The verb σκεπτομαι (skeptomai) originally meant to physically look about carefully or even spy, and was later used to describe the predominantly mental exercise of reviewing, examining or considering. This verb is part of the enormous Proto-Indo-European root "spek-", meaning to examine or look at (for some reason, the Greek branch experienced metathesis and became "skep-"), from which English got words like skeptic (via Greek, and via Latin:) aspect, conspicuous, despise, expect, inspect, perspective, respect, scope, species, spectacle, spectacular, spectate, spectrum, speculate, spice, spy, suspect and of course bishop and episcopal (see below).

The adjective σκεπτικος (skeptikos) means thoughtful or signified by careful consideration and reflection. This word in plural, Σκεπτικοι (Skeptikoi) denoted the Skeptics, philosophers who developed their initially healthy reservations regarding any received wisdom into a dead-end rejection of all certainties. Skepticism arose simultaneously in Greece and India (whose thinkers are known to have been communicating) in an obvious reaction to increasing literacy and society-wide reflections on time-honored traditions relative to rampant innovations in all imaginable fields and disciplines. Since Skeptics generally claimed that knowledge is impossible (nothing can be known and thus explained and thus argued), whereas classical Judaism explicitly venerated knowledge and information technology (see our article on YHWH), and Christianity held that in Christ "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3), formal Skepticism died a wet-fart death in the early Christian era (from the 4th century up).

Skepticism rose again somewhat in every century since the 15th, but was faithfully sabered down by opposing greats, from Descartes to Hume. Strikingly though, the great art of Science adopted a form of skepticism as its falsifiability clause (you can only pose hypotheses that can be proven wrong when wrong; a hypothesis that can't be disproven cannot be scientifically considered), and even today, science abhors beliefs and certainties, and will always attempt to blow holes into any "graven image" that slithers one's way. However, our modern world is based firmly on information technology, which was once deified by the ancient Hebrews, and today demonstrates with heaving pragmatism that even though "knowledge" implies human consciousness and experience and is ultimately and admittedly too shaky a ground to place much weight on, "information" opposes entropy in every measurable way and can be harvested, stored and retrieved by means of proper technology.

That said, neither the verb σκεπτομαι (skeptomai), to carefully consider, nor the adjective σκεπτικος (skeptikos), skeptical or thoughtful, are used in the New Testament, but from them derive the following:

The noun σπεκουλατωρ (spekoulator) originally described a spy, or more specifically: a Roman Imperial soldier charged with a reconnaissance mission, but it soon came to denote someone who keeps an eye on things, i.e. a guard (and note the nod to Samaria), then a bodyguard (of some high end official) and then an executioner (of whoever the official doesn't approve of). Our noun isn't Greek but Latin, and stems from the same PIE root "spek-", to examine, as the above (via the verb specio, to watch, plus -tor, a suffix of agency). Our noun occurs in the New Testament in Mark 6:27 only.

It's tempting to draw an association between these Roman watchers and the Watchers from the Book of Enoch, but that's not immediately warranted, since Enoch's Watchers aren't really watchers but Alert Ones: עיר ('ir), from the verb עור ('ur I), to be aroused, or rather specifically: to bundle one's attentions, from the root ערר ('arar), which describes an accumulation in one place that results in an emptiness or barrenness everywhere else: hence in turn the noun עיר ('ir), city, which is a place where people collect whilst chopping down trees all around to build houses from (and note the nod to Athena), verb עור ('ur II), to be exposed or laid bare, and, strikingly, verb עור ('awar), to be blind.

In Greek, an Enoch-type Watchers is called εγρηγορος (egregoros), which looks like it would mean "extra-terrestrial" (εκ, ek, out of, and γεωργος (georgos), meaning land-worker or earthling, from γη, ge, earth or land), but actually stems from εγειρω (egeiro), meaning to awaken, incite, rouse or rise.

The noun σκεπασμα (skepasma) primarily means covering and also became a casual word for clothing (1 Timothy 6:8 only). It expresses an instance of the verb σκεπαζω (skepazo), to cover or protect, which in addition to describing the provision of physical shelter, also described patronage: social, mental and financial shelter. There is also a verb σκεπαω (skepao), to protect, predominantly against the elements, and a verb σκεπω (skepo), of similar meaning, but that appears to be a backformation of the previous (it appears late in the records). None of these latter words appear in the New Testament

Where these words come from is not clear. It might relate to the transposed "skep-", we mention above, but it's not clear how, or why no other European language made a comparable move of (with or without transposition) forming a word for covering or protecting out of the PIE root "spek-", to examine. Our noun may also stem from a Semitic seed (see our article on the many Hebrew roots of Greek), which draws the attention to the verb סכך (sakak), to hedge in, to weave a protection (hence the name Succoth, meaning Booths, and hence perhaps the noun σκηνη (skene), cover or housing). But that would leave the "p" unexplained.

Since the "p" and the "m" are closely related (they're both bilabials) and on the etymological journey of words frequently change into each other, a word of closer interest is the noun שכם (shekem), shoulder, which is the proverbial thing to lean on — with the obvious implication that the owner of said shoulder has their protective arm around the one who leans (hence the name Shechem). This implication is not merely anecdotal but appears to be quite primary. The associated verb, namely שכם (shakam), does not tell of "shouldering" or lifting some heavy object upon one's shoulder, but rather to rise early, to make an early start or to be very alert very early. This seems to suggest that a person's "burden" was considered a thing of voluntary dedication rather than something forced upon this person, and that the supportive attention-giving part was the primary function of one's shoulder.

A similar idea is expressed in the idiom "laying on of hands", which comprises the verb επιτιθημι (epitithemi), to set upon or onto, and χειρ (cheir), meaning "hand" in the sense of one's personal powers (whether physical, societal or intellectual). Certain ill-informed Christian sects understand this "laying on of hands" to be some sort of magic ritual, during which certain positive energies flow from the idly hovering hands of the righteous into the receiving botched and bungled, along with associated spells, covert accusations, and all the best wishes that relieve the righteous of any further responsibilities. All this is jolly entertaining of course, except perhaps for the receiving hopefuls, but ultimately incorrect, and worse: ineffective (John 14:12). Instead, the "laying on of hands" means that the active party actually, actively and realistically takes the life and challenges of the receiving party into their own hands (and arms), and makes these their own, and examines them carefully and closely and most urgently, and remedies the ailments as if they were theirs to suffer.

Note that noun χειρ (cheir), hand, looks as much alike the noun χαρις (charis), social joy, as noun יד (yad), hand, looks like ידה (yada), to praise (hence the name Judah, meaning Praisers, or Hand-People, in a "laying on of hands" sorts of sense). Also worthy of note is that the Hebrew word for arm, namely זרע (zeroa') is spelled identical to verb זרע (zara'), to scatter seed, with the ultimate implication that our verb זרע (zara') may actually be the core of the name Nazareth, which then comes to mean Diaspora (see Matthew 13:3). The Greek equivalent of זרע (zara') is σπειρω (speiro), to sow or scatter. Look-alike noun σπειρα (speira) denotes anything coiled or wrapped around something else (hence our English word spiral).

The Greek word for shoulder is ωμος (omos), which looks rather strikingly similar to the familiar adjective ομος (homos), meaning "same" (hence Homo sapiens, or "those-of-similar-tastes"), adjective ομοιος (homoios), meaning similar to, noun ομοιοτης (homoiotes), likeness, and verb ομοιοω (homoioo), meaning to correlate. All these words are fundamentally descriptive of what it is to be human, or the same-ones-who-comfort-each-other (also see the noun παρακλητος, parakletos, comforter).