ξύλον translated as “tree” in Deuteronomy and Acts

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Brian Gould
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ξύλον translated as “tree” in Deuteronomy and Acts

Post by Brian Gould »

According to Liddell & Scott, ξύλον in the sense of “tree” is “rare except in Alexandrian Greek”. Does this mean it is found only in the Bible (LXX and NT), or is it also common enough in general (pagan or secular) use to be unremarkable?

It is often mentioned, in this connection, that Hebrew has only the one word etz (עצ) for both “tree” and “wood”, while Greek has the separate nouns δένδρον and ξύλον. In Deut 21:22-23, עצ is usually translated in English Bibles as “tree” rather than “wood”, which on the face of it seems to make sense in the context of capital punishment. Yet the Seventy opted for ξύλον in this passage, not δένδρον, a rendering echoed in Peter’s words reported in Acts 10:39 and 13:29.

Is all this a legitimate inquiry, or is it the kind of thing nobody except a beginner would even worry about? The trouble is that “tree” in those two verses in Acts means the question is bound to crop up from time to time, because it can seem to contradict the Gospel account of the Crucifixion.

Deut 21:22-23:
ἐὰν δὲ γένηται ἔν τινι ἁμαρτία κρίμα θανάτου καὶ ἀποθάνῃ καὶ κρεμάσητε αὐτὸν ἐπὶ ξύλου οὐκ ἐπικοιμηθήσεται τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου ἀλλὰ ταφῇ θάψετε αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ὅτι κεκατηραμένος ὑπὸ θεοῦ πᾶς κρεμάμενος ἐπὶ ξύλου καὶ οὐ μιανεῖτε τὴν γῆν ἣν κύριος ὁ θεός σου δίδωσίν σοι ἐν κλήρῳ

Acts 10:39:
καὶ ἡμεῖς μάρτυρες πάντων ὧν ἐποίησεν ἔν τε τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ ἐν Ἰερουσαλήμ ὃν καὶ ἀνεῖλαν κρεμάσαντες ἐπὶ ξύλου.

Acts 13:29:
ὡς δὲ ἐτέλεσαν πάντα τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ γεγραμμένα, καθελόντες ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου ἔθηκαν εἰς μνημεῖον.
James Spinti
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Re: ξύλον translated as “tree” in Deuteronomy and Acts

Post by James Spinti »

According to Brill's Dictionary of Ancient Greek, it occurs with that sense already in Euripides Cycl. 572 and also in Herodotus and Xenophon's Anabasis, becoming more common in the Hellenistic period, occurring in Theophrastus with an etc. after the one citation. That leads me to think it was a fairly common meaning by LXX and NT times. So, as you say, unremarkable.

By the way, if you look at BDAG, mng 3 (on p. 685), Danker cites quite an assortment of secular sources, beginning w/Euripides. So, again, unremarkable. But that is to be expected; the LXX and NT generally used vocabulary that was in common use. Yes, a generalization, but as we examine the papyri and inscriptions that are coming to light or being finally studied, that generalization is becoming more of a true statement all the time.

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Jean Putmans
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Re: ξύλον translated as “tree” in Deuteronomy and Acts

Post by Jean Putmans »

I‘m not so sure, whether ξυλον = tree was so common.

Preisigke Wörterbuch der griechischen Papyrusurkunden doesn‘t give this meaning.

Herodot uses ξυλον = cotton-tree (Powell,A lexicon to herodotus)
Euripides (Cyclops 572; https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Vqg- ... 5/mode/2up); ξυλον της αμπελος = grapevine)
In both cases these cultivations used one-year old trees (a cotton-tree can become very large: 70 m).

Theophrast Historia Plantanum, cited by Bauer, 7.5.4 (https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Vqg- ... 5/mode/2up) : Isn‘t there the meaning wood better?

The only case if found of probably ξυλον = tree might be Xenophon Anabasis 6.4.5 : „μεγαλοις ξυλοις”

Muraoka and Lust/Eijnikel/Hauspie give ξυλον=tree for ex. 9:25, 1chr 16:32 and 2Chr 3:10.

