"Jesus" is the Greek form of the Hebrew "Joshua"

meaning "Jehovah saves", which is the name, roughly, The Boss went by in his heyday. Galileans during the time of Christ spoke Aramaic, but apparently they used Hebrew names for their kids the way Italian-Americans, say, might use an Italian name today.

By the time the Gospels were written in 60 AD or so, Greek had come into general use for literary purposes and "Joshua" became "Jesus." The prefix bar- means "son of" in Aramaic, so "bar-Joseph" is roughly comparable to "O'Shaughnessy," or if you really want to get basic about it, "Joe's kid Josh."

Posted By: Tomblander, Jan 27, 14:24:52