Possessive of Jesus

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The possessive of Jesus is the way in which the name Jesus is formed in the possessive or genitive case. In English, there were two traditional possessive forms: Jesu and Jesus'. The former is now usually considered to be archaic. However, the form Jesus's is increasingly seen, and very frequently heard, in English.

[edit] Jesu — the classical possessive

The classical possessive of Jesus is derived from the Latin and Greek spelling of the name. The original Greek of the New Testament uses the name Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous). In the genitive case, with the meaning of Jesus, the name is Ἰησοῦ (Iēsou), following a slightly modified form of the second declension. In Latin, the name Jesus retained its Greek inflexion, being spelt Iesu or Jesu in the genitive case. This latter form, Jesu (IPA: [ˈʤiˌzu] in English), came to be used in English, especially in hymns. The use of the form Jesu is not limited to the possessive case, but, as in the Greek, also applies to the vocative case ("O Jesu, I have promised!" and "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring") and the dative case ("to Jesu"). Indeed, in most instances, Jesu is used in the vocative in English. As a possessive, this form is mostly used with of: "the love of Jesu my Lord". However, in some cases it may simply be placed before the noun: "Jesu heart".

See also: Jesu.

[edit] Jesus' or Jesus's — the English possessive

English uses the possessive clitic -'s to mark possession. When it is used after a plural noun ending in -s it is reduced to an apostrophe ('). Thus, bus's means 'that which belongs to a bus', but buses' means 'that which belongs to a number of buses'. However, traditionally, certain classical, but not modern, names that end in -s also use the apostrophe-only clitic to mark the possessive. This is the case with Jesus, where the possessive is Jesus'. The two words, with and without an apostrophe, are pronounced exactly the same (/ˈʤizəs/). Only the context determines whether the possessive is being used or not in speech. However, Jesus's, the form that would be dictated by strict application of the standard rule, is also seen today.