[B-Greek] Was SKUBALON a swear/vulgar word?
R Yochanan Bitan Buth
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
Tue May 24 15:09:21 EDT 2005
<snip>
> >that's a good point david. it's not as if we might
> >find an ancient list of cuss words or something! ;) it
> >would be difficult to determine from writing alone but
> >i don't think it would be impossible.
> >
> >carl, do you know of anything?
>
> Not that's of any use; one would need to look at the sort of
literature -- most
> likely graffiti -- that either has not survived or that NT people
are less likely
> to read -- mimes, dramatic sketches, perhaps epigrams;
>One way around this is to ask the inverse question:
> In what we might call quality literature of the time, does
this
> word occur and it what kind of context (ie. pejorative,
> derogatory, etc.)
>The answer isn't definitive since we do not have ALL quality
literature.
>but, there is some sense of indication or leaning.>
There are a few more items to consider.
Simon and Garfunkel were misleading when they sang about 'words they
never heard in the Bible'. They should've read the Hebrew Bible. HARA
in Hebrew was the 'bad' word you are looking for in Greek. (However,
most Israelis think it is borrowed from Arabic, and the Masoretic text
always has the word replaced with TSO'A, same referent, less pungent
metaphorically, in synagogue readings.)
So one might look at the LXX for the equivalent to HARA.
Unfortunately, the KOPRION group is probably cleaner and closer to
TSO'A.
So go to the Greek tradition itself and find SKWR (root to modern
Greek SKATA, the 's'-word). This word was condemned by Phrynicus as
inappropriate, though he condemned alot of usages for many kinds of
offenses. I don't remember seeing this word in an epigram but there
are a few quite ripe ripostes in that literature and some 'worse'
taunts. Some of these 'bad' words do not occur in the NT, where
offending one another is NOT one of the literary objectives. But even
that last observation is useful for appreciating a literary register.
ERRWSQE
Randall Buth
--
Randall Buth, PhD
Director, Biblical Language Center
www.biblicalulpan.org
and Director, Biblical Studies in Israel
Hebrew University, Rothberg International School
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
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