What does the IHS stand for on vestments, missals etc.?

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After 40 years of Catholic schools and life, my son asked me what the IHS stood for engraved on the wall of Stanford University Memorial Church. Of course, I recall it being on the front of my St. Joseph's Missal and on the heading of many 'holy cards', but I was paralyzed as to the answer to his question. I don't expect to know the answers to the overwhelming questions of our day, but I was chagrined not to have the answer to such an 'easy' one. Please help me out.

-- Janet Thompson (jthompsonrnp@MSN.com), September 17, 2001

Answers

Frank has answered this question in the past. His message began:

Iesus = latin for JESUS Hominum = latin for OF MEN Salvator = latin for SAVIOR So IHS = Jesus Savior of men

Want to know about INRI too? Frank then added an address whereby you could read about more about these questions in greater detail:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07421a.htm

Thanks again Frank.

St. James and Mary Our Blessed Mother pray for us!

Ed

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), September 18, 2001.


Sorry, that came out somewhat garbled. Let me have another try.

Frank has answered this question in the past. His message began:

Iesus = latin for JESUS

Hominum = latin for OF MEN Salvator = latin for SAVIOR So IHS = Jesus Savior of men

Want to know about INRI too? Frank then added an address whereby you could read about more about these questions in greater detail:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07421a.htm

Thanks again Frank.

St. James and Mary Our Blessed Mother pray for us!

Ed

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), September 18, 2001.


I give up! I think you know what I (Frank) am getting at.

Peace

Ed

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), September 18, 2001.


I will get this right sooner or later! What is it the truck driver once said, "Give me forty acres and I'll turn this rig around!"

INRI stands for "IESUS NAZARENVS REX IVDAEORVM" or "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." (again with thanks from Frank).

Ed

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), September 18, 2001.


Jmj

I hate to have to mention this, Ed, but the URL you gave us (to the Catholic Encyclopedia article) says just what I was told a long time ago ... that IHS originally had a different source/meaning, but only at a later date did someone mistakenly take it as an abbreviation for "Iesus Hominum Salvator."

Here is what the old Encyclopedia says:

"The emblem or monogram representing the Holy Name of Jesus consists of the three letters: IHS.

"In the Middle Ages the Name of Jesus was written: IHESUS; the monogram contains the first and last letter of the Holy Name. [I think that this is a mistranscription. The original must have said: 'the monogram contains the first, second, and last letters of the Holy Name.' All articles in the Encyclopedia were entered by hand, by volunteers, from the old text, and some transciption errors were made. JFG]

"It [IHS] is first found on a gold coin of the eight century: DN IHS CHS REX REGNANTIUM (Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings). [The three abbreviations at the beginning are DN = Dominus (Lord) Noster (Our) ... IHS = Ihesus (Jesus) ... CHS = Christus (Christ). JFG]

"Some erroneously say that the three letters are the initials of: 'Jesus Hominum Salvator' (Jesus Saviour of Men).

"The Jesuits made this monogram the emblem of their Society, adding a cross over the H and three nails under it ..."

The explanation for IHS that is mentioned above (IHesuS) does make the most sense to me, but I actually heard another explanation for IHS a long time ago:
In Greek, Jesus's name is spelled iota-eta-sigma-omicron-upsilon-sigma, which is usually transliterated into our alphabet as "IESOUS," if rendered in upper case. This seems to contain no "H". How then can IHS come from it? The Greek has two versions of our vowel, "e", one called "epsilon" and the other "eta." Well, in the Greek alphabet, the second letter of Jesus's name, eta, looks just like our capital "H"! According to the explanation I was given, the first three letters of Jesus's name, in upper-case Greek, look very much like IHS (Iota "H"eta Sigma).

St. James, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- (jgecik@amdg.ihs), September 18, 2001.



My priest says, informally, he likes to think of IHS as "In His Service."

-- A reader (melanie1776@hotmail.com), September 19, 2001.

