Chapter XXV: Section IV: Joshua, &c

A still more sacred personal Divine Name was revealed to Moses upon Mount Horeb—the name that proclaimed the eternal self-existence of Him who gave the mission to the oppressed Israelites.

The meaning of that Name we know, in its simple and ineffable majesty; the pronunciation we do not know, for the most learned doubt whether that the usual substitute for it may not be a mistake. The Jews themselves feared to pronounce it commonly in reading their scriptures, and substituted for it Adonai, that which is indicated by the ‘LORD,’ in capital letters in our Bibles, while the French try to give something of the original import by using the word _l'Éternel_, and thus the tradition of the true sound has been hidden from man, and all that is known is that the three consonants employed in it were J, or rather Y V H.

Yet, though this holy name was only indicated in reading, it was very frequent in combination in the names of the Israelites, being the commencement of almost all those that with us begin with _je_ or _jo_, the termination of all those with _iah_. Nay, the use of the name in this manner has received the highest sanction, since it was by inspiration that Moses added to Hoshea, salvation—the syllable that made it Jehoshea or Joshua, “the Lord my salvation,” fitly marking out the warrior, who, by Divine assistance, should save Israel, and place them safely in the promised land.

That name of the captain of the salvation of Israel seems to have been untouched again till the return from the captivity, when probably some unconscious inspiration directed it to be given to the restorer of the Jews, that typical personage, the high priest, in whom we find it altered into Jeshua; and the Greek soon made it into the form in which it appears as belonging to the author of the book of Ecclesiasticus, and which, when owned by the apostate high priest, under Antiochus Epiphanes, was made by him from Jesus into Jason, to suit the taste of the Greek rulers. It had become common among the Jews; it was the current name for the ancient Joshua, when it was assumed by Him Who alone had a right to it.

A feast in honour of that Name “to which every knee shall bow,” has been marked by the Western Church, and it is probably in consequence of this that the Spanish Americans actually have adopted this as one of their Christian names—a profanation whence all the rest of Christendom has shrunk. There too _a_ and _ita_ are added to it to make it feminine.

In the unfortunate son and grandson of the good Josiah (yielded to the Lord), we see some curious changes of name. The son was called both Eliakim and Jehoiakim, in which the verb meant “will establish or judge;” the only difference was in the Divine Name that preceded it. This miserable prince died during the first siege of Jerusalem, and his son Jehoiachin (appointed of the Lord), reigned for three months till the city was taken, and he was carried away to Babylon. The above-mentioned seems to have been his proper name, but he was commonly called Jeconiah, and Jeremiah denounces his punishment without the prefix, as “this man Coniah.”

After the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiachin was brought out of prison, and lived in some degree of ease and favour at Babylon; and by Greek authors a sort of compromise was made between his name and his father’s, and he becomes sometimes Jeconias, and sometimes Joacim.

There was an early tradition that Joachim had been the name of the father of the Blessed Virgin, but her private history did not assume any great prominence till about 1500, and in consequence the names of her parents are far less often used before than after that era. Her mother’s name, as we shall see, had a history of its own; and was earlier in general use than that of her father, which scarcely came into England at all, and was better known to us when Murat ascended the throne of Naples than at any other time. Being however found in the apocryphal Gospels, it was in use in the Greek Church, and is therefore to be found in Russia. Its forms are,

┌────────────────┬────────────────┬────────────────┬────────────────┐ │ German. │ Bavarian. │ Frisjan. │ Swiss. │ │Joachim │Jochum │Hime │Jocheli │ │Jochim │Jochem │ │ │ │Achim │ │ │ │ │Chim │ │ │ │ ├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤ │ Spanish. │ French. │ Italian. │ Danish. │ │Joaquim │Joachim │Gioachimo │Joachim │ │Joquim │ │Gioachino │Johum │ │Joa │ │Giovachino │ │ ├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤ │ Russian. │ Polish. │ Lett. │ Illyrian. │ │Joachim │Jachym │Juzziz │Accim │ │Akim │ │Jukkums │Jacim │ └────────────────┴────────────────┴────────────────┴────────────────┘