This gives me the Impression the meaning ‚tree‘ was probably only OT/NT-Greek.
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Brian Gould
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Re: ξύλον translated as “tree” in Deuteronomy and Acts

Post by Brian Gould »

Thank you both for your closely reasoned answers. I am still left wondering, however, whether in those two verses in Acts ξύλον can be seen as, in a certain sense, a Hebraism, arising from the very wide semantic range of etz.
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Re: ξύλον translated as “tree” in Deuteronomy and Acts

Post by Jonathan Robie »

I have not looked at these carefully, but here are places where a database glosses treats עֵ֖ץ as "tree". Most of these involve forms of δένδρον or χῦλον.

["GEN 2:9!7",עֵ֛ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["LEV 19:23!7",עֵ֣ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["DEU 12:2!23",עֵ֥ץ,"δένδρου","tree"]
["DEU 16:21!6",עֵ֑ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["DEU 22:6!8",עֵ֣ץ,"δένδρει","tree"]
["1KI 14:23!14",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["2KI 3:19!9",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["2KI 3:25!15",עֵֽץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["2KI 16:4!8",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["2KI 17:10!11",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["2CH 28:4!8",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["NEH 10:36!9",עֵ֖ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["NEH 10:38!7",עֵ֜ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["ISA 44:23!14",עֵ֣ץ,"χύλα","tree"]
["ISA 57:5!5",עֵ֣ץ,"δένδρα","tree"]
["JER 2:20!18",עֵ֣ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["JER 3:6!21",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["JER 3:13!14",עֵ֣ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["EZK 6:13!20",עֵ֤ץ,"δένδρου","tree"]
["EZK 15:2!8",עֵ֑ץ,"χύλων","tree"]
["EZK 20:28!16",עֵ֣ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["EZK 21:3!18",עֵֽץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["EZK 21:3!21",עֵ֨ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["EZK 21:15!16",עֵֽץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["EZK 31:8!16",עֵץ֙,"χύλον","tree"]
["EZK 47:12!9",עֵֽץ,"χύλον","tree"]
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
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Brian Gould
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Re: ξύλον translated as “tree” in Deuteronomy and Acts

Post by Brian Gould »

Thank you, Jonathan. To have at least a rough idea of the relative frequency of the “tree” and “wood” meanings of etz (עֵץ) in the OT, I did a quick, superficial sampling. The answer seems to be pretty close to half and half. “Tree” outnumbers “wood” in Genesis, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; “wood” outnumbers “tree” in Exodus and Leviticus; in Deuteronomy the two meanings are evenly balanced. These seven books account for over half of all the occurrences in the OT.

In the LXX etz is almost invariably translated as ξύλον and only very rarely as δένδρον — in fact only fifteen times, according to Hatch-Redpath. Subject to confirmation, then, it looks as though ξύλον is used in the “tree” sense at least a hundred times, and possibly much more often than that.
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Re: ξύλον translated as “tree” in Deuteronomy and Acts

Post by Jason Hare »

Jonathan Robie wrote: August 15th, 2023, 2:27 pm I have not looked at these carefully, but here are places where a database glosses treats עֵ֖ץ as "tree". Most of these involve forms of δένδρον or χῦλον.