In the Latin countries, the letters S.J. right after the name of a Jesuit priest are commonly believed to mean ''Sacerdote Jesuita,'' and the truth is, they mean Society of Jesus. ''A rose, by any other name is still a rose''-- said the Bard. I need some help, by the way-- with an Irish surname. I can't figure out the correct pronunciation of Delmege, an Irish monicker. Any advice? Is there an Irishman in the group can tell me the way to pronounce DELMEGE? I figured Dell-Medge. NO?

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), September 19, 2001.

I like that one, Melanie-1776!
JFG

-- (jgecik@amdg.ihs), September 19, 2001.

IHS is the first three letters of the name Jesus in Greek capitals. I (iota) H (eta) S (sigma). Actually the S, seems to be a capital form of the final sigma. The initial iota followed by the vowel eta (or any vowel for that matter) results in the i taking the j sound. The h has the long e sound, as in Zoe. The omicron upsilon is a dipthong which takes on the sound of a longer u than upsilon.

Jesus in Greek is: (softbreathing) iota eta sigma omicron (circumflex over) upsilon (final) sigma

-- Gordon S. Edwards (gsedwards@yahoo.com), November 28, 2001.


Commonly considered to be In His Steps, the true answer is:

The ancient letters IHS stands for the Latin words—Iesus Hominum Salvator, “Jesus Savior of ALL PEOPLE.”

-- Thomas (twk@axa.org), October 08, 2003.



In addition, when I had first become a student of Greek, you asked me why, in some churches, one could find the letters IHC. I was reminded of the question while performing Handel's Messiah in the massive Anglican Cathedral in Old Toronto and I saw IHC carved into the sides of the pews. I thought about it and I believe the following is probably the case:

"I" - the Greek letter "iota" which remained an "I" when latinised, and then became a "J" as the language became more and more Italian (and was deemed "church latin" as opposed to "classical latin").

"H" - the Greek capital letter "eta" (the lowercase resembles the english "n" with a tail), pronounced like the "a" in BAKE.

"C" - the Greek letter "sigma" is found in two forms in early Greek, and then another later on. Originally, the sigma resembled somewhat of an upside-down capital english "Q" (for lack of a better description) when it was found in the middle of a word. When it was the last letter of a word, the sigma resembled the modern english "s". Eventually, the two were fused into a letter resembling a modern-day english "c". This is called the lunulate sigma (from the Latin "luna" for moon). It is thus called because it resembles a crescent moon. I have attached a diagram showing the sigma's evolution.

Therefore IHC could be transliterated as JES- which is the stem for Jesus.

I hope that makes sense, thankfully it's not overly complicated.

Merry Christmas,

Gabe.

-- Frank J. Rowe (fjrowe@midcoast.com), December 28, 2003.


Here's another translation of IHS. Jehovah was originally spelt with an I instead of the J. The was for a form of Hebrew. The S is for the Latin word 'sui' which means me,myself or I. Roughly translated it comes out 'King of the Jews'. I have always understood this to be the 'joke' that the Roman soldiers placed over His head.

-- Bob (xmen@yahoo.com), January 26, 2004.

Your thinking of "INRI", not IHS. Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaorum



-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45@Hotmail.com), January 26, 2004.


There are several possibilities for this inscription. IHS might stand for "In Hoc Signo," meaning "In this sign." This explanation is taken from the dream of the Cross that Constantine had before his battle with Maxentius in 312. After his dream, Constantine had his soldiers inscribe crosses and this motto on their shields. In this sign they conquered and went on to victory, ensuring freedom for Christians. Or so the story goes.

IF Constantine used this inscription at all (which, frankly, seems a bit too romantic and far-fetched for me), it was probably appropriated from the Greek phrase "Iesus Hemeteros Soter," meaning "Jesus our Savior."This phrase was used by Christian communities on mosaics, frescoes, and graves beginning early in the 2nd century.

The Latin version of this Greek phrase "Iesus Hominum Salvator" (Jesus Savior of Humankind) is closely related, and was also used on early Christian monuments.

A final possibility is that IHS stands for "In Hoc Salus," meaning "In this is salvation." This explanation, which first surfaced in the 6th century, would have been a reference to sharing in the Eucharistic meal. Which is why IHS so frequently appeared on vestments, altarcloths, etc...

-- Michael J. Page (laetare@juno.com), March 31, 2004.


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