Erastus
/ɪˈræstəs/noun
A male given name of Greek origin, borne by a city official mentioned in Paul's letter to the Romans.
The Greek roots
Literally: “beloved”
The story of the word
The name comes from ἐράω, the verb for desire rather than friendly affection, and its noun eros. Paul greets an Erastus who is city treasurer of Corinth, and a Latin pavement inscription dug up at Corinth names an aedile called Erastus who paid for the paving out of his own pocket; whether that is the same man has been argued for a century. Thomas Erastus, the physician behind Erastianism, was born Lüber, a form of the German for dear, so he simply translated himself into Greek.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
In a sentence
Erastus is greeted in the last chapter of Romans and never mentioned again.
The inscription reading Erastus is still in the pavement at Corinth.