Jesus, Mary, And The 12: What's In A Name?

A reader writes:

As a recent reader of your (extremely interesting and original) site, I’ve noticed that you have some knowledge of Aramaic.  Could you answer some questions I’ve had since viewing the movie "The Passion of the Christ"?

What would be the spoken and written Aramaic form of "Jesus of Nazareth"? In the movie it seemed it was pronounced with slight variations by different characters, such as "Yeshua n’Zaret", or "Yeshua an’Zaret" or "Yehsua m’Zaret" (I writing this phonetically from memory, so please forgive the mistakes).  I realize that spelling and pronounciation can change as to a word’s function and place in a sentence, but if one wanted to say or write simply, "Jesus of Nazareth" in Aramaic, seperate from any place in a spoken or written phrase, what would it be?

The phenomenon of actors pronouncing the name differently is caused by the fact that the actors in the movie weren’t native speakers of the language and, so I understand, didn’t even speak it as a second language. Thus their own accents tend to bleed through into their delivery of Aramaic.

I should also mention that there were no standardized dictionaries in the ancient world and folks tended to spell words more like they sounded to them, so you’ll get variant spellings from time to time.

As to how Jesus’ name is pronounced, that’s going to change over time and region. Just as we have different accents in English, they have different accents (pronunciation schemes) in Aramaic, and words can sound significantly different depending on where and when an accent was based.

In the first century, Galilee and Judea had different accents, as we know because Peter’s northern (Galilean) accent accent gave him down south in Jerusalem, when he was at the high priest’s house. ("Yew ain’t from aroun’ these here parts, are ya, sir?") Even villages not that far apart (by modern standards) probably had different accents, like the Aramaic-speaking communities in Iraq do today (a Mosul accent ain’t the same as a Zakho accent, though they’re both in northern Iraq).

The best I can do is show you how "Jesus of Nazareth" is spelled in the Pshitta and tell you how that would be pronounced by a speaker with an eastern (Iraqi) Aramaic accent (i.e., the kind of Aramaic I’m most familiar with pronouncing), so here goes.

First, "Jesus of Nazareth" gets written different ways. Here’s how it’s written in Acts 2:22:

This is literally something like "Jesus the Nazarite." I’d transliterate it Isho` Nassraya. Pronounced in an Eastern accent, it’d be something like ee-SHOW-ah* naas-RYE-yah, but it’s hard to get across the exact sound because English does’t have two of the sounds that are used. That final character on Isho` (read from right-to-left) isn Aeh, which isn’t really like an English "ah" sound, which is why I starred it in the pronunciation. It’s a harsh gutteral sound that, to tell you the truth, sounds like you’re being choked, the airflow through the throat is cut off so abruptly. Make a kind of gutteral grunt choking noise and you’re about as close as you can get without hearing someone say it.

The other sound is easier. It’s the second character in Nassraya–the one that looks line of like a backwards Y. This letter is Sadhe (SAH-thay), and it’s a "dark S" sound. I doubled it in the transliteration to convey the idea that it in’t an ordinary S sound. Pronounce an S at the very back of your mouth (instead of at the front) and you’ve got it.

I checked some other passages as well, and the closest I found to something that’s literally "Jesus of Nazareth" was in Acts 10:38, where we find this:

Hyper-literally, this would be "Jesus of-from Nazareth," but nobody would translate it that way. "Jesus of Nazareth" or "Jesus from Nazareth" would be the correct translation.

I’d transliterate it like this: Ishoa dmen Nassrath, and it’d be pronounced ee-SHOW-ah* dmen NAAS-rath. It’s hard for an American to pronounce dmen if you haven’t practiced, but just say the D really, really fast on the front of the word "men." Don’t forget the dark S in Nassrath, either.

The reader then asks:

Second, what would the name "Mary" be in Aramaic?  I’ve heard it is "Miriam", but in the movie, Mary Magadaline calls out, "Marian".  Which is it, if either?  Also, isn’t the Blessed Mother also addressed as "Emi", "Mother" in the movie?

This one is easy. "Mary" in Aramaic is Maryam, but you pronounce the R as a tap or flap R, creating a false pseudo-syllable between the R and the Y, making it sound a little like MAR-(ee)-yaam. Strive not to pronounce it with three syllables. That tap or flap R in the middle doesn’t give rise to a full syllable.

Here’s what it looks like:

Oh, and about "Mother," what he’s saying is emmi (pronounced EM-mee), which is literally "my mother." The word for "mother" is emma and the –i suffix functions as "my."

Now the reader asks:

Third, and perhaps the most lengthy, what would be the names of all of the Apostles in Aramaic.  The movie only gives us "Kepha" and "Yohanan".

Owww! Perhaps the most lengthy?

Okay glutton for punishmentobliging soul that I am, here are the names of the twelve apostles (plus a couple extra words I’ve circled for reasons that will become clear) taken from Matthew 10:2-4:

I would bore everyone to tears for me to give detailed pronunciation instructions for these, but here’s the gist:

  1. Simon (Shem`on, shem-*on [it’s got that harsh Aeh sound in it])
  2. Kepha (KAY-pha, though folks today pronounce it KAY-pah)
  3. Andrew (Andareos, ahn-da-RAY-oss)
  4. James (Ya`qob, YAH*-qobb [note: the two words that follow this are bar Zabday or "son of Zebedee")
  5. John (Yohannan, yoh-HAN-nan)
  6. Phillip (Pilipos, pih-LIP-poss)
  7. Bartholomew (Bar Tolmay, bar TOL-may)
  8. Thomas (Toma, TOE-mah)
  9. Matthew (Mattay, matt-TAI)
  10. James son of Alphaeus (Ya`qob bar Halpay, YAH*-qobb bar haal-PAI)
  11. Thaddeus (Tadday, tad-DAI)
  12. Simon the Cananaean (Shem`on Qananaya, shem-*ON qah-nah-NAI-yah)
  13. Judas (Yhuda, yuh-HOO-dah)
  14. Iscariot (Skaryota, skar-YO-tah)

Hope that helps! ‘Bout the best I can do on the fly, though I’m sure I could refine it if I had more time.

