medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear John,
In a forum dedicated to scholarly discussion of medieval religion and culture the etymology of the Greek appellation "ho Christos" is hardly "outside this list's area" [of what? interest? competence? concern?]. As you may have noticed, Greek is one of the principal languages of recorded thought from late antiquity and the European Middle Ages; consequently, there are students of medieval religion and culture who in different degrees have scholarly knowledge of it. Your explanation of why this matter should be extraneous here would be welcome.
As would also be your opinion as to the scholarly merit of the statement you have posted (in translation) from Dr. Nirmala Srivastava, "Now, if you study the etimology of the word 'Christ', you would know that the word has originated from a corrupted form of word, 'Krishna'." What grounds have you for taking this statement seriously? And why should subscribers to this list (or anyone else, for that matter) prefer this etymology to the one routinely found in the lexicographical products of Greek linguistic scholarship? That is, that the appellation means "the anointed one" and is a nominal use of the well attested verbal adjective "christos", whose derivation from the verb "chriw, chrisw, echrisa" [w = omega], "to smear on, rub on, anoint, etc.", follows a pattern very familiar in Greek morphology.
Best
John Dillon
On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 13:04:19 +1000
John Noyce <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Dear Gordon
>
>I cannot answer all your questions, but here's a paragraph from the noted
>Indian scholar and spiritual leader, Dr.Nirmala Srivastava (translated from
>a Marathi-language talk, Bombay, 26-9-1979):
>
>"Now, if you study the etimology of the word 'Christ', you would know that
>the word has originated from a corrupted form of word, 'Krishna'. As a
>matter of fact, the father of Jesus Christ is Shri Krishna. That is why He
>is called 'Christ'. The manner in which his name 'Jesus' originated is also
>very interesting. The mother of Shri Krishna, Shri Yashoda Mata, was
>addressed as 'Yesu'. Even today, we notice that in northern India somebody
>named 'Yeshu' is not addressed as such but as 'J,su'. It is therefore clear
>that from 'Yashoda' came the word 'Yeshu' and then further became the word
>'Jesu' and finally the name 'Jesus Christ'."
>
>As we are now well outside this list's area, I'll leave it there.
>
>John Noyce
>
>
>>Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 13:25:37 +0100
>>From: Gordon Arthur <[log in to unmask]>
>>Subject: Re: Spelling of Jesus
>>
>>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>>
>>>On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 09:56:13 +1000 John Noyce <[log in to unmask]>
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>>This recent discussion of the spelling of Jesus in medieval Europe
>>>has been very interesting, and has led me to revise my assumptions
>>>on the transmission of the name:
>>>
>>>(in reverse chronological order)
>>>
>>>English: Jesus
>>>
>>>Latin: Jesu or Iesu
>>>
>>>Greek: Ihsous
>>>
>>>Hebrew: Yeshu
>>>
>>>Aramaic: Yeshua
>>>
>>>Sanskrit: Yeshoda (the mother of Krishna)
>>>
>>>
>>>Anyone care to comment on this possible line of transmission? (yes, I
>>>know the last line is controversial).
>>
>>Not comments, because this is outside my expertise, but a couple of
>>questions.
>>
>>1. Yeshoda is the only female name in the list. How likely is it that
>>a society as patriarchal as ancient Israel would derive a male name from
>>a female name? Intuition suggests the reverse is rather more likely.
>>
>>2. I have no expertise in Sanskrit, but a quick survey on the Net
>>suggests that the name Yeshoda means "she bestows fame", while Yeshua
>>and its various forms mean "salvation". There are a number of sites
>>that offer the same thesis as you, but I have yet to find one that
>>attempts to back up the assertion. Can you explain how you get from
>>Yeshoda to Yeshua?
>>
>>Gordon
>>
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>Gordon Arthur
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