Christianese Substitutions Part 2 – Names Etc.

NAMES and OTHER

These may not have to all be translated into English where it’s the same as now, in that we have names that mean things but they aren’t directly related to the person. For example my name Thomas originates in Aramaic meaning “twin,” but i have nothing to do with twins. However when these names were used in Hebrew they meant what they mean, so they are worth knowing.

Note: “For some reason, the early English translators of the Bible chose to transliterate the names of key players in the Bible a lot smoother than the lesser characters. And so Paulus became Paul, Stephanos became Stephen, Jacobus became James, and so on. Some names were kept in their Greek form. The name Jesus, for instance, never became Jees, and Titus stayed Titus, possibly to prevent people having to read from the Book of Tit.”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Matthew.html
However these days we use even more abbreviate versions of those names, such as Matt, Joe, Phil, Andy, Bart, Thad, Jim, etc.

Thanks to http://www.abarim-publications.com/NaLi/A-LocBig.html for most of the info here!  I didn’t mean to get so much from one place but they have deep info well-organized (plus they have a whole thing about quantum mechanics, but it generally didn’t seem to interfere in their meanings).
Check out some of these more detailed pages, for background on:
Hebrew: http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Hebrew.html
Israel: http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Israel.html

TYPICAL

PLAIN, ACCURATE WORD + ISSUES/COMMENT

God
(not necessarily wrong, but generic)

YHWH, I Be, The Powers that Be, BEing

God is a generic word that we’ve made into a name, but i think this is generally understood by most people, so it’s kinda OK, but leaves out some of “His” character.

Two main words are used for God in the Bible:

1. Elohiym =”powers”
“In reality, the modern western concept, or what we think of as God or a god is completely foreign to the Hebrew text of the Bible. There are three Hebrew words used for God. The word “el” means one of power and authority and used for God in Genesis 1:1. The word “elo’ah” means one of power and authority which yokes himself to another and is used for God in Job 3:4. The word “elohiym” is the plural form of elo’ah and is used for God in Genesis 14:18. These same Hebrew words are also used for false gods.”  –Jeff A. Benner
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/emagazine/022.html#Question

2. YHWH = “(I Am that) I Am” or “(I Will Be What) I Will Be” = ”I Be” or BEing.
This is what God told Moses to call him in Exodus 3:14. Hebrew doesn’t have the same tenses as modern English hence the variation of possible tenses for YHWH, and the reason “I Be” or my idea of “BEing” are ways to reflect that. BEing includes the idea that God is the One omnipresent being, and that “He” is a noun and a verb. We are also nouns and verbs, and God breathed his breath/spirit into us (adam) – does that make us all extensions or expressions of the universal BEing?

“YHWH Elohiym” literally means “the Powers that Be.”

God’s gender
God should really be “IT,” as we know that IT created us both male and female in ITs image from Genesis:
1:27 – So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them
and 5:2 – He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.

God is male in the Bible because when it was written:
1) Women were not equal to men, and were not even allowed to read Scripture. So they couldn’t have written it.
2) Ancient Hebrew doesn’t have neuter pronouns and the words for God were male words. C’mon, even the English word “mankind” is male, even to this day!

Check out these deep and interesting perspectives:
I love this whole site: http://www.yhwh.com/library.html
and this: The Nature Of God
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/YHWH.html
http://www.abarim-publications.com/DictionaryG/th/th-e-o-sfin.html
http://www.abarim-publications.com/ToBeIsToDo.html

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”

In the summit Powers fattened the sky and the land,
OR
Upon time Powers fattened the sky and the land

“Hebrew words related to “time” are also used for “space.” Therefore, the Hebrew word reshiyt, derived from the word rosh, can mean the head, top or beginning of space or time. The MT [Mechanical Translation by Jeffrey A. Benner] uses the word “summit” to translate this word as it better describes the original meaning of the Hebrew. Psalm 111:10 reads “The fear of YHWH is the reshiyt of wisdom.” The more Hebraic meaning of this is that “the fear of YHWH” is the summit, or height, of wisdom.

