Ways to say it
| Koine Greek | Romanization | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ἰησοῦς | Iesous | |
| Ἰησοῦ | Iesou | vocative or genitive form |
When addressing him directly or in certain grammatical cases, the form changes to Ἰησοῦ (Iesou), as seen throughout the New Testament text.
What does it mean word for word?
Ἰησοῦς is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Yeshua, itself a shortened form of Yehoshua, meaning 'the Lord saves' or 'the Lord is salvation'.
Which one should you use?
Ἰησοῦς is the standard nominative form used as the subject of a sentence. Ἰησοῦ appears when the name is in the genitive, dative or vocative case, following ordinary Greek noun endings.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
As a proper name, there is no separate formal or informal version. The grammatical case simply depends on the name's role in a sentence.
Is it said differently in some regions?
Ἰησοῦς was the standard Koine Greek form used throughout the Greek-speaking Mediterranean world and in the Septuagint and New Testament texts alike.
How does it change in a sentence?
Greek names follow the regular noun case system, so Ἰησοῦς changes its ending depending on whether it is the subject, object or possessor in a sentence.
How do you pronounce it?
In the Koine period, Ἰησοῦς was pronounced roughly 'ee-ay-SOOS', with the stress falling on the final syllable.
What mistakes should you avoid?
The Greek Ἰησοῦς is a transliteration of a Hebrew and Aramaic name, not an original Greek word, so looking for a Greek root behind its meaning will not work the way it does for ordinary Greek vocabulary.
When do people say it?
The name's meaning, 'the Lord saves', carried deliberate theological weight for early Greek-speaking Christian communities reading and copying New Testament texts.
Did you know?
- Ἰησοῦς is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua, carried into Greek through the standard transliteration practices used for Semitic names in Koine texts.
- The name's underlying meaning, 'the Lord saves', is one reason early Christian writers in Greek saw theological significance in the name itself, not only in later titles added to it.
Examples in context
- Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός.Iesous ho Christos.Jesus the Christ.
- ἠκολούθησαν τῷ Ἰησοῦ.ekolouthesan to Iesou.They followed Jesus.
Example conversation
Two early readers of scripture, Priska and Ioanna, discuss a text about Jesus in Koine-speaking Corinth.
- Priskaτί λέγει περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ;ti legei peri tou Iesou?What does it say about Jesus?
- Ioannaλέγει ὅτι ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐδίδαξεν.legei hoti ho Iesous edidaxen.It says that Jesus taught.
- Priskaποῦ ἐδίδαξεν;pou edidaxen?Where did he teach?
- Ioannaἐν τῷ ἱερῷ.en to hiero.In the temple.