["GEN 2:9!7",עֵ֛ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["LEV 19:23!7",עֵ֣ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["DEU 12:2!23",עֵ֥ץ,"δένδρου","tree"]
["DEU 16:21!6",עֵ֑ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["DEU 22:6!8",עֵ֣ץ,"δένδρει","tree"]
["1KI 14:23!14",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["2KI 3:19!9",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["2KI 3:25!15",עֵֽץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["2KI 16:4!8",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["2KI 17:10!11",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["2CH 28:4!8",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["NEH 10:36!9",עֵ֖ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["NEH 10:38!7",עֵ֜ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["ISA 44:23!14",עֵ֣ץ,"χύλα","tree"]
["ISA 57:5!5",עֵ֣ץ,"δένδρα","tree"]
["JER 2:20!18",עֵ֣ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["JER 3:6!21",עֵ֥ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["JER 3:13!14",עֵ֣ץ,"χύλου","tree"]
["EZK 6:13!20",עֵ֤ץ,"δένδρου","tree"]
["EZK 15:2!8",עֵ֑ץ,"χύλων","tree"]
["EZK 20:28!16",עֵ֣ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["EZK 21:3!18",עֵֽץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["EZK 21:3!21",עֵ֨ץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["EZK 21:15!16",עֵֽץ,"χύλον","tree"]
["EZK 31:8!16",עֵץ֙,"χύλον","tree"]
["EZK 47:12!9",עֵֽץ,"χύλον","tree"]
Hi, Jonathan. Is it intentional that your post has χ (chi: χύλον) where everyone is talking about ξ (xi: ξύλον)? For example, when I look up Gen 2:9 from your list, it has ξ: καὶ ἐξανέτειλεν ὁ θεὸς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς πᾶν ξύλον ὡραῖον εἰς ὅρασιν καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν καὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ τῷ παραδείσῳ καὶ τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ.
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Jonathan Robie
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Re: ξύλον translated as “tree” in Deuteronomy and Acts

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Jason Hare wrote: August 16th, 2023, 5:59 am Hi, Jonathan. Is it intentional that your post has χ (chi: χύλον) where everyone is talking about ξ (xi: ξύλον)? For example, when I look up Gen 2:9 from your list, it has ξ: καὶ ἐξανέτειλεν ὁ θεὸς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς πᾶν ξύλον ὡραῖον εἰς ὅρασιν καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν καὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ τῷ παραδείσῳ καὶ τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ.
Interesting, I should have noticed this.

Short story: this was in the database I searched, it has a bug. I will report that bug.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Eeli Kaikkonen
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Re: ξύλον translated as “tree” in Deuteronomy and Acts

Post by Eeli Kaikkonen »

The linguistic phenomenon itself isn't anything special or rare, in general a word for material can be used for anything consisting of that material. For example glass in English (Merriam-Webster):

Code: Select all

1: any of various amorphous materials formed from a melt by cooling to rigidity without crystallization: such as
a: a usually transparent or translucent material consisting typically of a mixture of silicates
b: a material (such as obsidian) produced by fast cooling of magma
2
a: something made of glass: such as
(1): tumbler
also : glassware
(2): mirror
(3): barometer
(4): hourglass
(5): backboard sense 1
b(1): an optical instrument or device that has one or more lenses and is designed to aid in the viewing of objects not readily seen
(2): field glasses, binoculars —usually used in plural
c glasses plural : a device used to correct defects of vision or to protect the eyes that consists typically of a pair of glass or plastic lenses and the frame by which they are held in place
called also eyeglasses, spectacles
There's only one word for wood/tree in for example Finnish.

E. W. Bullinger classifies this under catachresis, "One word changed for another only remotely connected with it", and there under "iii. Of one word, where the Greek receives its real meaning by permutation from another language, or foreign use" (here Hebrew eytz); which in my opinion is weird because wood and tree aren't "only remotely connected" and this is clearly a metonymy ("1. iv. "The material, for the thing made from it").

In any case, from Hebrew or not, this wouldn't be possible without the general cognitive phenomenon called metonymy.
Brian Gould
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Re: ξύλον translated as “tree” in Deuteronomy and Acts

Post by Brian Gould »

Thank you, Eeli. That’s interesting about Finnish. I wonder whether there are any other languages that similarly have a single word for both “tree” and “wood”. If Google Translate is to be believed, even Estonian has separate (though apparently cognate) words, respectively puu and puit.

Getting back to metonymy, catachresis, and ξύλον. As you point out, “only remotely connected” is clearly not an accurate observation in the case of ξύλον as a replacement for δένδρον. Nevertheless, is it perhaps possible that catachresis is still an applicable term, for the reason that, at least in Biblical use, ξύλον can correctly be described as a word that “receives its real meaning by permutation from another language, or foreign use"?

The dictionaries point out that while the primary meaning of catachresis is the wrong use of a similar word (e.g. luxuriant for luxurious), the term can also describe a switch of that kind made deliberately, for rhetorical effect.

Conclusion.—Might this be a case of both metonymy and catachresis?
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