@malte @wesmorgan1 @b0rk @Xavier Yeah same there, in fact I'd more except some kind of BASH_PATH if it really wanted to resolve something, quite like there is an LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
Although well checking POSIX, the similar dot command has the same behavior: https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9799919799/utilities/V3_chap02.html#tag_19_19
So should be the behavior of most shells.