- Joseph
- masc. proper name, biblical son of Jacob and Rachel, and in the New Testament the name of the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus; from Late Latin Joseph, Josephus, from Greek Ioseph, from Hebrew Yoseph (also Yehoseph; see Ps. lxxxi:6) "adds, increases," causative of yasaph "he added." Its use in names of clothing and plants often is in reference to his "coat of many colors" (Gen. xxxvii:3).
