Jesus
Not his real name. He was named Yeshua, a common name in Aramaic (Jesus’s native tongue, a close relative of Hebrew) meaning “God is salvation”. The more commonly known form of this name in English is Joshua.
In the Greek of the New Testament, Yeshua was written as Iesous because it contained two sounds, “y” and “sh”, which Greek simply didn’t have. Thus the “y” was rendered as “i”, the “sh” as “s”. The “s” at the end was the nominative singular ending, and was only used when Iesous was the subject of a sentence; other forms the name might take were Iesou, Iesoui, Iesoun, and Iesoue. In the 1100’s, Iesous was borrowed into English as Jesus.
The phonosemantics of Yeshua and Jesus are quite different.
Yeshua indicates a positive, youthful, connective energy that breaks through barriers — much like the Joshua of the Old Testament, who famously destroyed the walls of Jericho. The breakdown of the walls leads to a smooth, easy movement toward union with the Source.
Jesus, by contrast, is a name that starts with a difficult decision or doorway, and continues with stamina through hardship to result in directed energy with a creative flourish. This in turn leads to a relaxed, but still powerfully directed, resolution.
It seems to me that these names reflect the life of the original Jesus (as well as it can be known) as opposed to the artifices constructed by the various churches after his death; but I can’t really articulate my feelings here.