The Hebrew verb bara is usually translated as “create.” However, the idea of “creation” is an abstract word which would be a foreign concept to the Ancient Hebrews. This very same verb is used in 1 Samuel 2:29 where it is translated correctly as “fat.” The Hebrew concrete meaning of this word is to make something fat or to fill it up. The context of this verse is Elohiym’s “filling” up of the skies with the sun, moon, stars and birds, the water with fish and taniyn (an unknown serpent like creature) and the earth with plants, animals and man. We also read in verse two that Elohiym “filled” the skies and the land because “the land was empty.”
http://www.mechanical-translation.org/comparisons.html

In the same way we would fatten a cow with grain,
God fattened the universe with atoms and molecules.

Lucifer

Light-Bringer, Morning Star

“Doubtlessly much to the chagrin of fans, Lucifer is not a personal name and it certainly is not the personal name of the devil.

The word lucifer is a common Latin word and occurs in the Old Testament in Job 11:17 (= the dawn) and 38:32 (= some constellation), Psalm 110:3 (= the dawn), Isaiah 4:12 (see below), and once in the New Testament, in 2 Peter 1:19 (= φωσφορος, phosphoros, the Morning Star or Venus…).

Of all English, German and Dutch translations of the Bible, only the King James Version and the Darby Translation mention Lucifer and that only in Isaiah 14:12. All other occurrences of the word lucifer are translated as “morning star,” “shining one” or “day star” or something to that extent in all European translations over the last four centuries….
The name Lucifer means Light-Bringer, but it is not a name of the devil, it is the name of the Morning Star or the planet Venus, and is figuratively used for collective human achievements…”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Lucifer.html

Jerusalem

Rain, Possession or Foundation of Peace, The Way To Wholeness
I prefer: Peace City

“There is no town as Biblical as Jerusalem, but it was neither built nor named by Hebrews. Remnants of a Canaanite town called Salem date back to the early bronze age, and the first Biblical mentioning of this place is in Genesis 14:18, where Abraham and Melchizedek meet. The name Jerusalem occurs first in Joshua 10:1 and the city of Jerusalem was conquered, sacked and apparently abandoned by Israel (Judges 1:8). Still, it remained occupied by Jebusites and it was originally located in the territory of not Judah but Benjamin (Judges 1:21). Four hundred years later David conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites, annexed it and made it his capital (2 Samuel 5:6).

By the time the Hebrews had a say in it, the name Jerusalem had been long established. Most likely, the original name, that sounded something like Urusalimum or Ursalimmu, meant Foundation Of Shalem, the latter being a known Ugaritic god. The reason why the Hebrews didn’t rename the city when they had the chance may be because its name was easily transliterated into something very striking in Hebrew:”

• • Note that in Greek and as a fitting coincidence, the first part of our name Jerusalem resembles the words ιερος (hieros), meaning sacred, and ιερευς (hiereus), meaning priest.

• Without a doubt the second and dominant part of the name reminded (then and now) of the word שלום (shalom), meaning peace. The root of this word, שלם (shalem), denotes completeness, wholeness and soundness:

Perhaps the name Jerusalem was never changed, but only Hebraized, because it seems to mean Rain Of Peace. Jerusalem was to be the radiating heart of a world of completeness and wholeness. It seems that history supplied her with a most suiting name.

For a meaning of the name Jerusalem, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Possession Of Peace. Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads Foundation Of Peace.
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Jerusalem.html
Jeffrey A. Benner translates it: “pointing the way to completeness.”
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/emagazine/008.html#Name
For humanity to be “whole” we must have peace;
it is our imagined separateness that causes conflict. Wholeness is huge.

Islam:
“When Muslim armies conquered Jerusalem from the Byzantine Empire in 638, they called it “Iliya,” a shortened version of the ancient Roman name Aelia Capitolina . Another name that began to gain currency after the Muslim conquest was Bayt al-Maqdis, a translation of the Hebrew name of the Jerusalem Temple – Beit HaMikdash (Literally “Holy House”).

Bayt al-Maqdis is quite long and cumbersome, so as of the 9th century, an abbreviated name Al-Quds (“The Holy”), began to supersede the older Arabic names of the city. Today, almost all Muslims call the city Al-Quds, though Israeli law mandates that traffic signs in Arabic call the city Urshalim (as it is known to Christian Arabs) and only have the name “Al-Quds” in brackets.”
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/.premium-1.656704

Peter

Stone, Pebble

I thought it meant Rock!
“As popular as the name Peter is in our world, in the Bible it is assigned only once, namely to Simon “Barjona“; Peter, the apostle of Jesus. The name Πετρα (Petra) — a very popular female name in certain parts of the world, the Netherlands for instance — doesn’t occur at all in the Bible, although the name Sela may be the Semitic version of it….

