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Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef. "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic countries. In Portuguese and Spanish, the name is "José". In Catalan it is "Josep". In Arabic, including in the Quran, the name is spelled يوسف, Yūsuf. In Kurdish (Kurdî), the name is Ûsiv or Yûsiv, Persian, the name is Yousef, and in Turkish it is Yusuf. In Pashto the name is spelled Esaf (ايسپ) and in Malayalam it is spelled Ousep (ഔസേപ്പ്). In Tamil, it is spelled as Yosepu (யோசேப்பு).
Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic countries. In Portuguese and Spanish, the name is "José". In Catalan it is "Josep". In Arabic, including in the Quran, the name is spelled يوسف, Yūsuf. In Kurdish (Kurdî), the name is Ûsiv or Yûsiv, Persian, the name is Yousef, and in Turkish it is Yusuf. In Pashto the name is spelled Esaf (ايسپ) and in Malayalam it is spelled Ousep (ഔസേപ്പ്). In Tamil, it is spelled as Yosepu (யோசேப்பு).
The name has enjoyed significant popularity in its many forms in numerous countries, and Joseph was one of the two names (along with Robert) to have remained in the top 10 boys' names list in the US from 1925 to 1972. It is especially common in contemporary Israel, as either "Yossi" or "Yossef", and in Italy, where the name "Giuseppe" was the most common male name in the 20th century. In the first century CE, Yosef was the second most popular male name for Jews.
In the Book of Genesis Joseph is Jacob's eleventh son and Rachel's first son, and known in the Hebrew Bible as Yossef ben-Yaakov. In the New Testament the most notable two are Joseph of Nazareth, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple of Jesus Christ who supplied the tomb in which Jesus was buried.
Contents
Etymology
The Bible offers two explanations for the origins of the name Yosef: first, it is compared to the word asaf from the root /'sp/, 'taken away': "And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach"; Yosef is then identified with the similar root /ysp/, meaning 'add': "And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son." The Jewish Encyclopedia says that it is a theophoric name referencing the Tetragrammaton, and in fact his name is spelled Jehoseph, with the theophoric first syllable 'Jeho', once in Psalms.
The name can also consist of the Hebrew yadah meaning "praise", "fame" and the word asaf.
Variants, diminutives and familiar forms in other languages
Spanish: José; hypocoristic versions: Pepe, Chepe, Che, Cheo, Chelo
Sundanese: Ucup, Yusup, Yosep
Swahili: Yusuph, Yusufu, Yosefu
Swedish: Josef
Syriac: ܝܘܣܦ (Yosip, Yausef, Ossi)
Tagalog: Jose, Pepe, Peping
Tamil: சூசை (sūsai), யோசேப்பு (yōcēppu)
Tajik: Юсуф (Yusuf)
Telugu: యోసేపు (Yōsepu)
Thai: โจเซฟ (Co sef, Josef)
Tigrinya: ዮሴፍ (Yosēf)
Tongan: Siosefa
Turkish: Yusuf
Turkmen: Yusup
Tyap: Isuu
Ukrainian: Йосип (Josyp), Осип (Osyp)
Urdu: يوسف (Yūsuf)
Uzbek: Yusuf
Valencian: Josep
Venetian: Juxepe, Bepi, Bepin, Bapi
Vietnamese: Giu-se or Giô-xếp or Yuse or Giô-sép
Vilamovian: Juza
Welsh: Joseff, Ioseff (or, less commonly, Iosep)
Yiddish: Yissl, Yussel, Jayzl
Yoruba: Josefu, Yusufu
Shona: Joze, Joza
Zulu: uJosef
Slovak: Jozefína, Jozefa
Spanish: Josefa, Josefina, Josefita
Swedish: Josefin, Josefine, Josephine, Josefina
Yiddish: Jayzl, Yissl
Notable quotes
“The French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are.”
— Francis Bacon, "Of Seeming Wise", in Essays (1625); Brian Vickers (ed.) The Major Works (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) p. 389.
“Une nation de singes à larynx de perroquets.”
— A nation of monkeys with the throat of parrots.
“France, famed in all great arts, in none supreme.”
— Matthew Arnold, The Strayed Reveller, and Other Poems, "To a Republican Friend" (c. March 1848)
“France was called the 'feminine nation'. It would be better to call it the 'androgyneous people'. It is the androgyne of Plato, the male and female being which grants the sceptre alternately to the mind and to the heart when it does not confer sovereignty, as often happens, to the simultaneous synthesis of both.”
— Charles Maurras, For a French Awakening (1943), p. 81
“La France a perdu une bataille, mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre.”
— Translated: "France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war".
“Our country, our nation is built by two institutions, the state and the language. A language whose epicenter today is no longer on these banks of the Seine, but probably much more towards the Congo River basin.”
