Cenchrea meaning

Meaning

Millets, Many Little Thingies

Etymology

From κεγχρος (kegchros), anything small but multitudinous.

The name Cenchrea belonged to the eastern port of the city of Corinth. There was also a western port of Corinth, which was called Lechaeum. The eastern port pointed southward, whereas the western port pointed northward. The Hebrew word for east is also the word for past or antiquity, namely קדם (qedem), whereas the word for south is also the word for right, namely ימן (yamin), which seems to suggest that our two ports may have somewhat symbolized the virtuous right versus the vicious left (see our article on Why left is bad and right is good).

The Corinthian city-proper was situated on the north shore of the east-west land bridge between the Peloponnese peninsula and Greece's mainland to the north, and Corinth's eastern port Cenchrea was situated on this land bridge's south shore, which bordered the same Saronic Gulf upon which Athens looked out. The other half of Corinth's maritime trade was centered on Lechaeum, its port to its west and like the city-proper on the north shore of the east-west isthmus. The maritime character of these two places is not without significance: for a look at the profundity of ships in the Bible, see our articles on the name Phoenicia and the noun ναυς (naus), meaning ship.

Cenchrea is mentioned only twice in the Bible. In Acts 18:18, we read that Paul had his hair cut — or more precise: his head sheared — at Cenchrea, while on his way to Syria via Ephesus, and still in the company of Aquila and Priscilla. Why Paul had his hair cut isn't immediately clear. It's not even clear that it was Paul, as the grammar also allows that it was Aquila who had his head sheared. Much clearer, however, is that the word commonly translated with "vow", namely ευχη (euche), rather simply means "wish" or "desire". So whoever had his hair cut did so because he felt like it, and not necessarily because of some religious ritual, as most commentators claim.

Note that the Greek word for hair relates to the word κοσμος (kosmos), which describes the ordered human world, the political world, if you will. The Hebrew word for hair is שער (se'ar), which closely relates to a verb meaning to be horrified, namely שער (sa'ar), as well as the word for goat, namely שעיר (sa'ir). The Greek word for goat is τραγος (tragos), from which comes our English word "tragedy". All this suggests that the cutting of one's hair because one "had a wish" suggests that the "wish" rather concerned the letting go of the worries of this life, and particularly those imposed by the Roman kosmos.

Aquila and Priscilla were probably still traumatized from having been expelled from Rome, and Paul may very well have explained that one is a Jew inwardly (Romans 2:29) and not by outward signs such as long hair. The "nature" that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 11:14 may very well have referred to the "nature" of civilized Greco-Romans. Perhaps Aquila sought to blend into the Greco-Roman world of short-haired men rather than stick out as tradition-observing Jews, which is why he had his hair cut before he joined Paul on his trip to Ephesus.

The second time we hear of Cenchrea is in Romans 16:1, where Paul commends Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchrea. As we explain in more detail elsewhere (see our articles on the names Sopater, Asyncritus, Pyrrhus, Philemon), it is highly unlikely that Paul listed the real names of his real friends, plus their real locations, in a public letter that was widely copied and inspected every time a Roman official intercepted it. By the time Paul wrote, the Jesus movement was rapidly becoming illegal and wouldn't formally separate from Judaism for another few centuries. Paul's letters emphasized that although Rome certainly had to be defeated, it could equally certainly not be conquered by any armed revolt. But if Paul had chosen his words so that there could be even a hint of a suggestion that the recipients of his letters might indeed be plotting an armed revolt, the letter would surely have been delivered by a cohort of Roman soldiers.

Cenchrea and Lechaeum were Corinth's proverbial eastern and western ports, which perhaps brings to some minds what's written in Psalm 103:12: "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us". Likewise, when Jesus said: "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:27), a creative audience may have remembered the Battle of Beth-horon of 66 AD, during which Legion XII Fulminata (i.e. lightening) was defeated by the Zealots. The great shame of this defeat was exasperated by XII Fulminata losing its eagle (which in Latin is aquila, the same as the name Aquila). The violent humiliation of Legion XII Fulminata was a very short-lived victory, as it proved to be the beginning of the war during which perhaps a million Jews were killed, the majority by crucifixion. This war ended with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD by Titus, which corresponds to the death (and resurrection) of Jesus as told in the gospels (John 2:19).

That said, the name Lechaeum (of the western port) comes from the noun λεχος (lechos) meaning nest, couch or bed and specifically a marriage bed, which caused our word to become synonymous with marriage. Adjective λεχαιος (lechaios) describes a nestling or a "bedded" one or even a "bound" one, implying the dependency on some alliance or covenant with some military protector. These words don't occur in the New Testament, but when the evangelist told of the paralyzed man whose friends dug through the roof beneath which Jesus stood (Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26), doubtlessly some in their original audience would have remembered that in the 4th century BC, Corinth's democratic government had nearly fallen when Sparta had taken Lechaeum in their fight against the Persian backed coalition that convened at Corinth.

Our name Cenchrea (Κεγχρεαι) comes from the noun κεγχρος (kegchros), which describes anything small but multitudinous: any sort of small grain or sand or even small fish. This word is probably pre-Greek but nevertheless Indo-European in origin. Like terms such as "bla-bla" or "barbar(ian)", our word is an emphatic doubling of some primary term derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "gher-" to rub or grind. This same root resulted in in Greek in a large group of χερ- (cher-) words, all having to do with inferiority and smallness: χερμας (chermas), pebble, and χειρων (cheiron), worse (the irregular comparative of κακος, kakos, bad). This latter word, rather worthy of note, is as good as identical to the genitive plural of χειρ (cheir), hand: one of which is proverbially weak (1 Kings 18:44) but many together are proverbially strong. A very similar PIE root "gher-" means to be hairy or bristly, from whence the word χοιρος (choiros), pig. This brings our name Cenchrea in rather close proximity to the curious act of head shaving discussed above.

But possibly more significant than that, yet another very similar PIE root "gher-" means to want, and gave us words like charm and charisma: all derivatives of the noun χαιρω (chairo), to be glad or rejoice. From that verb comes the noun χαρις (charis), which is commonly translated with grace but which actually describes social felicity: happiness because of harmony in the community. When Paul wrote that "by grace you have been saved" (Ephesians 2:8), he used precisely that word for social felicity. Another word that's also related and also describes precisely the same sentiments is χορος (choros), choir.

It seems that in the popular mind of the first century, the two ports of Corinth may have resembled the two pillars of the Temple of YHWH: one called Jabin (i.e. He Distinguishes) and the other Boaz (i.e. Strength). Add to that the words of Zechariah: "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit" (Zechariah 4:6), and we find a clear polemic against armed resistance and a plea for scientific reason.

The name Cenchrea literally means Millet or Many Little Thingies, but ties into the idea that many hands make light work, or many shuffling feet carve out a highway (Isaiah 40:3), and that not the number or size or central government of a multitude is important (1 Chronicles 21:1) but rather its unity (Ephesians 4:1-6), which comes from the presence of the Spirit of God (Deuteronomy 6:4, John 17:23).