The names Peter (petros) and Petra (petra) are regular Greek words; one means rock and the other means stone:
–The feminine noun πετρα (petra) means rock or rather: mountain of a rock, and is used about 15 times in the Bible…
–The masculine noun petros could mean rock in Homer’s time but in the time of the Bible, it was always used to indicate “a piece or fragment of a rock such as a man might throw,” as Zodhiates’ Complete Wordstudy Dictionary New Testament explains.”

“The most remarkable conjunction of these two words petra and petros is in the famous scene of Matthew 16:13-20. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus asks the disciples what they think of Him. The men rattle off a list of heroes but only Peter submits that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. Jesus responds by saying that he couldn’t have obtained that insight from any human teacher, or even have figured it out by himself, but that it was given to him by God.

And then He says to Peter: You are petros (a small wobbly and easily movable stone), but on that petra (the unmovable faith that is not from man but from God) I’m going to build My church.”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Peter.html

Paul

Little, Little Man – maybe Tiny, or Shorty

“The name Paul (or rather Paulos) is part of a group very common Latin and Greek words, which show up all over the classics, and which all have to do with limitedness or minuteness. The Greek word παυρος (pauros) means feeble or little, and παυω (pauo — remotely related, says Spiros Zodhiates) means to stop, retrain, desist (Luke 5:4, Ephesians 1:16). Latin words from this pool are paulatim, meaning gradually or little by little; paulisper, meaning for a little while and paululus, meaning very little. The adjective paulus means little or small. The noun paulum means a little.”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Paul.html

Interesting info about his original name, Saul:
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Saul.html

Mary

Stubborn, Stubborn Mary, Their Rebellion,
Stubborn Rebel, The Rebel Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, Tenacious Mary

“The English name Mary is a transliteration of the Greek name Maria, which in turn comes from the Hebrew Miriam. See the name Maria for an explanation of how Miriam became Maria.

Like other typical Levite names such as Aaron and Moses, the name Miriam is probably Egyptian of origin, derived from a word that means Beloved. But to a Hebrew audience it may have seemed that the name Miriam came from the verb מרה (mara) meaning to be rebellious or disobedient. However, the Greek name Maria (which became Mary in the English language area) may have reminded a Hebrew audience of the Hebrew and Aramaic verb מרר (marar), meaning to be bitter or strong:

The verb מרר (marar I), means to be bitter (Job 27:2, Ruth 1:20). It should be noted with some stress, however, that for the Hebrew audience the idea of bitterness has as much to do with grief as with strength. A dish with a bitter taste is said to have a “strong” taste.

HAW Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament reports that the Ugaritic, Arabic and Aramaic cognates of this root mean to bless, strengthen or commend. And since these languages are most often very similar to Hebrew, any Hebrew audience would surely be aware of this secondary meaning. HAW lists four texts in which this verb may be more appropriately be translated with strength/strengthen than with bitterness/being bitter: Exodus 1:14, Judges 18:25, Ecclesiastes 7:26 and Ezekiel 314.

Although the verb occurs a mere fifteen times in the Bible, it comes with no less than twelve derivatives, all pretty much meaning the same thing. Two are:

• • The adjective מר (mar), meaning bitter (Genesis 27:34, Exodus 15:23).

• The masculine nouns מר (mor) and מור (mor), a bitter and fragrant spice, which became known to us as myrrh (same word). Myrrh was the main ingredient of the anointing oil with which Moses was to sprinkle the tabernacle, which made the tabernacle not only visually but also olfactory prominent in Israel’s camp (Exodus 30:23). Myrrh-oil became the “oil of joy” with which God anointed the righteous (Psalm 45:7), but mostly it became associated with the consummation of marriage.

For a meaning of the name Mary, NOBSE Study Bible Name List has “same as Miriam,” and for Miriam it proposes Obstinacy (Stubbornness). Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads Their Rebellion for Miriam.”

