Bartholomew

Meaning & origin /bɑːˈθɒləmjuː/

From Latin Bartholomaeus, from Ancient Greek Βαρθολομαῖος (Bartholomaîos), from Aramaic בר תלמי (bar tolmai, “son of Talmai; son of Ptolemy”), from בר (bar, “son”) and תלמי (tolmai, “Talmai; Ptolemy”). It has long been unclear whether the Apostle's father was named after the biblical Talmai, king of Geshur, or one of the Greek Ptolemies, as the two originally unrelated names were conflated in Jewish Aramaic. The name's pronunciation was changed to match the spelling; contrast French Barthélemy from the same source.

Origin: Aramaic

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.