Isa (name)

Isa ( or Eissa) is a classical Arabic name and a translation of Jesus. The name "Isa" is the name used for Jesus in the Quran. However, it is not the only translation; it is most commonly associated with Jesus as depicted in Islam, and thus, commonly used by Muslims. Arab Christians commonly refer to him by a different name ().
Etymology.
The English form of the name "Jesus" is derived from the Latin "Iēsus" and the Classical Latin IESVS (written on the Titulus/placard on the [[Cross] - John 19:19), which in turn comes from the Greek (Iēsoûs). The Greek is a Hellenized form of the Hebrew name [[Yeshua (name)|Y'shua|Yēšua]] (), which is in turn a shortened form of Hebrew Yehōšua () or "Joshua" in English. [[Syriac language|East Syriac]] literature renders the pronunciation of the same letters as ܝܫܘܥ ishoʕ (išoʕ) /iʃoʕ/. The Aramaic Bible (c. 200 AD) or the Peshitta preserve this same spelling. The "[[Encyclopedia of the Qur'an]]" by [[Brill Publishers]] quotes scholarship that notes that the Greek name Iesous, (Iēsoûs), also is known to have represented many different Biblical Hebrew names (which causes issues when seeking to find what Jesus' original Hebrew name would have been from the Greek) "Josephus used the Greek name lesous to denote three people mentioned in the Bible whose Hebrew names were not Yeshua', Y'hoshua' or Y'hoshua'. They were Saul's son Yishwi (Anglicized as 'Ishvi' in the RSV of I Samuel 14:49), the Levite Abishua' (mentioned in I Chronicles 6:4, etc.) and Yishwah the son of Asher (Anglicized as 'Ishva' in the RSV of Genesis 46:17). ... Josephus furnishes important evidence for the wide variety of Hebrew names represented in Greek by Iesous."
Also, the classical theologians [[Clement of Alexandria]] and [[Cyril of Jerusalem]] both stated that the Greek name Iesous was allegedly Jesus' original name.
There is a major discrepancy between the Hebrew/Aramaic and Muslim Arabic forms of this name, since the Hebrew form of this name has the voiced [[pharyngeal consonant|pharyngeal]] ʿAyin or ʿAyn consonant at the end of the name (as does Christian Arabic "yasūʿ"), while the Muslim Arabic form "ʿīsā" has the ʿAyn at the beginning of the name. It is also similar in the vowels to an [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] version of Jesus, viz. "Eeshoʿ" (Aramaic forms of the name, however, still have the voiced pharyngeal `Ayn consonant at the end of the name). [Other Aramaic pronunciations of the same name include yeshuuʕ (ʕ is IPA ayin). Vowels in Semitic languages are somewhat fluid between dialects while consonants are structurally more stable. The vowels in an Anglicized quote "Eesho`" by themselves are insignificant for this discussion since "i" and "e" and short "a" can interchange between dialects, and "u" and "o" can also interchange between dialects. The dominant consonantal discrepancy remains, between Aramaic yeshuuʕ [consonantal y-sh-w-ʕ] and Arabic ʕiisa [consonantal ʕ-y-s-alef].]
Scholars have been puzzled by the use of "ʿĪsā" in the Qur'an since Christians in Arabia used "yasūʿ" before and after Islam, itself derived from the Syriac form "Yəšūʿ" and ultimately Hebrew "Yēšūaʿ" by a phonetic change. The [[Encyclopedia of the Qur'an]] by [[Brill Publishers]] states this has also come about because many Western scholars have held a "conviction that Jesus' authentic Hebrew name is Yeshua'" and because of this they often "have been puzzled by the Qur'an's reference to him as 'Isa". Brill's Encyclopedia of the Qur'an further states "It is not certain that Jesus' original name was Yeshua'" However, the early Syriac/Aramaic form of the name Yeshua, the etymological link with 'salvation' (note the Hebrew consonantal root y-sh-`) in Matthew 1:21, all of the correspondences of in the Greek OT and Second Temple Jewish writings, and the common attestation of Yeshua among first century Jewish names have led to a consensus among scholars of the gospels that Yeshua was "Jesus"'s original name. "Esau" (and derivatives with `ayin as a first letter) is not a realistic possibility. With all this in mind, some scholars have proposed a number of explanations. James A. Bellamy of the [[University of Michigan]] suggested that the quranic name is a corruption of "Masīḥ" itself derived from "yasūʿ", suggesting that this resulted from a copyist error and an attempt to conceal the Arabic verb "sāʿa"/"yasūʿu" which has obscene connotations, though no evidence has been found to support this claim.
[[Josef Horovitz]] on the other hand holds that the quranic form is meant to parallel "Mūsā" (Moses). Similar pairs are also frequently found in the Quran as well which supports this theory. For example, compare Ismā‘īl and Ibrāhīm (Ishmael and Abraham) or Jālūt and Tālūt (Goliath and Saul). It is thus possible that the Arabs referred to him as Yasaʿ, but the Quran reversed the letters so as to parallel Mūsā.
