Jeshua

English

Etymology

From Biblical Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (Yēšū́a, “Jesus” or “Joshua”). Cognate directly equivalent to Jesus via Latin Iēsus and Ancient Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs) from nearly identical Aramaic יֵשׁוּע (Yēšū́ʿ). Cognate to Joshua from related variant Hebrew form יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yĕhōšúa, “Joshua”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛ.ʃuː.ə/ (common)
• IPA^(key): /jɛˈʃuː.ɐ/ (properly)

Proper noun

Jeshua

1. Alternative spelling of Yeshua (“Jesus” or “Joshua”); a traditional Biblical transliteration, now uncommon among Anglophones as pronunciation of initial Hebrew yodh can be more clearly represented by English grapheme ⟨y⟩ whereas the most common modern English pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ has become [d͡ʒ]. (Compare the related English names Jesus and Joshua; corruption of the original [j] sound into [d͡ʒ] has become widespread standard English pronunciation of both names.)