So good: http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Mary

Magdalene

of Magdal-el, Tower of God, God’s Tower Town

The wonderfully pretty name Magdalene or Magdalena isn’t really a name but rather an indication of origin; an ethnonym. It means coming from Magdala, which was a rather large city on the coast of the Sea of Galilee, possibly mentioned in the New Testament (Matthew 15:39; many manuscripts read Magadan here).

The name Magdala is a transliteration of the Hebrew name Migdal-el, …meaning Tower of God.

The only Magdalene mentioned in the New Testament is Mary Magdalene. Jesus healed her of ‘seven evil spirits’ (Luke 8:2) and she became one of His adamant followers and probably financial benefactors.

From the sixth century onward, Mary Magdalene suffered brutal defamation of character, despite complete absence of any Biblical support for this. The last few decades has seen restoration of the name of this extraordinary woman.
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Magdalene.html
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Migdal.html

Matthew

Matt, Yah’s Gift, God’s Gift, BEing’s gift

“There’s only one Matthew in the Bible, although his name isn’t really Matthew, but Matthaios… one of the apostles of Jesus, who was a tax collector before Jesus called him (Matthew 9:9). His original name was Levi, and he was a son of Alphaeus (Mark 2:14).

The name Matthaios is a transliteration of a Hebrew name, probably something like מאתיה (Mattaiah), which doesn’t occur in the Hebrew Bible. This name would consist of two elements, the final one being יה (Yah) = יהו (Yahu) = יו (Yu), which in turn are abbreviated forms of the Tetragrammaton יהוה, YHWH, or Yahweh.

The first part of our name comes from the root-verb נתן (natan) meaning “to give.” The name Matthew means Gift Of The Lord, or more precise: Gift Of Yah.”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Matthew.html

Mark

Huge Hammer, The Hammer, Batter-Ram

“The name Mark (or rather Markos in Greek) belongs to the assumed author of the second synoptic gospel. Neither of the gospels mentions the name Mark, but since the times of the early church fathers, it’s been attested that the gospel of Mark was written by John Mark (the name John is Hebrew, while Marcus is Latin), the colleague missionary of Peter (who called him his “son”; 1 Peter 5:13) and Paul and Mark’s cousin Barnabas (Acts 13:13, Colossians 4:10)….

If the diminutive marculus denoted a hand-held hammer with which workers beat hot iron with great blows, a medium sized martellus must have denoted something like a Sledge Hammer and a marcus must have been something truly horrendous, like a War-Hammer or a Battering Ram.”  

Interesting info: http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Mark.html

Luke

Light, Of Light

“There’s only one Luke mentioned in the Bible, and sporadically. Luke is Paul’s “fellow worker” (Philemon 1:24) and his (?) beloved physician (Colossians 4:14) and possible last companion (2 Timothy 4:11).  

Ancient church traditions attribute the authorship of the third gospel and Acts of the Apostles to this Luke, but there’s no evidence for that (apart from the tradition, which obviously didn’t rise out of nowhere). The bottom line is that the third gospel isn’t signed by anyone and we don’t know who wrote it. And the problem with Lucan authorship is that “the difference between the Lucan Paul and the Pauline Paul is not minor” (as the Oxford Companion to the Bible puts it).

Ergo: either Paul’s fellow worker Luke had a knack for changing things, or Paul did, or Luke didn’t write Acts. One very obvious lesson the reader can learn is that since the Bible doesn’t find it important who wrote the third gospel, it probably isn’t. But since it’s always been called Luke, Luke it is.

The Greek adjective λευκος (leukos) primarily means to be white, and secondarily to shine or glitter.
Our root also exists in Latin, where it appears to predominantly mean to shine and only secondarily to be white.
The verb luceo, means to be light, be clear, shine, beam, glow, glitter (say Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary). Other words related to these are lux, lumen and luna, meaning moon”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Luke.html
The roots are also related to the word Lucifer.

John

Yah is Gracious, BEing is Gracious, God is Good, Yah is Good

“…the Hebrew original, Johannan, consists of two elements. The first part is יה (Yah) = יהו (Yahu) = יו (Yu), which is the truncated form of יהוה, which is YHWH, the Name of the Lord….

