Name
The legend appears in the earliest extant manuscript under the title Of the Jew Joseph who is still alive awaiting the last coming of Christ.
At least from the 17th century the name Ahasver has been given to the Wandering Jew, apparently adapted from Ahasuerus, the Persian king in the Book of Esther, who was not a Jew, and whose very name among medieval Jews was an exemplum of a fool.
A variety of names have since been given to the Wandering Jew, including Matathias, Buttadeus, Paul Marrane, and Isaac Laquedem (a name for him in France and the Low Countries, in popular legend as well as in a novel by Dumas).
Where the German language is spoken the emphasis has been on the perpetual character of his punishment and he is known as "Ewige Jude", the Eternal Jew. In French and other Romance languages, the usage has been to refer to the wanderings, as in French "le Juif errant", and this has been followed in English from the middle ages.
Read more about this topic: Wandering Jew
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