Isa (name)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Isa (Arabic script عيسى) is an Arabic name translated Joshua or Jesus in English. It is a common given name for Arab men.

Arabic speaking Muslims refer to Jesus as Isa, while Arabic speaking Christians refer to Jesus as Yasu (Arabic script يسوع). Jesus is considered a prophet in Islam (see Islamic view of Jesus), and his name is used in these two forms in the Qur'an and Arabic versions of the Bible, respectively.

[edit] Etymology

The name Jesus is derived from the Latin Iēsus, which in turn comes from the Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs). The Greek is a Hellenized form of the Aramaic name Yēšua (ישוע), a short form of Hebrew Y^ehōšua (יהושע). Y^ehōšua (יהושע) is the name by which Moses called his successor as leader of the Israelites, known in English as Joshua; it means 'the Lord is salvation', or literally 'Yahweh saves'. There is a major discrepancy between the Hebrew and Muslim Arabic forms of this name, since the original Hebrew form of this name has the voiced pharyngeal `Ayin or `Ayn consonant at the end of the name (as does Christian Arabic يسوع yasū`), while the Muslim Arabic form عيسى `īsā has the `Ayn at the beginning of the name. For this reason, some claim the Arabic name Isa is related to the Biblical name Esau (which begins with a pharyngeal), but it is also similar in the vowels to the Aramaic version of Jesus, viz. Eesho (Aramaic forms of the name, however, still have the voiced pharyngeal `Ayn consonant at the end of the name).