For a meaning of the name John, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Yahweh Has Been Gracious, but for Johanan NOBSE reads Yahweh Is Gracious. Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names does not treat John or Johanan separately and refers to the name Jehohanan, which Jones takes to mean The Lord Graciously Gave.”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/John.html

Thomas

Twin

“The one and only Thomas of the Bible is one of the Twelve Apostles. The Book of Acts and all four gospels mention him but only John gives him an active role (and submits his Greek name: Didymus — John 11:16).

His first recorded words are: “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (John 11:16), but because of his dubiosity about his colleagues’ enthusiasm concerning the resurrected Christ, tradition has dubbed him Doubting Thomas. What tradition was slow to pick up on is that Thomas was under standing orders by Christ to not believe when people reported a Messiah sighting:

Matthew 24:23-26: (NIV) 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

When Jesus shows Himself to Thomas too, he doesn’t in any way rebuke him but calls him blessed for having seen Him (John 20:29). Jesus also calls blessed those who somehow believe in Him through a process that involves experiencing Him but not seeing Him. It has nothing to do with believing enthusiastic folks who spread rumors.”

“Only John mentions the name Didymus (John 11:16, 20:24, 21:2), which is the Greek translation of his more common Semitic name Thomas”

http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Thomas.html
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Didymus.html

Andrew

Brave

“The name Andrew means Manly, Courageous or Brave and it seems to reflect the very command with which YHWH began his covenant with Abraham, of which Jesus Christ is the fulfilment (Genesis 15:1). This command also became the single most repeated command in the ministry of Jesus: Be not afraid! (Matthew 10:31, 14:27, 17:7, 28:5, 28:10, Mark 5:36, 6:50, Luke 1:13, 1:30, 2:10, 5:10, 8:50, 12:7, 12:32, John 6:20, 12:15, Acts 18:9, 27:24, Revelation 1:17, 2:10)”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Andrew.html

Simon

Hearing

“The name Simon is the Hellenized version of the name Simeon (in Greek: Συμεων; in Hebrew: שמעון) and there are nine Simons mentioned in the New Testament:

• • One of the two first disciples of Jesus, later mostly known as Peter (Matthew 4:18). This Simon’s brother was called Andrew and their last name appears to have been Barjona, which suggests that either their father or a patriarchal ancestor was called Jonah.

• • One of the lesser known disciples of Jesus, who was known as the Zealot (Luke 6:15, Acts 1:13). We don’t know much about this disciple; he’s mentioned only in passing and plays no further role in the Bible. But where the Lucan author calls him the Zealot, Matthew and Mark call him the Kanaanite (Matthew 10:4, Mark 3:18). Some scholars (Spiros Zodhiates) propose that this Simon is the same as the following one, but there’s no available evidence to either support or refute this.

• • A brother of Jesus, James, Joseph (or Joses) and Judas, all sons of Joseph and Mary (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3).

• • A leper living in Bethany, at whose house an unnamed woman famously anoints Jesus’ feet (Matthew 26:6).

• • A native of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who is pressed into bearing Jesus’ cross (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21).

• • A Pharisee in whose house Jesus dines, when again some woman anoints his feet (Luke 7:36-40).

• • The father of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus (John 6:71).

• • A magician living in Samaria, who was converted and baptized by Philip the Evangelist (Acts 8:9)….

• A tanner at Joppa in whose house Peter lodges when he has the vision of the Great Sheet (Acts 9:43)….

Both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and Spiros Zodhiates (The Complete Wordstudy Dictionary New Testament) read Hearing.”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Simon.html

Nathanial

God has Given, Given of God, God Given

“NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads God Has Given. Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names doesn’t treat this Greek name, but for the Hebrew equivalent Nethanel Jones reads Given Of God.”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Nathanael.html

Philip

Leans on Military, In Might He Trusts, Warmonger

“The name Philip is usually interpreted literally as Lover Of Horse(s), but some nuancing is in order. The ancients didn’t have a pet-culture the way we have it — in part, probably because ancient societies were based on human contact instead of surrogates such as TV and domesticated animals. Neither the horse nor any other animal was seen as a creature that a human could be “friends” with. Animals worked or were eaten, and that summed up their functions.