Again, I’m writing this from memory and phonetically with no real knowledge of Aramaic, so please forgive my mistakes.  Thanks for your help.

No prob! And I’m impressed at how well you’ve done picking up stuff by ear from the movie!

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

13 thoughts on “Jesus, Mary, And The 12: What's In A Name?”

  1. how would you pronounce “Supercalifragilisticexpialidociuos” in aramaic?

  2. No prob.

    Indicentally, just a follow-up on the pronunciation of the name “Jesus.”

    Yesterday I was talking with a Maronite priest friend who speaks Arabic as his mother tongue and uses Western-pronunciation Aramaic for the liturgy.

    I asked him how “Jesus” is pronounced in contemporary Western Aramaic, and he indicated it was pronounced “Yeshuo” (yuh-SHOE-oh), which I kind of expected because the western accent uses -oh as a common word ending where the eastern accent uses -ah.

    The latter, -ah ending is probably the original, but I’m guessing that the rest of the western pronounciation (yuh-SHOE) is probably more original, the eastern pronounciation of the front half of the name having changed.

    My guess is thus that the original was pronounced yuh-SHOE-ah.

  3. It is quite interesting to get to the original names. I was reading a french recipe/coffee table book that happened to mention the northern spanish pilgramage route of Jacques of Compostella. So I had to take our various dictionaries,Bibles, atlas, and computer. How to they get Jacques/Andrew out of Santiago? Very far removed from aramaic ? Andareos at least sounds like Andrew. Also by doing this research, I have found too many names for the apostles like Thomas only means twin and is not a real name!

    Also have another question: if Jesus is the son of the father and Barabas is the son of the father they released, can there be a grave error in the Bible? Maybe they released Jesus?

  4. Christine,

    Also have another question: if Jesus is the son of the father and Barabas is the son of the father they released, can there be a grave error in the Bible? Maybe they released Jesus?

    They most certainly did not release Jesus, and there is certainly not grave error in the Bible, although I hold out the possibility that this may have been a tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek post. If not, perhaps you can elaborate on how you reached those conclusions, or at least came up with those questions.

  5. With regards:

    “My guess is thus that the original was pronounced yuh-SHOE-ah.”

    Isn’t that a bit like Joshua? Could Jesus & Joshua come from the same origin (the name not the person that is) or am I being stupid?

  6. Just wanted you to know that this small exchange between you and someone else was very helpful. And to say thank you. Thank you…

  7. OMG! what u wrote here: I checked some other passages as well, and the closest I found to something that’s literally “Jesus of Nazareth” was in Acts 10:38, where we find this:http://jimmyakin.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/jesusofnazareth2_1.jpg

    is the arabic way of the name: Mohammad! any arabic person will clearly see this! I was searching abt Mary name in aramic & it is according 2 ur page is the same like arabic: maryam.

    http://nosra.islammemo.cc/Newsimages/rasool.jpg

    http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4200/22011477ox2.jpg

  8. OMG! what u wrote here: I checked some other passages as well, and the closest I found to something that’s literally “Jesus of Nazareth” was in Acts 10:38, where we find this:http://jimmyakin.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/jesusofnazareth2_1.jpg

    is the arabic way of the name: Mohammad! any arabic person will clearly see this! I was searching abt Mary name in aramic & it is according 2 ur page is the same like arabic: maryam. Mother in Arabic is: Ummee

    http://nosra.islammemo.cc/Newsimages/rasool.jpg

    http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4200/22011477ox2.jpg

  9. Dear Lynne OR Eaman

    I noticed that you used an old Chaldean (Eastren Aramic) words written in the first century AD. I am sure you do not know what these words mean. Their translation is(Jesus From Nazareth)- (Yashoa min Nasera). Using the word Yashoa – Jesus to claime that it means Mohamad is a real pathetic.

    I am sorry for you think that way. If you want to be reasonable and based on solid case you have to check and learn (East Aramic-Caldean – First century)and not on just LOOKING on how similar is the word from the name of Mohamad in Arabic.

    Greeting to all.

  10. Hi,

    Have been looking at your website (and also listen to you on CA radio). Was hoping you could help me with the ‘brothers’ of the Lord question. I am debating a protestant and he mentions that Luke uses the word ‘suggenes’ when referring to Elizabeth as Mary’s cousin. His point is that, if the ‘brothers of the Lord’ were cousins, then why was this word not used. Would I be correct in saying it is because Luke was a Greek writer and the other NT writers used Aramaic? I have read your article on Bad Aramaic..but this word ‘suggenes’ is not mentioned.

    Can you please help

    Thanking you

    Donna

  11. I want to get a tattoo with the word HOPE in aramaic. Problem is, I can’t find that spelling ANYWHERE! I’ve been searching the web for hours. Can you help me? Thanks! Barb

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