Saint Peter

==Names and etymologies==
[[File:St Peter (Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn) - Nationalmuseum - 18352.tif|left|thumb|254x254px|''St Peter'', portrait by [[Rembrandt]] (1632)]]
[[File: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Milan 1571-Port' Ercole 1610) - The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew - RCIN 402824 - Hampton Court Palace.jpg|thumb|''[[The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew]]'', 1603/1606, [[Caravaggio]]]]

The New Testament presents Peter's original name as Simon ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|aɪ|m|ə|n|audio=Pope Peter Pronunciation.ogg}}; {{lang-grc|Σίμων|Simōn|label=none}} in [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]). In only two passages,<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|15:14}}, {{bibleverse|2 Peter|1:1}}</ref> his name is instead spelled "[[Simeon]]" ({{lang|grc|Συμεών}} in Greek). The variation possibly reflects "the well-known custom among Jews at the time of giving the name of a famous patriarch or personage of the [[Hebrew Bible]] to a male child [i.e., [[Simeon (son of Jacob)|Simeon]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> along with a similar sounding Greek/Roman name [in this case, Simon]".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NDg8AAAAIAAJ&q=%22similar+sounding+Greek/Roman+name%22&pg=PA122|title=Text and Interpretation: Studies in the New Testament Presented to Matthew Black|first=Robert McLachlan|last=Wilson|date=5 April 1979|publisher=Cambridge University Press|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-521-22021-7}}</ref>

He was later given by [[Jesus]] the name ''Cephas'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|iː|f|ə|s}}<ref>John Hayes, ''Who was who in the Bible'', Thomas Nelson, 1999, p. 70: "CEPHAS [SEE fuhs]".</ref>), from the [[Aramaic]] {{lang-arc|𐡊𐡉𐡐𐡀|Kipa|rock/stone|label=none}}. In translations of the Bible from the original [[Koine Greek|Greek]], his name is maintained as ''Cephas'' in nine occurrences in the [[New Testament]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://biblehub.com/greek/2786.htm|title=Strong's Greek: 2786. Κηφᾶς (Képhas) – "a rock," Cephas, a name given to the apostle Peter|website=biblehub.com}}</ref> whereas in the vast majority of mentions (156 occurrences in the New Testament) he is called {{lang-grc|Πέτρος|Petros|label=none}}, from the Greek and Latin word for a rock or stone ({{lang|la|petra}})<ref>{{cite web |title=Strong's Greek: 4073. πέτρα (petra) – a (large mass of) rock |url=https://biblehub.com/greek/4073.htm |website=biblehub.com |access-date=1 September 2021}}</ref> to which the masculine ending was added, rendered into English as ''Peter''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://biblehub.com/greek/4074.htm|title=Strong's Greek: 4074. Πέτρος (Petros) – "a stone" or "a boulder," Peter, one of the twelve apostles|website=biblehub.com}}</ref>

The precise meaning of the Aramaic word is disputed, some saying that its usual meaning is "rock" or "crag", others saying that it means rather "stone" and, particularly in its application by Jesus to Simon, like a "jewel", but most scholars agree that as a proper name, it denotes a rough or tough character...<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8DXDQAAQBAJ&q=%22american+nickname+rocky'&pg=PT36|title=The Papacy and the Orthodox: Sources and History of a Debate|first=A. Edward|last=Siecienski|date=12 January 2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-19-065092-6}}</ref> Both meanings, "stone" (jewel or hewn stone) and "rock", are indicated in dictionaries of Aramaic<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryoftarg01jastuoft/page/634/mode/2up|title=A dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli, and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic literature|first=Marcus|last=Jastrow|date=20 February 1903|publisher=London: Luzac|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> and [[Syriac language|Syriac]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/adictionarydial00maclgoog|title=A Dictionary of the Dialects of Vernacular Syriac: As Spoken by the Eastern Syrians of Kurdistan ...|date=20 February 1901|publisher=Clarendon|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

Catholic theologian [[Rudolf Pesch]] argues that the Aramaic word would mean "precious stone" to designate a distinguishing person.<ref>Rudolf Pesch: Simon Petrus. Geschichte und geschichtliche Bedeutung des ersten Jüngers Jesu Christi. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1980, S. 25–34.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gibson |first1=Jack J. |title=Peter Between Jerusalem and Antioch: Peter, James, and the Gentiles |date=2013 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |isbn=978-3-16-151889-8 |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XEObx1sUjdwC&pg=PA26 |access-date=8 March 2022 |language=en}}</ref> This cannot be sufficiently proven from Aramaic, however, since the use of the Aramaic root {{transliteration|arc|kp}} as a personal name has not been proven and there are hardly any known examples of the word being used to mean "precious stone".<ref>John P. Meier: Petrine Ministry in the New Testament and in the Early Patristic Traditions. In: James F. Puglisi et al.: How Can the Petrine Ministry be a Service to the Unity of the Universal Church? Cambridge 2010. S. 17 f.</ref>

The combined name {{lang|grc|Σίμων Πέτρος}} (''Símon Pétros'', Simon Peter) appears 19 times in the [[New Testament]]. In some [[Syriac language|Syriac]] documents he is called, in English translation, Simon Cephas.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=518BdgLmXN4C&dq=%22teaching+of+simon+cephas%22&pg=PA673 The Teaching of Simon Cephas in the City of Rome]''; ''[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_IX/The_Diatessaron_of_Tatian/The_Diatessaron/Section_LIV The Diatessaron] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201033350/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_IX/The_Diatessaron_of_Tatian/The_Diatessaron/Section_LIV |date=1 December 2017 }}''</ref>