But some animals were very good at one specific task and became synonymous with it. Camels, for instance, were literally known as…the old world equivalent of the modern truck or freight train…. The horse, similarly, was known as “unit of mobile army”; or the old world equivalent of the modern tank or jeep….The king of Israel was to trust in the name of YHWH and not count on his cavalry to keep enemies at bay…

The name Philip means precisely the opposite of what God commanded His people. It means He Who Leans On His Military Complex.”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Philip.html

Bartho-lomew

Son Of A Plowman, Son Of Furrows, Son of a Hill Man
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Bartholomew

Jude
a.k.a. Thaddaeus

Praised, Let Him be Praised

Breast

There’s only one Jude in the Bible, and he’s the author of the “Book of Jude,” which is actually a very short letter. And Jude is not really a name; in Greek it’s the same as Judas… and that is the Hellenized version of the Hebrew name Judah. The name Judah comes from the Hebrew root-verb ידה, meaning to praise.

Jude was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Biblical scholars agree St. Jude was a son of Clopas and his mother Mary was the Virgin Mary’s cousin. It is confusing because he’s not mentioned much (The only circumstance relating to him in the Gospels is in John 14:22) and is called by many different names:

• “Lebbaeus” (Matthew 10:3) – Lebbæus, from Hebrew “leeb,” “heart,” means courageous.
• “Thaddeus” (Mark 3:18) – his surname,
• the same as Theudas, from Hebrew “thad,” the “breast.”
• “Judas the brother of James” (Luke 6:16, Acts 1:13)
• “Judas, not Iscariot”(John 14:22), probably the same person

Also: Judas the Zealot, Jude of James, Jude Thaddaeus, Judas Thaddaeus  

He is sometimes identified with Jude, the brother of Jesus and James the Just, one of six men named Judas mentioned in the Bible. Judas Thaddaeus might have become known as Jude because early translators of the New Testament sought to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot (but why, if there are five or six other men named Judas in the Bible?). Most versions of the New Testament in languages other than English and French refer to Judas and Jude by the same name.

http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Jude.html
http://biblehub.com/commentaries/jude/1-1.htm
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=127

Judas Iscariot

Man Of Kerioth, Man Of The Cities or City Slicker

“There are two persons named Iscariot in the Bible, although they are obviously related, because the less famous one is his father, Simon Iscariot (John 6:71).

Judas Iscariot was the disciple who betrayed Jesus (Matthew 10:4). The gospel writers called him Iscariot to distinguish him from the other disciple named Judas, who was a son of James? (Luke 6:16). Judas Iscariot is most famous for revealing the identity of Jesus Christ to the masses, but his participation in the grander plan of salvation was essential and foretold (Acts 1:16, John 6:64). Early in the history of Christianity Judas’ act became understood to have been in obedience to Scriptures and consequent instructions of Jesus.

Etymology
There is a wide bouquet of explanations of the name Iscariot, but the most plausible is that it is Greek a transliteration of a Hebrew name or epithet, and that Hebrew name consists of two elements.

• The first element is the common Hebrew noun איש (‘ish), meaning man.
• The second part of our name appears in the Old Testament as Kerioth, which was a town situated on the southern border of the territory of the tribe of Judah, close to the border with Edom. The name Kerioth is a plural of the noun קריה (qiryah), meaning city, which comes from the verb קרה (qara), meaning to meet or get together…

The name Iscariot means Man Of Kerioth, or even Man Of The Cities or City Slicker. Since Judas Iscariot is the notorious bad guy of the New Testament, it’s tempting (but not necessarily fruitful) to read portent and meaning in his name.”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Iscariot.html

James

From Jacob = Supplanter, Overthrower, Replacer

“The name James comes, after a very curious evolution, from the Hebrew name Jacob. When in Greek times people were named after Jacob – the arch-father of Israel – they were given the Hellenized version Jacobos (Iakobos). Hence there are four men in the Bible called Jacobos (James):

• • The father of Judas-not-Iscariot (Luke 6:16).

• • The brother of John — they are both apostles, nicknamed Boanerges, and sons of Zebedee and Salome.

• • The son of Alpheus, also one of the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:3), also known as James the lesser.

