From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Mon Jun 07 1999 - 12:55:44 EDT
<x-rich>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:
<bold><color><param>0000,7777,0000</param>prosku^n-e</color></bold><color><param>0000,7777,0000</param>,
fut. -s Hippon.32 (tm.), Plat. Rep. 469a: aor. prosekunsa 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. -kekunka LXX <italic>Ex.</italic>32.8, OGI196.2 (Egypt,
i B.C.):--
* Pass., pres. inf. proskuneisthai Eur. Tro. 1021: aor. prosekunthn
Arr.<italic>An.</italic>4.11.9:--
* <italic>make obeisance</italic> to the gods or their images,
<italic>fall down and worship</italic>, c. acc., Hdt. 2.121, etc.; gn
te p. hama kai ton then Olumpon Soph. OC 1654, cf. Aesch. Pers. 499,
Aristoph. Kn. 156: prov., hoi -kunountes tn 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, <italic>do reverence to</italic>, pat ria hed then
IDEM=Soph. El. 1374; tas thkas Plat. Rep. 469b; tn tholon Dem.
19.314: abs., Aristoph. Kn. 640.
<bold>2. </bold>esp. of the Oriental fashion of <italic>prostrating
oneself before</italic> kings and superiors, abs., Hdt. 1.119, au=Hdt.
8.118: c. acc., p. ton Dareion <italic>make obeisance</italic> to him,
IDEM=Hdt. 3.86; proskunein didaskontai ton basilea [hoi elephantes]
Arist.<italic>HA</italic>630b20; prospiptn p. Hdt. 1.134, cf. au=Hdt.
7.136; pantes se proskunoumen hoid' hiktrioi Soph. OT 327; proskun
s', anax, prospitnn 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
prosekunsen LXX <italic>Ex.</italic>12.27; oudena anthrpon despotn
alla tous theous p. Xen. Anab. 3.2.13; p. tous hubrizontas hsper en
tois barbarois Dem. 21.106: ironically, p. tina hs hieron kai
thaumaston Plat. Rep. 398a: later c. dat., LXX
<italic>Ge.</italic>24.26, al., Ev.Matt.2.2, au=Ev.Matt. 2.11=lr,
Ev.Jo.4.23, D.C.67.13; ti thei J.<italic>AJ</italic>9.13.2. (Orig.
perh. <italic>throw a kiss to</italic> the god, cf.
Apul.<italic>Met.</italic>4.28: the gesture is probably represented in
Sumerian and Babylonian art monuments.)
<bold>II.</bold> later, <italic>kiss</italic>, sou -s tn cheira
BGU423.15 (ii A.D.); to prospon, tn opsin, tous podas, PLond.3.1244.4
(iv A.D.), PGiss.22.5 (ii A.D.), PGen. 91.6 (vi/vii A.D.).
<bold>2. </bold><italic>greet</italic>, spoudazousa -sai se (by
letter) BGU 615.8 (ii A.D.); elth pros humas hina humas -s dia
pollou chronou PLips. 110.19 (iii/iv A.D.), cf. PGiss.17.11 (ii A.D.).
<bold>3. </bold><italic>welcome respectfully, respect</italic>,
prosekunsa sou ta grammata POxy.237 vi 37 (ii A.D.), cf. PTeb.286.22
(ii A.D.), etc.; tn theian antigraphn hupo pantn proskunoumenn
OGI262.27 (Baetocaece, iii A.D.).
</color>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
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
</x-rich>
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