for discussion

[Josh Wilson]

Josh Wilson Wrote: 

> PS - by this argument the name on my Russian visa should actually be
>"Isus"
> as that is the direct Russian translation of my name. 

Paul Gallagher wrote:
>
> Huh.
>
> I would've guessed "Джошуа."


Josh Replies: 

And if we were talking about the transliteration of names, you would be
right. In fact, that is exactly what is on my visa. 

However, we are talking about the translation of names. Anyone named
"Dzhoshua" who has spent any time in Russia can tell you that the name does
not exist in Russian culture - and in fact confuses the bejessus out of many
Russians. 

If to translate the name, the closest thing you will come to moving back to
the original roots and following the line back to Russian - is Isus. 

(Joshua and Jesus actually have the same root - but the English translators
of the Bible chose to treat the name differently for different characters.) 


Josh Wilson
Assistant Director
The School of Russian and Asian Studies
Editor in Chief
Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
SRAS.org 
jwilson at sras.org

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