• One of the four mentioned brothers of Jesus (Matthew 13:55). The latter became a leading figure of the church of Jerusalem, was rendered the predicate The Just and is most likely the author of the Epistle of James (Iacobos).

Etymology
The Hebrew name Jacob became the Greek name Iakobos, which became Latin Iacobus, then Iacomus, and the early French version became the shortened Gemmes, which then turned into the English James. The original name Jacob comes from the Hebrew verb עקב (aqab) meaning to take by the heel or supplant…

Formally it’s not quite certain where the noun עקב (‘aqeb) comes from, but the meaning of the noun becomes clear from its applications in the Bible. It seems that the basic idea of this word is anything last of lowest. It may denote the hoofs of horses (Genesis 49:17) but also a man’s buttocks (Jeremiah 13:22). It means the rear of a troop (Genesis 49:19) or the print of one’s foot (Psalm 89:51).

When the Bible was translated into English, the name Iacobos didn’t become Jacob, it became James, and this while King James VI of Scotland ordered in 1604, ‘a translation to be made of the whole Bible, as consonant as can be to the original Hebrew and Greek…’  Strange case.”

The name James doesn’t mean anything, but it came from the name Jacob, which means Supplanter.
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/James.html

Boanerges

Not “Sons of Thunder”?
Thunder Boys, Bluster Boys, Bunch Of Windbags, or All Bark, No Bite.

This is what Mark in his Good News says that Jesus called James and John, the sons of Zebedee. But Jesus “doesn’t praise the sons of Zebedee with a lofty-sounding Sons Of Thunder, but rather Thunder Boys, that is Bunch Of Windbags, or All Bark, No Bite. And why? Even though James and John would grow to be giants of the faith, their career started off with some serious hiccups….”

Read this!:
“No matter where you look, the well-known name Boanerges is said to translate to Sons Of Thunder. But this is most likely incorrect. Let us show you why:”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Boanerges.html

Zebedee

Yah Has Bestowed, God Has Given, Yah Given, God’s Gift, Yah’s Gift

“Zebedee is the husband of the only Biblical Salome and the father of James and John, who are also known as Boanerges. We don’t know much about Zebedee, but Jesus calls his two sons right out of the family fisher boat, and when they follow Him, Zebedee isn’t reported to put up much resistance (Mark 1:19-20). Perhaps this is because he also believes in Christ, although he’s never mentioned as one of the disciples. Or perhaps his initial objections were overruled back home by his wife Salome, who is mentioned among the disciples, but who is also quite an impetuous character, and probably best agreed with….

The whole name Zebadiah and thus Zebedee means Yahweh Has Bestowed (NOBSE Study Bible Name List), Yah Hath Bestowed (BDB Theological Dictionary), or Gift Of The Lord (Alfred Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names).”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Zebedee.html

Salome

Peace

“There’s only one woman named Salome in the Bible, and that’s not the famous one. The only Biblical Salome is the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and the evangelist John (Mark 15:40). She’s the one who famously asks Jesus if in the Kingdom, He, as the supreme ruler of it, could possibly arrange to be sandwiched between her sons James and John (Matthew 20:20-28). That causes a bit of an uproar among the other disciples, and Jesus‘ nickname of the two brothers — Boanerges or Sons Of Thunder — may quite possibly be due to their tempestuous mother. Salome is nevertheless among the women who see Christ first after His resurrection (Mark 16:1).

The famous Salome is the daughter of Herodias (granddaughter of Herod the Great) and the mother of Bernice, Drusilla and Agrippa the Second. Her existence is mentioned in Matthew 14:6 and Mark 6:22 but she’s never named. That we know that her name was Salome we owe to the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus. This Salome famously asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Salome.html

NOTES:

• • Most of this series and this table comes straight from direct, accurate translations of the Bible, however some contain my interpretation or extensions of those ideas. Sometimes it takes interpretation or intuitive leaps to translate ancient concepts accurately into our very different Western outlook. Everyone makes choices.

• • Great info about the names of God and more is from Jeffey A. Benner, as noted by links. Here’s a great explanation by Jeffrey of the Hebrew meanings and concepts of name and breath and how they relate to “Adam.” (Parts of this are used above.)
    http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/emagazine/071.html#biblicalword  

• This is also awesome: http://www.paulfpavao.com/rebuilding-intro.html