[Avodah] miryam bat batus

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 09:24:20AM -0700, Simon Montagu wrote:
: > Need a Hasmonean who calls himself "Jannus" in Latin necessarily go
: > by the same name or even a phonetically related name in Aramaic and
: > Hebrew?

: I don't follow: the Hasmonean and post-Hasmonean kings did all have both
: Hebrew and Greek or Latin names, but Yannai is a *Hebrew* name, from the
: same root as Yona. I know someone who Hebraized his surname from Taubmann
: to Yannai ("Taub" is German for "dove").

I believe this is a folk etymology. Where would the alef (yud, nun,
alef, yud) have come from? But more tellingly, Alexander Janneus's Hebrew
name was Yehonasan, like his uncle. See the Latin and Hebrew on
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Jannaeus#/media/File:JanaeusCoinPhoto.jpg

If he could be "Alexander Yannai" in one language and "Yonasan" in
another, who knows it there weren't another king whose Latin name
"Janneus" was simply not preserved?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha