Names and Etymologies
His original name was Shimon or Simeon, Simon in modern English. He was later given the name Peter, a name derived from "Petrus" which is a masculinized form of the feminine Latin word petra (f) which means rock (cf. petroleum). For what concerns Greek, the same idea holds: "Πέτρος (Petros)" is derived from πέτρα (petra). The Latin word "petra" is a loanword from Greek.
The English and German "Peter", the French "Pierre", the Italian "Pietro", the Spanish and Portuguese "Pedro", the Polish and Russian "Piotr" are derived from "Petrus". The pun with "rock" also works in Italian (pietra (f)), French (pierre (f)) and Portuguese (pedra (f)).
On the other hand, the Syriac or Aramaic word for "rock" is "cephas", which became Greek: Πέτρος, also meaning "rock". He is also known as Simon Peter, Cephas (Greek: Κηφᾶς) and Kepha (Hebrew: כיפא). Both Cephas and Kepha also mean rock.
The Catholic theologian Rudolf Pesch argues that the Aramaic word "cepha" means "stone, ball, clump, clew", the meaning "rock" is only a connotation. The Greek word "petra" denotes "grown rock, rocky range, cliff, grotto"; "petros", however, means "stone" such as "small stone, firestone, sling stone, moving boulder".
Read more about this topic: Saint Peter
Famous quotes containing the words names and and/or names:
“Every man who has lived for fifty years has buried a whole world or even two; he has grown used to its disappearance and accustomed to the new scenery of another act: but suddenly the names and faces of a time long dead appear more and more often on his way, calling up series of shades and pictures kept somewhere, “just in case” in the endless catacombs of the memory, making him smile or sigh, and sometimes almost weep.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)
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