First, what languages are involved?
Truth be told, the Bible was not originally written in English. Much of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew (with a few places written in Aramaic), while the New Testament was written in Koine ("common") Greek. Later on, both the Old and New Testaments were written in Latin.
To see what older documents look like, check out this Hebrew Manuscript, this Greek manuscript, or this Latin Manuscript. Scripture4All provides a way to read the Old Testament or New Testament, with English terms above the Hebrew and Greek terms. In addition, there is an online version of the Latin Vulgate (Douay-Rheims), which allows side-by-side comparison with English and Latin.
The manuscripts for the Gospels of Matthew and John are written in Greek. However, there is speculation that these might have been written in Aramaic (a language similar to Hebrew). Most scholars believe that Jesus and His disciples probably spoke a dialect referred to as Galilean Aramaic. Steve Caruso, who has been working on such translation for 15 years, has developed his own hypothesis about how the Aramaic Alphabet was written and would sound.
Some Hebrew names may have been modified via Aramaic, before being written in Greek. This alteration would thus impact how later languages would render names. Names in Greek were likewise modified, as they were written into Latin. As time progressed, Latin names evolved over time and a "Late Roman" phase occurred.
The term "Late Roman" refers to later versions of the Latin alphabet, as letters were altered or changed. For example, in classical Latin the letter J/j did not exist; instead, it was derived from letter I/i. Zander Schubert provides a great chart, that explains the history of the alphabet. In addition, here is a list of "Late Roman" Names.
There were various efforts to translate the Bible into English. John Wycliffe is credited with creating the first complete translation, using Latin manuscripts. William Tyndale undertook the role of translating the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek. Books from his translation can be found here. Unfortunately, he was put to death for heresy before he could complete the Old Testament.
Under the authorization of King James I, an official English translation was made. Similar to Tyndale's efforts, this government-sponsored translation referred to Hebrew and Greek. The efforts started at 1604 and ended 1611. The 1611 King James Version can now be found online.
Some Hebrew names may have been modified via Aramaic, before being written in Greek. This alteration would thus impact how later languages would render names. Names in Greek were likewise modified, as they were written into Latin. As time progressed, Latin names evolved over time and a "Late Roman" phase occurred.
The term "Late Roman" refers to later versions of the Latin alphabet, as letters were altered or changed. For example, in classical Latin the letter J/j did not exist; instead, it was derived from letter I/i. Zander Schubert provides a great chart, that explains the history of the alphabet. In addition, here is a list of "Late Roman" Names.
Establishing an "English" Translation of the Bible
There were various efforts to translate the Bible into English. John Wycliffe is credited with creating the first complete translation, using Latin manuscripts. William Tyndale undertook the role of translating the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek. Books from his translation can be found here. Unfortunately, he was put to death for heresy before he could complete the Old Testament.
Under the authorization of King James I, an official English translation was made. Similar to Tyndale's efforts, this government-sponsored translation referred to Hebrew and Greek. The efforts started at 1604 and ended 1611. The 1611 King James Version can now be found online.
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| 1611 King James Version (Cover) |
Understanding the Origin of Biblical Names
James Strong was a Methodist Theologian, who lived 1822 to 1894. Click here for short story explain his biography. His most famous work, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, explains the Hebrew and Greek origins of names (and other terms) found in the Bible. For each term, it provides the original script, the transliteration (how it would appear in English), and the pronunciation. An online version of Strong's work is now available.
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| James Strong |
As explained earlier, the purpose of this blog is to explain the origin of "Biblical names." I'll use three or four names to illustrate their evolutionary process: Joseph, James, and John. It should be noted, that not every phase is accounted for in this process (for example, I have omitted the French influence on English).
Table 1: Hebrew > Aramaic > Greek
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Table 2: Greek > Latin > "Late Roman"
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Table 3: Latin/"Late Roman" > English
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