Another explanation given is that in ancient Mesopotamia divine names were written in one way and pronounced in another. Thus it is possible for borrowed words to have their consonants reversed. Another explanation is that Muhammad adopted "Isa" from the polemical Jewish form "Esau". However, there is no evidence that the Jews have ever used "Esau" to refer to Jesus, and if Muhammad had unwittingly adopted a pejorative form his many Christian acquaintances would have corrected him. A fourth explanation is that prior to the rise of Islam, Christian Arabs had already adopted this form from [[Syriac language|Syriac]]. According to the "[[Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān]]", "Arabic often employs an initial 'ayn in words borrowed from Aramaic or Syriac and the dropping of the final Hebrew 'ayin is evidenced in the form Yisho of the 'koktiirkish' Manichaean fragments from Turfan." This is supported by [[Rudolf Macúch|Macúch]] with an example in [[Mandaic language|classical Mandaic]], a variety of [[Eastern Aramaic]] (hence closely related to Syriac) used as liturgical language by the [[Mandaean]] community of southern Mesopotamia, where the name for Jesus is rendered "ʿ-š-u" (ࡏࡔࡅ), though the pharyngeal ('ayin) is pronounced like a regular [[long i]] ("Īshu"). Also the name [[Yeshu]] (ישו in Hebrew and Aramaic) lacking the final 'ayin is also used to refer to Jesus in the Jewish work the [[Toledot Yeshu]], and scholar [[David Flusser]] presents evidence Yeshu was also a name itself rather than claims it was meant to supposedly be an acronym to insult Jesus. The Brill Encyclopedia of the Qur'an notes scholar Anis al-Assiouty as noting the fact that "In the Talmud, however, he (Jesus) is called Yeshu." Scholar [[David Flusser]] and other scholars like [[Adolf Neubauer]], [[Hugh J. Schonfield]], and [[Joachim Jeremias]] also further argued that the name or pronunciation Yeshu (ישו in Hebrew and Aramaic) could also be "the Galilean pronunciation" of Yeshua' that came about because of an inability to pronounce the 'ayin in the [[Galilee]] region where Jesus came from. Scholar [[Alphonse Mingana]] writes there may have been a monastery named "ʿĪsāniyya" in the territory of the Christian Ghassanid Arabs in southern Syria as early as 571 CE.
[[Christoph Luxenberg]]'s "[[The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran]]" equates the quranic name with Hebrew "[[Jesse (biblical figure)|Jesse]]". However, neither "Yeshu" nor "Jesse" begins with a pharyngeal consonant in their original Hebrew forms.
The earliest archaeological evidence of an Arabic name for Jesus is a Jordanian inscription. [[Enno Littman]] (1950) states: "Mr. G. Lankaster Harding, Chief Curator of Antiquities Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan, kindly sent me copies of a little more than five hundred Thamudic inscriptions. [...] It is the inscription [Harding No. 476] that interests us here. [...] Below the circle there are four letters: a y, a sh, a ʿ, and again a y." He also states: "These letters are so placed that they can be read from right to left or from left to right y-sh-ʿ, probably pronounced Yashaʿ, and this name is the same as Yashuaʿ, the Hebrew form of the name of Christ." An archaic Arabic root for 'Salvation' exists in [[Yatha]], which may have later formed this name: y-sh-ʿ. The lack of a "Waw" is still unexplained. Also, the closer correspondence with another name [y'sha'yá, "Isaiah" in English] needs explanation or discussion before this inscription can be entertained as an Arabic "Jesus".
Non-Islamic uses.
ʿĪsā is used as well by several [[Christians|Christian]] groups in [[Muslim world|Muslim countries]]. A 14th-century [[Persian language|Persian]] translation of [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]], one of the earliest surviving Persian manuscripts of the scripture, uses "ʿĪsā". Ahmad Al-Jallad has argued that a precedent of the quranic name "ʿsy" was already used in a Christian Safaitic inscription from the fourth century CE. Later translations in other languages also follow suit. Some modern Evangelical translations also use Isa, such as David Owen's "Life of Christ" (Arabic 1987).
[[Nicolas Notovitch]]'s 1894 book "[[Life of Saint Issa]]" claims that during [[unknown years of Jesus|his unknown years]], Jesus ("īśa" meaning 'the Lord' in [[Sanskrit]]) left Galilee for India and studied with [[Buddhist]]s and [[Hindu]]s there before returning to [[Judea]].
Variations.
Among some [[Turkic peoples]], such as the [[Tatars]] and [[Bashkirs]], the name is spelled as Ğäysä/Ğaysa (Гайсә/Ғайса), or as Aisa (Айса).
Bibliography.
[[Category:Arabic masculine given names]]
[[Category:Arabic-language surnames]]
[[Category:Bosniak masculine given names]]
[[Category:Italian feminine given names]]
[[Category:Spanish feminine given names]]
[[Category:Swedish feminine given names]]
[[Category:Turkish masculine given names]]