Etymology

Etymology

The word comes from Greek Χριστιανός (christianos) which being translated means "follower of Christ." It comes from Χριστός (christos) meaning "the anointed one", with an adjectival ending borrowed from Latin to denote adhering to, or even belonging to, as in slave ownership. In the (Greek) Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible, christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Mašíaḥ, messiah), meaning "[one who is] anointed."

Hebrew terms

As the identification of the Messiah with Jesus is not accepted within Judaism, the Talmudic term for Christians in Hebrew is Notzrim ("Nazarenes"), originally derived from the fact that Jesus came from the city of Nazareth in Israel.^[6] However, Messianic Jews are referred to in modern Hebrew as יהודים משיחיים (Yehudim Meshihi'im).

Arabic terms

Among Arabs (whether Christians, Muslims or belonging to other faiths), as well as in other languages influenced by the Arabic language (mainly in Muslim cultures influenced by Arabic as the liturgical language of Islam), two words are commonly used for Christians: Nasrani (نصراني) is generally understood to be derived from Nazareth through the Syriac (Aramaic); Masihi (مسيحي) means followers of the Messiah.

Where there is a distinction, Nasrani refers to people from a Christian culture and Masihi means those with a religious faith in Jesus. In some countries Nasrani tends to be used generically for non-Muslim white people. Another Arabic word sometimes used for Christians, particularly in a political context, is Salibi; this refers to Crusaders and has negative connotations.

Nasrani or Nasranee may also refer to the Syrian Malabar Nasrani people, a Christian ethno-religious group from Kerala, India, possibly Jewish in ethnic origin.

Other languages

In other European languages the words for Christian are likewise derived from Greek, such as ‘’Chrétien’’ in French and ‘’Cristiano’’ in Spanish. The Chinese word is 基督徒 (pinyin: jīdū tú), literally "Christ follower."