Dan Gan Wrote:It is an interesting fact!
I would like to know whether the Chinese "YESU" was translated by Western / British missionary or by Nestorian church. How old is the Chinese "Yesu"?
If you are to translate the English / Hebrew / Greek Bible independently(without any knowledge of previous translations) into Chinese today, would you translate "Jesus"(GEESUS) as "Yesu" ?
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Hi Bro
Thanks for the information site and your reposting here.
I have been trying to find out how Chinese YESU was originally transliterated but I fail upto now.
To me, YESU is the very same thing as Jesus and as Yeshua and as Joshua concerning who they refers to. Chinese transliteration/or translation for a foreign name is off the rule of the alphabetic language systems. And ancient translation rules are different from modern ones. The most popular Chinese union Bible version has been used for more than 80 years though there had been many different versions of Chinese Bible. The closest sound is NOT the goal in the Chinese transliteration rules. Chinese transliteration cares more than just prounciation.
I observe, from how YESU is prounounced in Chinese, that YESU has nothing to do with Jesus (similiar in form). The two sound completely different. Instead, YESU is more close to Yeshua or Joshua (As a Chinese northeaserner, I have troubles to tell any difference betwen SHU and SU...they sound most same...that is the reason why I mispelled my daughter's name from Shuo to Suo. Yes, Suo is my dauther's name, but it should be Shuo in Chinese pinyin). In Chinese, YESU is the unique name for Jesus Christ, the Son of God. If someone used YESU as his name, he is really offensive and will be considered blasphemous by many. However, if someone uses Yeshua or Joshua as their nicknames, they will be acceptable. Most Chinese habe troubles to accept a foreign names as given names unless they are indeed HANIZED. A Chinese girl, for example, can take Mary as her given name as it is HANIZED as MALI and widely accepted. She would be talked about (somehow dispisedly) if she took Elizebeth (sp?) as her name because Elizebeth is Yilisabai (4 characters) in Chinese, and wont be considered as Chinese.
Yes, YESU has been so hanized that some may think the surname of YESU is YE and His Father YEHEHUA (for Jehovah or Yahweh) has the same surname YE. LOL.
And the same, Jidu is Chinese for Christ but the pronouciation seems to have nothing to do with Christ (sound more like Kelaisite).
Neither YESU nor JIDU is Chinese characters, but the prounciations (Pinyin) of Chinese names for Jesus and Christ. Most Chinese Christians never accept English nor Hebrew nor Aramaic nor Greek names for Jesus Christ. That is, no matter how translators translate or transilterate, they still remain accepting YESU JIDU as their Savior though it doesnt hurt if they are told how their JIDU YESU is prounounced in other languages which are not their care.
Another example, no matter how you transliterate Jerusalem, Chinese remain call it Yelusaleng. The same for Israel, Jacob or James, Abraham: they are Yiselie, Yage, Yabolahan, respectively in Chinese.
Olopen will remain Aluoben, not Aluopen in Chinese. The character for "A" has another prounouciation, ie, "E" in Chinese, which sounds almost the same as the first letter of Olopen.
My name is Jing Li in English but Li Jing is only Pinyin of my Chinese name. Taiwanese or Hongkongnese or Korean will take Qing LEE for Jing Li. A professor here always calls me Mr. Lee in his writing though I remain that I am Li. Li is the same name for the Emperor Tang Tai Zong, as Li Shimin was his actual name.
And, another thing interesting, Chinese are not Chinese in Chinese. We call ourselves Zhonghuoren, or Huaren. China is not China in Chinese, but Zhongguo in Chinese. Japanese used to despisely call China by China (Zhina) though calling Chinese or China or Sino- is not offensive.
What I said above is just FYI. It will also answer that name changing will not welcome among Chinese if it is a popular name. However, in the Bible translation from the Aramaic, I would do not have any hesitate to use Misaiya for Messiah as Misaiya is well accepted as an alternative title for Jidu, the Anointed One (concerning my personal belief, Christ does not only refer to the anointed one but also the Spirit of the Anointed One...which is the anointing poured out as the Spirit of God).
Finally, you can see some more examples of how the biblical names are translitered in Chinese...that might suprise you:
Matai for Matthew;
Make for Mark;
Lujia for Luke;
Yuehan for John;
And many others...they sound more like translitered from the Semitic than the Greek or Latin or English.
How to transliterate a name is the least important thing in my eyes and many others. However, that the Message carried by the different languages remains the same is the most important.
I believe every Word in the Bible. Translators fight each other but the Scriptures remain the same. The letters kill, the Spirit quickens. The Spirit of the Truth is more than able to lead a genuine to the all truth allocted to him even the letters of the Bible vary from version to version.
By now, I do believe Paul Younan's interlinear translation of the Peshitta will be the best in the sense that he is a native Aramaic speaker and expert on it. In this I trust that the doctrinical bias will remain the least as he translates it as literal as possible. I take Paul Younan's interlinear translation as a bridge to the Peshitta. A bible student can easily access to the Peshitta through that bridge and he can easily change the parts of the Bridge if he does not feel safe enough.
God bless you.
Pray for us.
Jing