Jesus the Epicurean?!

Also just to say - good to hear from you Shahab, and stay safe over there!

Quote from shahabgh66

But sometimes names and their connotations catch my eyes

I think you're on to something here, shahabgh66 in terms of what I want to call a sort of convergent evolution of linguistics. There is a universal need to define spiritual concepts, and the ways we wield language lead to symbols that converges upon common metaphors.

For example, prior to their adoption of Χριστιανός (Khristianós or "Christian"), worshippers of the Christ simply referred to themselves as followers of της οδου (tês hodoû) or “The Way“. Thousands of miles away, separated by centuries, a group of ancient Chinese philosophers, alchemists, and mystics followed the universal 道 or (Dào”) meaning “road”, “path” or “Way”.

There are other examples (such as identifying "God", literally, with "Wisdom")

There is an interesting study done on the development of words referring to color (as an example). The study was published in a book by Brent Berlin and Paul Kay called Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution (1969). Essentially, they demonstrate that isolated groups of humans will develop words for color in a predictable pattern: cultures with only two color words only had words for "bright" and "dark". With third word, it is always "red" (etc.).

In that same way, I think (in the development of language), different groups of humans are compelled by psychological needs to express certain, universal experiences, like the experience of dreaming, of being intoxicated, or experiencing necrosis, or witnessing others' deaths.

Along those lines, as Epicurus recognizes in KD5 and KD6, the structures of society, leadership roles and economic exchanges, develop naturally out of a common benefit. Therein, different groups of peoples exalt admirable, magnificent figures characterized as being "helpers".

We all have some word for "soul", and that word always seems to correlate concepts like "personality", "awareness", "will", and "the part of us that's 'awake' when we dream at night". We (apparently) have a common need to express "spirituality", and that word always seems to correlate concepts like "psychology", "self-help", "art", "meditation", and "the need to organize mental phenomenon during times of over-stimulation". There are many other examples.

While the particular characteristics of the words differ depending on the filter of culture, there seem to be universal, pre-conceptual notions that we are compelled to identify by need. The common notion of "the religious experience", of "the divine nature", or "the gods" falls in this category as a universal experience that isolated peoples share.

In this regard, I suppose that the archetype of a "savior", a "guru", or a "helper" might be one such common notion, instigated by a universal need to express the experience of a "spiritual guide". We all have personal role models, and groups of us have universal saviors.

Another way of saying this is that no matter how many time evolution starts over, it will eventually yield a "crab"-creature. Likewise, no matter how many times humans re-engineer language, we will require a word for "divinity", because, as seems to be apparent, it is natural and necessary.

Just for clarity sake (and for later readers who may skim through this sometime in the future)...here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia article in post 2 above:

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The traditional view is that this word's derived from the Hebrew word for Nazareth (Nazara) that was used in ancient times.^[12] Nazareth, in turn, may be derived from either na·tsar, נָצַר, meaning 'to watch',^[13] or from ne·tser, נֵ֫צֶר, meaning 'branch'.^[14]

The common Greek structure Iesous o Nazoraios (Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος) 'Jesus the Nazarene/of Nazareth' is traditionally considered as one of several geographical names in the New Testament such as Loukios o Kurenaios (Λούκιος ὁ Κυρηναῖος) 'Lucius the Cyrenian/Lucius of Cyrene', Trofimos o Efesios ('Trophimus the Ephesian', Τρόφιμος ὁ Ἐφέσιος), Maria Magdalene ('Mary the woman of Magdala'), Saulos Tarseus ('Saul the Tarsian'), or many classical examples such as Athenagoras the Athenian (Ἀθηναγόρας ὁ Ἀθηναῖος).

The Greek phrase usually translated as Jesus of Nazareth (iēsous o nazōraios) can be compared with three other places in the New Testament where the construction of Nazareth is used...

Quote from shahabgh66

On the other hand, what is the literal meaning of Epicurus? It means "the helper".

Also, it is worth considering that in many countries and languages there are names given to children (both male and female) which mean "helper" or "helpful". (Cody, Ezra, and Alexis are examples, and other names can be found online).

I read in one of the notes of the book of Mathew that the Nazarene name might mean the hated one, but it could also be because Jesus lived in Nazareth while he fled from the King of Herod.