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A good place to begin when discussing a Syriac lexeme from the Peshitta New Testament is with the most recent Syriac lexicons, in this case with KPG and SL. CSD (based on the Latin TS) should also not be overlooked. However, in some cases, neitherCSD nor SL services the New Testament reader’s needs. TS still provides a greater number of references to consult and includes many corresponding Greek lexemes. But TS, besides not being in English, does not provide what the reader of the Peshitta New Testament needs, namely a semantic analysis of every low-frequency lexeme, along with its corresponding Greek. Neither Brun188 _{nor Costaz}189

fulfils this need, nor does the pocket-sized lexicon of Jennings which does at least address every

186 _Ibid.

187 _{The present chapter does not investigate the various forms of epilepsy identified by ancient physicians, nor is it}

side-tracked by which forms might coalesce with modern categories of epilepsy. Rather it seeks to examine the methodological issues involved when a dictionary employs ‘convulsive’ terminology for certain Syriac and Greek lexemes. The issue at stake concerns carrying over epilepsy-based terminology inadvertently from certain Greek lexicons.

188 _{J. Brun, Dictionarium Syriaco-Latinum (Beirut: PP. Soc. Jesu, 1911).}

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New Testament lexeme. By contrast readers of the Peshitta New Testament can expect to find both features in KPG (having the most thorough and perspicuous methodology). KPG intends to provide its analysis based on a consultation of the critical editions of the Greek New

Testament from Tischendorf to the present190 _{of the corresponding Greek terms for every}

occurrence of its Syriac lexemes.191

2.1.1 A Convulsive Meaning192 _{Shaped by Four Fronts}

SL does not address the meaning of the Peal of

_ܛܒܚ

in Peshitta Mk 9:18 or 9:20. Thus neither of the two main meaningsgiven in SL for the Peal of

_ܛܒܚ

indicates how a transitive use of the verb might apply when used of a demon afflicting a boy.193 _{The same deficit pertains to most other}

Syriac lexicons. Costaz is aware of several meanings for the Peal194 _{but does not assist the reader}

to know which one, if any, might be applicable to Mk 9:18 or 9:20. Similarly, there is no reference to the New Testament context in Brun.

By contrast, the reader who consults KPG has the opposite dilemma; the reader is given two distinct meanings for the New Testament context even though the verb occurs in only one passage. KPG gives the more general meaning first, for which TS had already cited percussit and excussit as applicable to both Isa 27:12 and Mk 9:18, 20 (presumably meaning ‘beat/strike/knock off/knock down’) hence CSD ‘to beat down’ (CSD Supplement: ‘to beat down, batter down’). Thus KPG: “beat, batter, beat down.”

190 _{Falla employs two worthy criteria for the citation of variant Greek readings: “The first is that only extant variant}

Greek readings are cited as corresponding terms. Presumed retroversions of Peshitta renderings such as we find in the critical apparatus of Hermann von Soden’s Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments are not included.” “The second is that a variant Greek reading is listed for consideration when it can be demonstrated on the basis of an analysis of the relevant data that its Peshitta Syriac parallel is, in the context in which it occurs, conceivable as its translation. Accordingly it is not the nature or extent of Greek manuscript evidence that is used as a criterion, but whether the term in the receptor language is conceivable as a rendering of the variant reading in the source text.” Falla, Key, 1:xxxii.

191 _{Falla, Key, 1:xx, provides “the corresponding Greek term for each Syriac term—‘term’ is used in its widest sense;}

namely, ‘a word’, ‘phrase’, or ‘group of words’.”

192 _{Here and throughout a ‘convulsive meaning’ refers to any of the various meanings given in lexicons that mention}

‘convulse’ or ‘convulsions’ (e.g. ‘to convulse’, ‘to throw into convulsions’, ‘to shake violently in convulsions’).

193 _{InSL 1a. is ‘general’ and applies to olives (to knock off) and to Isa 27:12; 1b. applies to hail (to pound, break into}

pieces) and 2. is an intransitive use (to fall).

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KPG then offers a convulsive meaning reminiscent of that found in some Greek lexicons (see §2.4–), namely “throw down in convulsions, shake violently in convulsions, throw into

convulsions.” Although the entry does not mention epilepsy, there is no way for the reader to know that KPG’s ‘convulsive’ meaning was not intended to suggest medical convulsions or ‘epileptic convulsions’.195

The lexicographer may wish to uncover the origins of the convulsive meaning or to know what justifies its presence in KPG. Apparently the convulsive meaning has been shaped by four sides or ‘fronts’. We will concentrate on the latter three influential fronts, but mention must also be made of an earlier, historical point of influence.

