PROSKUNEW

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Jun 7 12:55:44 EDT 1999


At 12:21 PM -0400 6/7/99, Jim West wrote:
>At 09:46 AM 6/7/99 -0400, you wrote:
>
>>> Now, I'm not a scholar in Greek, so I'm goin to pick yall's brains for a
>>> while.  Here is my question:  Could not the word "proskuneo" which is
>>> commonly translated as "worship" also mean "obesiance"?
>
>The notion comes from judicial language.  The accused was brought before the
>judge and made to lie prostrate on the ground.  If they were found guilty,
>the judge would place his foot on their neck- if innocent, the judge would
>stoop over and lift their face with his hand.

I'm not sure whence this item of information derives. So far as the
traditional uses of the GREEK verb are concerned, LSJ at Perseus offers
this:

prosku^n-eô, fut. -êsô Hippon.32 (tm.), Plat. Rep. 469a: aor. prosekunêsa
Xen. Cyrop. 5.3.18; poet. proseku^sa Aristoph. Kn. 640, imper. proskuson
IBID=au=Aristoph. Kn. 156, Soph. Phil. 776, inf. -kusai IBID=au=Soph. Phil.
657, part. -kusas IBID=au=Soph. Phil. 533, au=Soph. Phil. 1408 (troch.):
pf. -kekunêka LXX Ex.32.8, OGI196.2 (Egypt, i B.C.):--
*	Pass., pres. inf. proskuneisthai Eur. Tro. 1021: aor. prosekunêthên
Arr.An.4.11.9:--
*	make obeisance to the gods or their images, fall down and worship,
c. acc., Hdt. 2.121, etc.; gên te p. hama kai ton theôn Olumpon Soph. OC
1654, cf. Aesch. Pers. 499, Aristoph. Kn. 156: prov., hoi -kunountes tên
Adrasteian sophoi, of deprecating the wrath of Nemesis, Aesch. PB 936, cf.
Plat. Rep. 451a; ton phthonon de proskuson Soph. Phil. 776; steiche
proskusas chthona, to avert divine wrath, IBID=au=Soph. Phil. 1408
(troch.); of sacred places, do reverence to, pat rôia hedê theôn IDEM=Soph.
El. 1374; tas thêkas Plat. Rep. 469b; tên tholon Dem. 19.314: abs.,
Aristoph. Kn. 640.
2. esp. of the Oriental fashion of prostrating oneself before kings and
superiors, abs., Hdt. 1.119, au=Hdt. 8.118: c. acc., p. ton Dareion make
obeisance to him, IDEM=Hdt. 3.86; proskunein didaskontai ton basilea [hoi
elephantes] Arist.HA630b20; prospiptôn p. Hdt. 1.134, cf. au=Hdt. 7.136;
pantes se proskunoumen hoid' hiktêrioi Soph. OT 327; proskunô s', anax,
prospitnôn Eur. Orest. 1507 (troch.), cf. Xen. Cyrop. 5.3.18, au=Xen.
Cyrop. 8.3.14, Plut. Them. 27, Arr. l.c., etc.; kupsas ho laos prosekunêsen
LXX Ex.12.27; oudena anthrôpon despotên alla tous theous p. Xen. Anab.
3.2.13; p. tous hubrizontas hôsper en tois barbarois Dem. 21.106:
ironically, p. tina hôs hieron kai thaumaston Plat. Rep. 398a: later c.
dat., LXX Ge.24.26, al., Ev.Matt.2.2, au=Ev.Matt. 2.11=lr, Ev.Jo.4.23,
D.C.67.13; tôi theôi J.AJ9.13.2. (Orig. perh. throw a kiss to the god, cf.
Apul.Met.4.28: the gesture is probably represented in Sumerian and
Babylonian art monuments.)
II. later, kiss, sou -êsô tên cheira BGU423.15 (ii A.D.); to prosôpon, tên
opsin, tous podas, PLond.3.1244.4 (iv A.D.), PGiss.22.5 (ii A.D.), PGen.
91.6 (vi/vii A.D.).
2. greet, spoudazousa -êsai se (by letter) BGU 615.8 (ii A.D.); elthô pros
humas hina humas -êsô dia pollou chronou PLips. 110.19 (iii/iv A.D.), cf.
PGiss.17.11 (ii A.D.).
3. welcome respectfully, respect, prosekunêsa sou ta grammata POxy.237 vi
37 (ii A.D.), cf. PTeb.286.22 (ii A.D.), etc.; tên theian antigraphên hupo
pantôn proskunoumenên OGI262.27 (Baetocaece, iii A.D.).

The uncompounded verb KUNEW means simply "kiss"; although this may be
fanciful, I've always imagined that this is derivative from KUWN and a
dog's way of licking to fawn upon a person: the old saying is, "If you mess
with a dog, it'll lick you in the mouth."


>The hebrew concept of "lifting the face" (as in, the Lord lift your
>countenance... etc) equals a declaration of innocence in a judicial
>proceeding.
>
>The act of lying (lieing??) (that doesn't look right, does it) before the
>judge also became the posture used when appearing before God- this developed
>into the notion that when one "worshipped" one was prostrate on the ground
>in the presence of the judge of the universe.  Thus, obeseience is
>absolutely legitimate as a rendering of "proskunew" which in any event means
>"to bend to".

This would seem to imply that the meaning of the Greek verb derives
fundamentally from Hebrew usage. I know we've had this out before, but the
difference of viewpoint persists.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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