From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Mon Dec 21 1998 - 08:15:52 EST
At 1:00 AM -0600 12/21/98, wross wrote:
>Whence the jump from IHSOUS to the English Jesus - why J?
Perhaps three steps in this "jump":
(1) Greek IHSOUS to Latin IESUS (first-century tranliteration--and if the
account in John 19:20 is accurate, this latter form would have been on the
inscription on the cross IESUS NAZARENUS REX IUDAEORUM, which is usually
reduced to initial letters of each of the four Latin words on graphic
depictions of the crucifixion as INRI);
(2) Latin IESUS to Latin JESUS (practice of carrying the first I of a
word, which was almost always a consonantal I, above and below the lines
resulted in differentiation of J representing I functioning as a consonant,
from the vowel I);
(3) Carry-over of the Latin form of the proper name into English, with
distinctive English pronunciation of the J as an English soft G ("dj") and
of the long E as an English long E ("ee"--so that the English pronunciation
is "djeesuhs" while the Latin was still being pronounced "yaysoos."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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