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DIDYMUS.—The alternative name of the Apostle Thomas, given in three passages in the Fourth Gospel (Joh_11:15; Joh_20:24; Joh_21:2 Èùìᾶò ὁ ëåãüìåíïò Äßäõìïò ). The adj. äßäõìïò is regular Greek from Homer onwards, with the meaning ‘twofold’; hence äßäõìïò as subs. = ‘a twin.’ Äßäõìïò is the translation, as Èùìᾶò is the transliteration, of úִּàí = úֹּàîָà ‘a twin.’
Why St. John calls special attention to this name is not clear. Westcott suggests that Thomas may have been familiarly known in Asia Minor among the Gentile Christians as Didymus. Joh_4:25 (‘Messiah … which is called Christ’) shows that Thomas was not called Didymus as an additional name. See Thomas.
E. H. Titchmarsh.