The convulsive meaning does not originate with KPG. It is worth noting that it is absent in the Syriac lexicons that do not address the lexeme’s usage in the Peshitta Gospel of Mark. Thus it is present, as a supposed contextual meaning for its New Testament appearance, in Jennings (“shook violently, convulsed, Mk. ix 18, 20”) and in the more detailed treatment of Whish (“Shook violently, threw down, convulsed [9:20]”).196

The original influential ‘front’ takes us beyond Whish to Schaaf, thus predating modern Syriac lexicography, and thus no longer germane. It should, however, be acknowledged for influencing Whish to some degree, whose lexical treatment still partially reflects a tradition to suppose the same meaning between various languages. It is difficult to know whether such a variety of

languages and contexts are meant to indicate similarity or ambiguity and uncertainty.197 _{The many}

195 _{Terry Falla has clarified to me in personal correspondence that a medical meaning was not intended.} 196 _{Henry F. Whish Clavis Syriaca (London: Deighton, Bell, 1883).}

197 _{For Mk 9:18, Whish has “dasheth on the ground. So the Vulg. allidit.—E.V. teareth—Gr. ῥήσσει—Compare S. Lk ix.}

42, where for ἔῤῥηξεν αὐτόν, the Syriac has ܗܶܝܡܪܰܐ, threw him down, and so the E.V. Part. fem. of ܛ ܰܒܚ, prop. Beat down

fruit from a tree, or, Threshed corn with a flail; whence, Shook violently, threw down, convulsed. Pret. 3. sing. fem. ܬ̇ ܛܒܶܚܰ , with aff. ver. 20, below, Gr. ἐσπάραξεν αὐτόν.—Occurs in the N.T. only in these places. Heb. ט ַּב ח, Beat down fruit,

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Latin lexemes in Michaelis’ edition of Castelli could easily have justified Whish’s decision to combine contexts and languages.198

The original ‘front’ (influence) is that the sense ‘to shake violently, convulse’ developed as an extension of the meaning taken from the Hebrew-Latin lexicons for the Hebrew cognate. Without examining this point of influence in detail, a good example is seen in the entry in Schaaf’s Syriac-Latin lexicon, which makes reference to Mk 9:18, 20 after reproducing word-for- word what had commonly appeared in the Hebrew-Latin lexicons for the Qal of טבח. Schaaf’s entry roughly translates as:

beat out, cast down fruitfrom trees, or grain, or pulse from the husks. Also shake violently, crush, dash in pieces, break in pieces.

ܗܬܛܒܚ shook him, Mk 9:20.

Participle form

ܐܛܒܳܚܳ

shaking, verse 18.199

The second part of the entry takes the transitive sense ‘to shake (something)’ as a natural extension of the Latin excussit used for harvesting fruit, grain and nuts and quoted almost verbatim from any number of older Hebrew-Latin lexicons such as Leigh,200 _Calascio,201

Guichard,202 _{or Pagnini}203 _{in relation to the Qal of}

טבח. We shall defer discussion of the Hebrew cognate until later. It is presently sufficient to note that Schaaf accepted the meaning offered for the Hebrew cognate and offered a meaning for Mk 9:18,20 that took full advantage of the ambiguity of the Latin excussit (‘beat out’, ‘knock out’; or ‘shake out’, ‘shake’) as well as decussit

198 _{“Heb. טבח excussit, decussit, concussit, quassavit, allisit, contruit. Deut. 24,20. Jud. 6,11. Isa. 30,30. Eccles. 46,7.}

Marc. 9,18.20.” Edmund Castell and Johann David Michaelis, Lexicon Syriacum: ex eius lexico heptaglotto seorsim typis describi curavit (Göttingen: Dieterich, 1788).

199 _{Carolus Schaaf, Lexicon Syriacum concordantiale, omnes Novi Testamenti Syriaci voces, et ad harum illustrationem multas alias}

Syriacas, and linguarum affinium dictiones complectens (2nd ed.; Leiden: Muller, Boutesteyn, Luchtmans 1717): “excussit, decussit, fructus ex arboribus; vel frumenta, aut legumina ex folliculis: & Concussit quassavit, allisit, contrivit. ܗܬܛܒܚ f.

concussit eum, Marc 9:20. Benoni Foem. ܐܛܒܚ concutiens, verse 18.”

