Reading about the reputed saviour of mankind, it occurs to me that, whilst I am familiar with much of his work, I have never researched his middle name. A quick search reveals that the Israelites did not go in for them. But that leaves unexplained the mystery of the initial 'H' that sometimes, at moments at exasperation, appears between his 'J' and his 'C'.
The rogue initial has been around for around two centuries (Mark Twain recalls a childhood prank involving it from around 1850) and nobody is quite sure of its origin. The first suggestion is the shortening of an old Southern American oath. The second a joke surrounding a common mispronunciation of the Lord's prayer ('hallowed be thy name'). The third is the term used when a cell has only one set of chromosomes. A favourite explanation of biologists, it has never been clear whether God's paternity involved a full set of DNA.
Most likely, the initial comes from the monogram for his name is Greek which is IHS. In fact the 'H' stood for the letter 'eta' but, what with the Romans and the course of history, things get a bit confused.
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