🚀 go-pugleaf

Jukka Korpela wrote:

> >that [Jesus] is a variation of the name "Jason,"
>
> Not according to any theory or hypothesis I've heard of. One might as
> well say "Jesus" or "Iesous" is a variant of "Jussi". (Well, it isn't.
> "Jussi", a Finnish name, as well as my name "Jukka", actually belongs
> to the large family of first names that descend from "Ioannes",
> improbable as it may sound.)
>
> That is, any connection between "Jesus" and "Jason" is probably pure
> imagination.
>

There is a non-imaginary connection between the name Jesus and the name Jason.
According to Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, there was at some point
high-priest who changed his name from Jesus <Ie^sous> to Jason <Iasona>.  Since
this Jesus is not the fellow crucified at Golgotha, I am not sure this connection
is relevant to the discussion.

> Sounds like good old principle: when looking for connections between
> words, ignore the vowels, and pay no attention to consonants, and
> never mind what they call "linguistics" as a science. Well, "Jesus"
> and "Joshua" _are_ most probably of the same origin - variants of the
> same Semitic name.
>

Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, which means "God Saves."

Wilson wrote:
*** It is
my understanding that this same name has other alternative and variant
spellings such as Iasion, Iasios, Iasius, Iasus, Iesus,Iasio, Eetion, Aetion,
Aesion and probably others as well depending on local dialect and tradition.
Apparently all of these names mean "HEALER" in Greek, and are derrived from
the Greek verb iasmai/iesmai which means "to heal."***

The Greek for Jason may well be related to the Greek goddes of healing Iaso.  The
word iasis can be rendered as a remedy, a cure, a correction, or a refinement.
Classical Greek literature presents us with two Jasons.  The first is the famous
fellow who lead the Argonauts to capture the Golden Fleece, and is remembered as
the worst husband of classical literature (and he has a lot of competition
here).  According to Pindar, he was raised by a Centaur named Cheiron, the father
of the art of medicine.  This lines Jason up with healing, I guess, although I
cannot, off the top of my head, think of any particular acts of healing performed
by Jason.

The other Jason was the tyrant of Pherae, in Thessally.  He is known for his
political and military skills, and his advocacy of the idea that you have to do
wrong sometimes to do right most of the time.  He was a fan of the sophist
Gorgias.  Aristotle reports that despite his skill at the political arts, he was
unskilled at the art of being a private person.  "When he was not a tyrant, he
went hungry": or something like that.  Not much connection with healing in this
guy.

Hope this helps.

John Carney