200 _{“baculo, vel virga excussit frumenta aut legumina ex folliculis, aut olivas aliosve fructus ex arboribus, Ruth 2.17.}

Jud 6.11.” Edward Leigh, Critica Sacra (3rd ed.; London, 1650).

201 _{“Omnis significatio ejus est trituratio. Unde טבח in conjugatione Kal interpretabor baculo, vel virga excussit frumenta aut}

legumina ex folliculis, aut olivas, aliosve fructus ex arboribus, purgavit, trituro. Convenientia aliarum linguarum.” Le P. Mario da Calascio, Concordantiae sacrorum Bibliorum hebraïcorum, in quibus chaldaïcae etiam librorum Esdrae et Danielis suo loco inseruntur (4 vols.; Rome, 1622).

202 _{“abat, excutere fructus ex arbore, vel frumenta aut legumina ex folliculis.” Etienne Guishard, L harmonie etymologi ue des}

langues hebraique, chaldaique, syriaque, greque, latine, francoise, italienne, espagnole, allemande, flamende, angloise, &c (Paris, 1606).

203 _{“excutere fructus ex arboribus, vel frumenta aut legumina ex folliculis. in Kal, Iud 6,12. Isa. 27,12. Extat Niphal}

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(‘strike down’; ‘cast down’; or ‘shake’, ‘shake off’). There is little reason to judge Schaaf’s methodology by modern standards but we do need to acknowledge that Schaaf’s meanings live on in Whish, and Whish influences the entries of Jennings and KPG.

However, the primary influence that has shaped the convulsive meaning found in Whish, Jennings, and KPG protrudes from the Greek lexicons (the Greek influence will be examined in §2.4). One way to observe this is to note the resemblance of the meaning given in several Greek lexicons for σπαράσσω. The clearest example is found in LN: “σπαράσσω; συσπαράσσω: to cause a person to shake violently in convulsions – ‘to throw into convulsions, to throw into a fit’.” A fuller explanation of this meaning appears in Bratcher and Nida’s commentary on the Greek of Mk 1:26 and 9:20, namely that σπαράσσω

clearly points to a seizure, a convulsion (cf. 9:20, Lk. 9:39). . . . Convulsing him should be translated by a term used to identify such types of seizures as occur in epilepsy. It is not enough to say ‘shook him’.204

The tendency toward a meaning connected to epilepsy is notably more pronounced in the Greek lexicons. It is advocated even more strongly by those, such as John Wilkinson, who consciously seek to find biomedical distinctions lying dormant in the text (in both Mk 1:26//Lk 4:35 and Mk 9:18–26) as though the text offers us an historical ‘case study’.205

204 _{Robert G. Bratcher and Eugene A. Nida, A Translator’s Handbook on the Gospel of Mark (London: United Bible}

Societies, 1961), 52.

205 _{John Wilkinson, The Bible and Healing: A Medical and Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 71:}

“Mark tells us that the demon cried out with a loud voice and produced a convulsion in the man (Mk 1.26). He uses the verb sparasso, ‘to tear or to rend’, to describe the convulsion. Lk describes how the demon threw him to the ground and uses the verb ripto which the Greek physician Hippocrates frequently uses of convulsions (Lk 4.35) … although the evidence is not strong, it is suggestive of the diagnosis of major epilepsy in this case.” Wilkinson’s footnote says: “For the usage of the word [ῥίπτω] in Hippocrates see Hobart, p2.” The reference is given as W. K.

Hobart, The Medical Language of St Luke (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co., 1992 [sic 1882]). Two caveats concerning the alleged Hippocratic use of ῥίπτω: (1) the verb’s objects differ there (middle with reflexive pronouns) and (2) the

given references are not excerpted from the most relevant treatise on epilepsy which would be περὶἱερῆς νούσου (On the Sacred Disease). Having reviewed the Greek text of Littré, I find no occurrences of ῥίπτω in the treatise. Emile

Littré, ed., Oeuvres complètes d’Hippocrate (vol. 6; Paris: 1839–1861); “Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de Médecine,” accessed June 22, 2007, http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/histmed/medica.htm. Furthermore, Henry Cadbury exposed the methodological flaws in Hobart and others who, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, sought to find Greek medical terminology in Luke. Henry J. Cadbury, “Lexical Notes on Luke-Acts. II. Recent Arguments for Medical Language,” Journal of Biblical Literature 45, nos. 1–2 (1926): 190–209.

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