until then, Wikipedia agrees with you. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456/43 "2008-06-21T05:56:54Z")
Eve is, in fact, “Chava.” Adam is Adam, and while id does mean “man”, the etymology is the opposite of what you think - human beings are called “Bnei Adam”, or “Sons of Adam”, which in modern Hebrew is often shortened to “Adam.” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456/44 "2008-06-21T09:22:54Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] But there’s not definitive evidence that the Hebrews pronounced JHVH as “Yahweh”. The average Hebrew did not, in fact, pronounce it at all. And no one knows for certain how it was meant to be pronounced then. It could as well be Yahuwahu, as Larry Gonick once proposed. The similarity is very likely coincidence. [/QUOTE] I thought it was… **Jehovah**! _rock bounces off head_ ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456/45 "2008-06-21T10:28:24Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] I have to confess to not checking before I posted, but as I remember it Eve is spelt Aleph Bet with the vowel denoting an “ee” sound, making it, pretty much, “Eve”. I’ll check my Hebrew Bible when I get home. [/QUOTE] I’m home, I’ve checked, and as the technical term goes, I’m pwned. Eve is indeed Chava and I have no idea where I picked up my misconception, only that I have a disturbingly strong memory of it. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456/46 "2008-06-21T12:02:34Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] I thought it was… **Jehovah**! _rock bounces off head_ [/QUOTE] You’re only making it worse for yourself, you know. ---
**Author:** ![mwbrooks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mwbrooks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mwbrooks)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456/47 "2008-06-23T01:52:58Z")
[QUOTE=Autolycus] I read somewhere that originally it was pronounced Jesús. [/QUOTE] OK, I just have to inject a modern linguistic curiosity here. At one time, I’m told, Yaesu produced a very popular Marine radio (and maybe they still do). I’ve heard that coastal fishermen used to go into their local radio store and ask for “that Jesus radio.” Yaesu, toy of ham’s desiring. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456/48 "2008-06-23T16:21:02Z")
Can I just insert here my genuine wonder at the anglocentrism of the OP? Really, why would you think people living a dozen or so countries over, almost a thousand years before anything remotely resembling modern English actually existed, would have English names? 🙂 If anyone here suggested that the names of the authors of the gospels were really spelled and pronounced ‘Mattheüs, Marcus, Lucas & Johannes’, I’d be pretty sure it was a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456/49 "2008-06-23T16:34:49Z")
[QUOTE=Švejk] Can I just insert here my genuine wonder at the anglocentrism of the OP? Really, why would you think people living a dozen or so countries over, almost a thousand years before anything remotely resembling modern English actually existed, would have English names? 🙂 [/QUOTE] Not anglocentrism, just plain ignorance. We’re always told that the apostles were called Matthew, Mark, John, and what have you, and you never hear their Aramaic/Hebrew/Semitic names, so it’s not a particularly stupid idea to assume that the actual names are very similar in pronunciation. Given how similar Matthew and Mattheus are, would it really be that surprising? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456/50 "2008-06-23T16:45:20Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Not anglocentrism, just plain ignorance. We’re always told that the apostles were called Matthew, Mark, John, and what have you, and you never hear their Aramaic/Hebrew/Semitic names, so it’s not a particularly stupid idea to assume that the actual names are very similar in pronunciation. [/QUOTE] Agreed. The question wasn’t whether the four evangelists had English names, but whether the names they did have had come down to us unaltered and adopted into English language. The only anglocentrism here, I think, is being monolingual enough to have never encountered other languages’ versions of the biblical names. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-matthew-mark-luke-and-john-originally-called-matthew-mark-luke-and-john/453456.md?page=2)