[B-Greek] ASWTIA and SWZW?

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Wed Feb 4 19:31:43 EST 2009


On Feb 4, 2009, at 4:13 PM, Ted & Robin Shoemaker wrote:

> Hello B-Greekers,
>
> Reading Eph 5:18 today, I discovered the word ASWTIA, which is  
> sometimes rendered in English as "drunkenness", "dissipation",  
> "excess", or the like.
>
> According to Abbott-Smith (1973), ASWTIA is based on A + SWZW.
>
> How?

The root of SWiZW is SW- (originally SAfO- [σαϝο-] -- very likely  
cognate with English "safe". There is a Greek adjective SWiOS  
(σῷος ⟨- σάοιος) meaning "safe," "whole."

> If Abbott-Smith is correct (and I'm in no position to better my  
> lexicon), ASWTIA might well be rendered "the condition of not being  
> saved".

You're tempted to indulge in the etymological fallacy, in this  
instance associating one distinctive sense of SWiZW with a particular  
sense of "save" while failing to recognize the wide-ranging variety of  
senses, including "rescue," "keep safe," "make healthy," "keep  
intact," etc. ASWTIA is the antithesis of deliberate self- 
preservation, an unwholesome state that endangers the integrity of  
selfhood.

> How do we get from there to "dissipation"?  If ASWTIA had been first  
> used by NT writers, I could assume that they were trying to make a  
> theological point.  But I see that ASWTIA translates some Hebrew  
> words, so I presume that it was in use by the time of the LXX.
>
> Please help me get a grasp on the sense of these apparently related  
> words: SWZW and ASWTIA.
>
> I already googled the b-greek archives and found nothing there to  
> answer this question.

You would have done better to look at BDAG in the first place -- and  
if you're curious enough, you might just take the pains to read that  
detailed discussion in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics:

ἀσωτία, ας, ἡ (s. σῴζω; Pla. et al.; Polyb. 32, 11,  
10; 39, 7, 7; PFay 12, 24 [103 BC]; Pr 28:7; 2 Macc 6:4; TestJud 16:1;  
TestAsh 5:1 v.l.) the verb σῴζω refers to preservation, hence  
ἀσωτία gener. denotes ‘wastefulness’ (for a detailed  
discussion of the topic Aristot., EN 4, 1–45), then reckless abandon,  
debauchery, dissipation, profligacy, esp. exhibited in convivial  
gatherings (Athen. 11, 485a ἀπὸ τῶν εἰς τ. μέθας  
κ. τ. ἀσωτίας πολλὰ ἀναλισκόντων)  
debauchery Eph 5:18; wild living Tit 1:6; flood of dissipation τῆς  
ἀ. ἀνάχυσις 1 Pt 4:4.—DELG s.v. σῶς. M-M. TW. Spicq.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






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