Abarim Publications' online Biblical Greek Dictionary
θαπτω
The curious verb θαπτω (thapto) means to honor with funeral rites — a broad range of activities including carrying a deceased out of his house and on toward his place of burial. In later writings this verb also, or specifically, denoted cremation.
It's formally a mystery where this verb came from, which makes us here at Abarim Publications privately suspect that it has to do with the Hebrew verb תפף (tapap), to beat a drum or tambourine, and ultimately with the name Topheth, belonging to the fiery device set up in Gehenna, what later became known as hell. In our article on the many Hebrew roots of Greek, we discuss a long list of words that may have been imported, or else strongly influenced, by the trading partners of the early Greeks, namely the much more sophisticated Phoenicians, whom many Mediterranean peoples didn't mind to emulate, as evidenced by the wide adoption of their alphabet. These sophisticated Phoenicians also had elaborate funeral rites, which may have influenced the ways in which the Greeks disposed of their dead.
Our verb θαπτω (thapto), to inter, is used 11 times in the New Testament, see full concordance, and from it derive:
- Together with the preposition συν (sun), meaning together or with: the verb συνθαπτω (sunthapto), meaning to inter together — both in the sense of living people together interring a dead person, and several dead people being interred together. In the New Testament, this verb occurs in Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12 only, both times in the colorful phrase "being interred together in baptism", which obviously neither describes being disposed into an earthly grave or getting cremated, but rather a festive denouncing of one's previous life and an entering into one's next one.
- The noun ταφη (taphe), meaning a burial or interment, but specifically the mode or place of it: the burial place, or even the burial fee (Matthew 27:7 only).
- The noun ταφος (taphos), which describes a "burial-thing"; either the tomb or sepulcher (or the fact of having been buried), or else the funeral feast, the whole scenario and library of rites, or the act of performing those rites. This noun is used 7 times, see full concordance, and consistently describes a place of burial or tomb. Another word for tomb is μνημα (mnema), but the big difference between the two is that the latter describes a place of remembrance (verb μναομαι, mnaomai, means to remember), whereas the former is typically a place of forgetting and abandonment (see Matthew 23:27). From this noun in turn derives:
- Together with the preposition εν (en), meaning in, on, at or by: the adjective ενταφιοσ (entaphios), meaning of or belonging to a funeral. In the classics, this adjective could be used as a substantive, in which case it might describe a shroud or expenses incurred to burry someone (or even offerings to relevant deities). This word is not used in the New Testament, but from it comes the verb ενταφιαζω (entaphiazo), to prepare someone for burial. This verb is used in the Septuagint's version of Genesis 50:2, to describe the Egyptian "custom" of preparing someone for burial. In the New Testament, our verb occurs in Matthew 26:12 and John 19:40 only, both times in relation to Jesus' burial. This has made certain commentators to understand that Jesus' body was embalmed like an Egyptian mummy, which is of course wholly false. Contrary to the Egyptians, the Jews never altered the body in any way but interred it intact. They wrapped the body in cloth because the Torah forbade the touching of a dead person (Numbers 19:11). Mary and Nicodemus added myrrh because myrrh marked the consummation of marriage, and the resurrection of the expelled ovum as a living person (see our article on Stephen). From this verb in turn comes:
Some scholars have proposed that the adjective κατηφης (katephes), downcast, also derives from this verb. See our article on this word for a brief discussion of that.
οπλον
The noun οπλον (hoplon) describes any kind of heavy tool or implement, from the fittings of a ship to a smith's toolset, but refers mostly to weapons and armor. It's somewhat similar, albeit a heavier version of σκευος (skeuos), meaning portable utensil or outfit. The noun οπλον (hoplon) came to specifically denote a kind of large shield, which in turn created the term οπλιται (oplitai), which described men-at-arms or heavy infantry (as opposed to lighter equipped soldiers): hoplites (hence also the word "panoply", a complete cover, a complete set of armor).
Our noun οπλον (hoplon) stems from the verb επω (epo), to be busy with. This verb is identical to the verb επω (epo), to say, but this similarity is accidental as these verbs have different origins. The verb that means to say comes from φαω (phao), to emit, whereas our verb επω (epo), to be busy with, stems from the Proto-Indo-European term "sep-el-yo", to perform rituals on a corpse, from the root "sep-", to handle skillfully or reverently. In Sanskrit, this term became saparyati, honors, and in Latin it became the verb sepelio, to bury, from whence our English word "sepulcher" (which in turn may help to explain the statement "their throat is an open grave": Psalm 5:9, Romans 3:13). Also note that the Greek word for hoof, namely οπλη (ople), stems from these words.
Even though our noun οπλον (hoplon) may have originated in the PIE root "sep-", here at Abarim Publications we suspect that its proper formation may have been helped by a proximity to the previously discussed verb θαπτω (thapto), or even that the Semitic verb תפף (tapap) informed the PIE root "sep-", rather than the other way around.
But whatever its pedigree, our noun οπλον (hoplon), armory, is used 6 times in the New Testament, see full concordance, and from it derives:
- The verb οπλιζω (hoplizo), meaning to arm or deck oneself out with a heavy protective covering (1 Peter 4:1 only). From this verb in turn comes:
- Together with the preposition κατα (kata), meaning down, down to: the verb καθοπλιζω (kathoplizo), meaning to armor fully, or to fully cover with a protective shield or array of heavy machinery (Luke 11:21 only).