The Germans, French, and Portuguese have the feminine Joachime, Joaquima; or, in Illyrian, Acima.[16]

The Book of Judges has not furnished many names to collective Europe. Caleb, the faithful spy, who alone finally accompanied Joshua into the Land of Promise out of all the 600,000 who had come out of Egypt, had a name meaning a dog, seldom copied except by the Puritan taste, and only meeting in one language a personal name of similar signification, namely, the Irish _cu_ (gen.) _con_.

Caleb’s daughter, Achsah, probably from the shortness and pretty sound of her name, which means a tinkling ornament for the ancle, has a good many namesakes in remote village schools, where it is apt to be spelt Axah. Tirzah (pleasantness) was one of those five daughters of Zelophehad, whose heiresship occupies two chapters of the Book of Numbers. She probably was the origin of Thirza, the name of Abel’s wife in Gessner’s idyll of the _Death of Abel_, a great favourite among the lower classes in England, whence Thyrza has become rather a favourite in English cottages.

Gideon (a feller or destroyer) seems by his martial exploits to have obtained some admirers among the Huguenots of the civil wars of France, for Gédéon was in some small use among them.

The name of the mighty Nazarene, whose strength was in his hair, is not clearly explained. Schimschon seems best to represent the Hebrew sound, but the Greek had made it Σαμψσων; and our translation, Samson. Some translate it splendid son, others as the diminutive of sun.

The Greek Church and her British daughter did not forget the mighty man of valour, and Samson was an early Welsh Bishop and saint, from whom this became a monastic appellation, as in the instance of Mr. Carlyle’s favourite Abbot Samson. The French still call it Simson, which is perhaps more like the original; and our Simpson and Simkins may thus be derived from it, when they do not come from Simon, which was much more frequent.

The name of the gentle and faithful Ruth has never been satisfactorily explained. Some make it mean trembling; others derive it from a word meaning to join together; and others from Reûth (beauty), which is perhaps the best account of it. In spite of the touching sweetness of her history, Ruth’s name has never been in vogue, except under the influence of our English version of the Bible.

Perhaps this may be the fittest place to mention the prevalence of names taken from the river Jordan during the period of pilgrimages. The Jordan itself is named from Jared (to descend), and perhaps no river does descend more rapidly throughout its entire course than does this most noted stream, from its rise in the range of Libanus to its fall in the Dead Sea, the lowest water in the world. To bathe in the Jordan was one of the objects of pilgrims, and flasks of its water were brought home to be used at baptisms—as was done for the present family of Royal children. It was probably this custom that led to the adoption of Jordan as a baptismal name, and it is to be supposed that it was a fashion of the Normans, since it certainly prevailed in countries that they had occupied. In Calabria, Count Giordano Lancia was the friend of the unfortunate Manfred of Sicily, and recognized his corpse. Jourdain was used in France, though in what districts I do not know, and Jordan was at one time recognized in England. Jordan de Thornhill died in 1200; Jordan de Dalden was at the battle of Lewes in 1264, and two namesakes of his are mentioned in the pedigree of his family. Jordan de Exeter was the founder of a family in Connaught, who became so thoroughly Hibernicized, that, after a few generations, they adopted the surname of, Mac Jordan. Galileo dei Gailïlei probably took both his names from Galilee, which comes from _Galil_, a circle.

Bethlem Gabor will seem to the mind as an instance of Bethlehem (the place of bread), having furnished Christian names for the sake of its associations, and Nazarene has also been used in Germany.

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Footnote 16:

Dr. Pusey’s _Commentary on the Prophets_; Kitto’s _Biblical
Dictionary_; Jameson’s _Legends of the Madonna_; Michaelis.