Greek. ‘Fish’. It is one of the initial symbols of Christianity, used by the earliest followers of Jesus of Nazareth, among a wide variety of other symbols to express their faith, including a dove, a ship, a lyre, an anchor, a cross, a lamb, a shepherd and the Greek letters chi (Χ) and rho (ρ), an abbreviation for Christ often used as a monogram. Ichtys is an acronym for ‘Iesous Christos Theou Uios Soter’ (Ἰησοῦς Χριστός θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ), meaning ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour’. The name Jesus derives from the Greek Iesous (Ἰησοῦς), a Hellenisation of the Hebrew-Aramaic names Yeshua (ישוע) and Yehoshua (יהושע), both meaning 'Yahweh (God) rescues', whereas Christ is a title that derives from the Greek word Christos (Χριστός), meaning the 'Anointed One', which corresponds to the Hebrew-Aramaic word Messiah (משיחא). Both the name Jesus and Ichtys thus refer to salvation. In some cases fish may perhaps be interpreted metaphorically, as a symbol of the righteous and righteousness, i.e. ‘What man is there of you whom if his son ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?’. Tertullianus, a Christian theologian writing at beginning of the 3rd century, interpreted the Ichtys symbol as one of baptism: ‘But we small fishes, named after our great Ichtys, Jesus Christ, are born in water and only by remaining in water can we live’. Also transcribed ichtus.