Caspar (magus) Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Name origin == {{Further|Casper (given name)|}} While it is generally accepted that Casper/Kaspar/Gaspar/Jasper was one of the [[Biblical Magi]] or 'three wise men' who were said to [[Adoration of the Magi|have visited]] the [[Nativity_of_Jesus|infant Jesus]] - bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh - there is some debate in academic literature over the rendering of his name. It is likely that these varied renderings are driven by regional and linguistic differences among scholars in different times, places and tongues. <ref>[[Jean-Pierre Isbouts]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20210511225002/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/three-kings-magi-epiphany "Who were the three kings in the Christmas story?"], [[National Geographic]] (2018): "Later tellings of the story identified the magi by name and identified their lands of origin: ...'''Gaspar (also called 'Caspar' or 'Jaspar'''')".</ref><ref>[[Jean-Pierre Isbouts]], Who's Who in the Bible: A reference guide (2013), p114, ISBN 1426211597.</ref><ref>[[Excerpta Latina Barbari]],[http://www.attalus.org/translate/barbari.html#51B page 51B, line 49]: "At that time in the reign of Augustus, on 1st January the Magi brought him gifts and worshipped him. The names of the Magi were Bithisarea, Melichior and '''Gathaspa'''.".</ref><ref>[[British Library]] [https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/roymanucoll/h/011roy000002b15u00039v00.html register entry] for Historiated Initial With The Adoration Of the Magi, In A [[book of hours|Book Of Hours]] (1500): "According to tradition, there was one old magus, '''named Caspar or Jasper'''..."</ref><ref>Hugo Kehrer (1908), [https://archive.org/details/dieheiligendrei00kehrgoog/page/n92/mode/1up?view=theater Vol. I, p. 70] [https://books.google.com/books?id=uhGJwEmfrEwC&pg=PA66 Online version] Kehrer's commentary: "Die Form '''Jaspar''' stammt aus Frankreich. Sie findet sich im niederrheinisch-kölnischen Dialekt und im Englischen. Note: O. Baist page 455; J.P.Migne; Dictionnaire des apocryphes, Paris 1856, vol I, p. 1023. ... So in La Vie de St. Gilles; Li Roumans de Berte: Melcior, Jaspar, Baltazar; Rymbybel des Jakob von Märlant: Balthasar, Melchyor, '''Jaspas'''; ein altenglisches Gedicht des dreizehnten oder vierzehnten Jahrhunderts (13th century!!) Note: C.Horstmann, Altenglische Legenden, Paderborn 1875, p. 95; ... La Vie des trois Roys '''Jaspar''' Melchior et Balthasar, Paris 1498"-->]</ref> Jasper is traditionally identified as having brought the gold, hence the Persian etymology of [[Jasper_(given_name)|Jasper as a given name]], meaning 'bringer of gifts' or 'treasurer'.<ref>[[Penny, Nicholas|Nicholas Penny]], National Gallery Catalogues (new series): The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume II, Venice 1540–1600, 2008, National Gallery Publications Ltd, ISBN 1857099133, p104.</ref><ref>[https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1489/esv/wlc/0-1/ "H1489 - '''gizbar''' - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (KJV)"]. Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 25 December 2020.</ref> The name ''[[Caspar]]'' or ''[[Casper (given name)|Casper]]'' is derived from "Gaspar". In turn, "Gaspar" is from an ancient [[Chaldea]]n word, "Gizbar", which, according to [[Strong's Concordance]], means "treasurer".<ref>{{Cite web|title=H1489 - gizbar - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (KJV)|url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/gen/1/1/s_1001|access-date=2020-12-25|website=Blue Letter Bible|language=en}}</ref> The form "Gizbar" appears in the Hebrew version of the [[Old Testament]] [[Book of Ezra]] (1:8). In fact, the modern [[Hebrew]] word for "treasurer" is still "Gizbar".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Klein Dictionary, גִּזְבָּר|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Klein_Dictionary,_גִּזְבָּר|access-date=2020-12-25|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref> By the 1st century B.C., the [[Septuagint]] gave a Greek translation of "Gizbar" in Ezra 1:8 as "''γασβαρηνου''" ("Gasbarinou", literally son of "Gasbar"). <ref>{{Cite book|last=Taylor|first=Bernard Alwyn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JNaDupoSycMC&pg=PA106|title=Analytical Lexicon to the Septuagint|date=2009|publisher=Hendrickson Publishers|isbn=978-1-56563-516-6|pages=106|language=el}}</ref> The transition from "Gizbar" to "Caspar" and "Kaspar" can thus be summarized as: Gizbar > Gasbar > Gaspar > Caspar > Kaspar (with "C" being a misreading of the manuscript "G" and "K" having the same phonetic value as "C". Another derivation proposed by [[Alfred von Gutschmid|Gutschmid]] (1864) could be the corruption of the Iranic name "[[Gondophares]]".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Metzger|first=Bruce M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cS2hDwAAQBAJ&q=%22The%20derivation%20of%20the%20name%20Gaspar%20(or%20Caspar%2C%20or%20Jasper)%20is%20disputed%22&pg=PA29|title=New Testament studies (philological, versional, and patristic)|date=2019-07-01|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-37928-2|pages=29|language=en}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite journal|last=von Gutschmid|first=A.|date=1864|title=Die Königsnamen in den apokryphen Apostelgeschichten. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntniß des geschichtlichen Romans|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41249661|journal=Rheinisches Museum für Philologie|volume=19|pages=161–183|jstor=41249661|issn=0035-449X}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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