Editing Yeshua (section)

===East Syriac {{Transliteration|syc|Ishoʿ}}===
[[File:Early Syriac alphabet form of the name of Jesus.svg|thumb|{{Transliteration|syc|Yeshuuʿ}} or {{Transliteration|syc|Ishoʿ}}, the Syriac name of [[Jesus]]]]
[[Aramaic]] and [[Classical Syriac]] render the pronunciation of the same letters as '''{{lang|syc|ܝܫܘܥ}}''' {{Transliteration|syc|yeshuuʿ (yešuʿ)}} {{IPA|/jeʃuʕ/}} and '''{{lang|syc|ܝܫܘܥ}}''' {{Transliteration|syc|ishoʿ (išoʿ)}} {{IPA|/iʃoʕ/}}. The Aramaic Bibles and the Syriac [[Peshitta]] preserve these same spellings. Current scholarly consensus posits that the New Testament texts were translated from the Greek, but this theory is not supported directly at least by the name for Jesus, which is not a simple transliteration of the Greek form as would otherwise be expected, as Greek did not have a "sh" {{IPA|[ʃ]}} sound, and substituted {{IPA|[s]}}; and likewise lacked and therefore omitted the final {{Transliteration|he|[[ayin|ʿayn]]}} ({{IPA|[ʕ]}}). Moreover, [[Eusebius]] (early 4th century) reports that [[Papias of Hierapolis]] (early 2nd century) reports that Jesus's disciple [[Matthew the Evangelist]] wrote a [[gospel]] "in the Hebrew language". (Scholars typically argue the word "Hebrew" in the New Testament refers to Aramaic;<ref>{{cite book |title=Wycliffe Bible Dictionary |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |year=1975 |entry=HEBREW LANGUAGE}}</ref> however, others have attempted to refute this view.)<ref name="Buth & Pierce">Buth, Randall, and Pierce, Chad. "Ebraisti in Ancient Texts: Does Ἐβραϊστί ever Mean "Aramaic"?" Buth and Notley, ed., ''The Language Environment in First Century Judea''. Brill, 2014.</ref> The Aramaic of the Peshitta does not distinguish between ''Joshua'' and ''[[Jesus]]'', and the Lexicon of [[William Jennings (Syriacist)|William Jennings]] gives the same form of {{lang|syc|ܝܫܘܥ}} for both names.<ref name="Jennings"/> The Hebrew final letter {{Transliteration|he|ʿayin}} ({{lang|he|ע}}) is equivalent to final {{lang|syc|ܥ}} in Syriac varieties of Aramaic. It can be argued that Aramaic speakers who used this name had a continual connection to the Aramaic-speakers in communities founded by the [[Twelve apostles|apostles]] and other students of Jesus, thus independently preserved his historical name Yeshuuʿ and the Eastern dialectical {{Transliteration|syc|Ishoʿ}}. Those churches following the [[East Syriac Rite]] still preserve the name {{Transliteration|syc|Ishoʿ}}.
 
In the [[Talmud]], only one reference is made to the spelling Yeshuaʿ, in verbatim quotation from the Hebrew Bible regarding Jeshua son of Jozadak (elsewhere called Joshua son of Josedech). The Talmud does refer to several people named Yehoshua from before (e.g. [[Joshua ben Perachyah]]) and after Jesus (e.g., [[Joshua ben Hananiah]]). In references to [[Jesus in the Talmud]], however, where the name occurs, it is rendered Yeshu, which is a name reserved in Aramaic and Hebrew literature from the early medieval period until today, solely for Jesus, not for other Joshuas. Some scholars, such as [[Johann Maier (talmudic scholar)|Maier]] (1978), regard the two named "Yeshuʿ" texts in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a and 107b) to be later amendments, and not original.<ref>J. Maier ''Jesus von Nazareth'' 1978. G. Theissen, ''Historical Jesus''. 1998. R. Voorst ''Jesus outside the New Testament'' 2000</ref>