Etymology

Joshua

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Today it means: A Joshua tree. Full definition →

Biblical Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁעַ
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The story

  1. Biblical Hebrew · derived fromיְהוֹשֻׁעַ
  2. English todayJoshua

From Biblical Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yehoshúa'), perhaps from הוֹשֵׁעַ (Hoshéa') with addition of יהוה (YHWH, “Yahweh”), thus meaning "Yahweh is salvation". See הוֹשִׁיעַ (hoshía', “to save”). By cognate a direct equivalent to Jesus via Latin Iēsūs and Ancient Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs) from Aramaic יֵשׁוּע (Yēšū́ʿ), akin to Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshúa'), a variant of Yehoshúa'. The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament consistently render the two Hebrew names Yehoshúa' (whence Joshua) and Yeshúa' (whence Jeshua) into Koine Greek as Iēsoûs (whence Jesus).

Words from the same roots

Biblical Hebrewיְהוֹשֻׁעַ all →

Yahawashi

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.