Greek word · G2489
Ἰωάννα, Ἰωανάν
iōanna, iōanan
Joanna
A woman's personal name, the Greek form of Hebrew Yehohanah/Yohanah, "YHWH has been gracious". It is the feminine of Yohanan (John). It is attested among Jewish women of the period, though it was far less common than Mary or Salome.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
A woman's personal name, the Greek form of Hebrew Yehohanah/Yohanah, "YHWH has been gracious". It is the feminine of Yohanan (John). It is attested among Jewish women of the period, though it was far less common than Mary or Salome.
- Against the English
English versions all simply transliterate it as "Joanna". The loss is not in translation. It is in the reader's memory: without Luke 8:3 she is just a name in a list.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the NT only in Luke 8:3 and 24:10. In 8:3 she is "the wife of Chuza, Herod's epitropos". An epitropos was a steward or estate manager, here in the household of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. Richard Bauckham (Gospel Women) suggested she might be the Junia of Romans 16:7, who has a Latin name. This is an interesting possibility but cannot be proven.
Similar words
Where it appears
Luke · 2
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Luke 8:3 Ἰωάννα Joanna
Joanna the wife of Herod’s household manager Chuza, Susanna, and many others. These women were ministering to them out of their own means.
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Luke 24:10 Ἰωάννα Joanna
It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.
Here: The Greek form of Hebrew Yohanah, "the LORD has been gracious", the female form of John. Luke alone names her, and his readers already know her from 8:3 as the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod Antipas's household.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.