[B-Greek] Was SKUBALON a swear/vulgar word?
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at juno.com
Fri May 20 20:59:28 EDT 2005
On Fri, 20 May 2005 15:09:09 -0700 (PDT) Doug Hoxworth
<doughoxworth at yahoo.com> writes:
> Someone posted the following back in 1999 on B-Greek:
>
> "Does anyone know the vulgarity level of SKUBALON as
> used by Paul in Philippians 3:8? I have heard various
> things, anything from rubbish, as the NASB and NIV
> translate or that is was somewhat equivalent to our s*
> word. Was this a swear word or was it something that
> could be said in polite conversation?"
>
> http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/test-archives/html4/1999-07/32177.html
>
> I don't feel that the question was actually ever
> answered. What I'm wondering is whether the word was
> actually used as a swear/cuss/vulgar term in Koine
> Greek. Do we have any evidence that this was how it
> was actually used? Or does Paul in Phil 3.8 just mean
> that his former life was
> garbage/useless/worthless/refuse? Please advise.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Doug Hoxworth
> Luther Rice Seminary
_______________________
I rather doubt that it was considered extremely vulgar in light of what I
read in TDNT under SKUBALON.
In the transf. sense the word is used of persons and things to denote
pitiful and horrible remains, a corpse half-eaten by fishes as the
remnant of a much-bewailed sea-voyage POLYKLAUTOU NAUTILIHS SKUBALON,
Anth. Graec., 7, 267, 2; Thessaly will be the "tragic dregs of war"
SKUBALON POLEMOU LUGRON, Sib., 7, 58. Under Hellenism popular pessimism
uses the term for mans corruptibility. On a cup from the silver finds at
Boscoreale a skeleton pours a libation on bones lying on the ground. The
inscr. EUSEBOU; SKUBALA and the TOUT' ANQRWPOS on the other side
characterise mans remains as refuse.?? This view?? is worked out and
given a philosophical basis in the radical dualism of later Gnosticism.
Here the human body, the material and ungodly garment of the soul, is
often described by the contemptuous word "filth" or similar terms and
concepts. In the Ginza, e.g., it is said of the soul as the "treasure of
life": "they put it in filth (the unclean body) and clothe it in the
colour of flesh," R, 96, 29f., cf. L, 430, 17 etc. In gen. the word
carries with it the thought of what is worthless and useless, also
abhorrent and unclean.
george
gfsomsel
___________
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list