τυπτω
The verb τυπτω (tupto) means to beat or strike, whether with one's fist of with some weapon. It stems from the same Proto-Indo-European root "(s)tewp-", to push or hit, from which Latin gets the verb stupeo, to be stopped or stunned, and hence English words like stub, stupefy, stupid, stump and stint. But clearly, our verb is also strikingly similar to the Hebrew verb תפף (tapap), to beat a drum (see above), and may have been imported into Greek along with the Phoenician alphabet.
Our verb τυπτω (tupto) is used 14 times in the New Testament, see full concordance, and from it derive:
- The noun τυμπανον (tumpanon), which both describes (a) a large musical drum, which was used in several schools of pagan worship services, and (b) an instrument of torture upon which victims were beaten to death. How this sinister device worked isn't precisely clear, but an execution by means of it is described in 2 Maccabees 6:19-31, where Eleazar, the ninety-year old scribe, preferred Hades via death-by-drum over submitting to eating pork, and "died under the blows", "leaving his death a model of nobility and an unforgettable example of virtue". Old Eleazar's resolve may be ascribed to religious stubbornness, perhaps, but otherwise he may have realized that a state whose laws are not righteous and aligned with how the universe works, will ultimately destabilize and be destroyed by some same eternal laws of the universe. In other words, false (out of tune) laws are indistinguishable from lawlessness, and lawless life is indistinguishable from death. Righteous life, on the other hand, is indistinguishable from eternal life, which means that to the righteous, death does not matter, or even does not exist. Our noun τυμπανον (tumpanon) is not used in the New Testament, but from it derives:
- The verb τυμπανιζω (tumpanizo), meaning to do the drum thing: to beat someone to death on a τυμπανον (tumpanon), to try to force someone to partake in state-sponsored or peer-pressured norms that are not in line with the perfect law of liberty (James 1:25), and so will cause only death and will itself be annihilated by the eternal ways of God's creation (Hebrews 11:35 only).
- The noun τυπος (tupos), which literally means a beat, blow or strike, but which came to specifically denote any kind of stamped or imprinted impression — it's where our English words "type" and "typical" come from. Our noun τυπος (tupos) typically describes the instrument with which an impression is made, but by extension also the thing so impressed: a coin, a seal, but also the hollow mold of a cast statue, an engraving, and even any sort of figure or sculpture that imitates or replicates some original or living thing or archetype — also see the comparable noun εικον (eikon), or mass-produced "icon", and note that the verb γραφω (grapho), meaning to write, actually means to engrave.
In the classics, our word could also denote some general form, some rough draft or general outline or model, from which it came to denote a rule of thumb, a life style or religion. As a legal term, our noun would denote a summons or writ. In the New Testament, it's used 16 times; see full concordance, and from it in turn come:- Together with the preposition αντι (anti), meaning over or against: the adjective αντιτυποσ (antitupos), "anti-type" or anti-blow as reciprocative of some original blow. This word would not merely describe a similar blow in the opposite direction, but much rather something receptive of the blow: an anvil to a striking hammer, an echo to a curse hurled into the night or light reflected off some shiny surface. This adjective could mean something as general as "corresponding" or "resembling" and take on the meaning of counterfeit or feigned. And it could emphasize some ability to withstand or repel an original blow, and assume the meaning of resilient, firm, resistant, and even stubborn or obstinate. It's used in Hebrews 9:24 and 1 Peter 3:21 only.
- Together with the common preposition εν (en), meaning in, on, at, by: the verb εντυποω (entupoo), to engrave, to impress (2 Corinthians 3:7 only).
- Together with the preposition υπο (hupo) meaning under or through: the noun υποτυπωσις (upotuposis), which describes a draft or pre-sketch of something later to be completed, or an outline of more detail inside, a model or patter after which many copies are produced, or even a figure of speech by which a complicated matter is conveniently conveyed. It occurs in 1 Timothy 1:16 and 2 Timothy 1:13 only.
στυγεω
The verb στυγεω (stugeo) means to hate or abhor and show it clearly (rather than merely feeling it). It stems from the Proto-Indo-European root "(s)tewg-", to push or hit, which extends from "(s)tewp-", also to push or hit (see above). Our verb may describe one's reactionary attitude to persons, things, deeds, attitudes and so on. It's fairly common in the classics and although it does not occur in the New Testament, the following derivations do:
- Together with the preposition απο (apo), mostly meaning from but here used as an emphatic: the verb αποστυγεω (apostugeo), meaning to strongly abhor, to deeply loathe, to detest with clear demonstrations of horror (Romans 12:9 only).
- Together with the familiar noun θεος (theos), God: the adjective θεοστυγης (theostuges), meaning god-abhorred (abhorred by god). In the classics this noun described someone whose infractions generated divine revulsion; comparable to the English term "god forsaken" but stronger. In the New Testament this word occurs only once, in Romans 1:30. For obscure reasons, every major translation interprets this word in the reverse: hater(s) of God.
- The adjective στυγητος (stugetos), meaning abhorrent (passive) or abhorring (active), but mostly abhorring (active). It occurs in Titus 3:3 only, clearly in the latter sense, descriptive of people who are eager or prone to engage in the activity described by the verb.
- The adjective στυγνος (stugnos), meaning abhorrent (passive) or abhorring (active), but mostly abhorrent (passive). This fairly common adjective does not occur in the New Testament but from it comes:
- The verb στυγναζω (stugnazo), meaning to be, become or look abhorrent (Matthew 16:3 and Mark 10:22 only).