Eckhard Schnabel, «The Meaning of Baptizein in Greek, Jewish, and Patristic Literature.» filologia-neotestamentaria, Vol. 24 (2011) 3-40 page 20

Vol 24 (2011)

Eckhard Schnabel, «The Meaning of Baptizein in Greek, Jewish, and Patristic Literature.», Vol. 24 (2011) 3-40

The treatment of the Greek term Baptizein in the standard English lexicons is unsystematic. The use of the English term ‘to baptize’ for the Greek term Baptizein in English versions of the New Testament is predicated on the assumption that the Greek verb has a technical meaning which warrants the use of a transliteration. Since the first fact is deplorable and the second fact is unsatisfactory, an investigation into the meaning of the Greek term in Greek, Jewish, and patristic literary and documentary texts is called for in order to define the meaning of the term in classical and Hellenistic Greek with more precision than usually encountered in New Testament research, with a view to construct a more helpful lexicon entry for Baptizein.

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20 Eckhard J. Schnabel slaves ... not gobbling partridges and hares, not seasoning griddle cakes with sesame, nor dipping fritters into honeycomb”; A. F. Miller) (VI). Xenophon, Anabasis 2.2.9: ταῦτα δ’ ὤμοσαν, σφάξαντες ταῦρον καὶ κάπρον καὶ κριὸν εἰς ἀσπίδα, οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες βάπτοντες ξίφος, οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι λόγχην (“These oaths they sealed by sacrificing a bull, a boar, and a ram over a shield, the Greeks dipping a sword in the blood and the barbarians a lance”; C. L. Brownson) (V) (cf. sense 1e). Xenophon, Cyropedia 2.2.5: ἐνταῦθα δὴ οὕτω βαρέως ἤνεγκε τὸ πάθος ὥστε ἀνήλωτο μὲν αὐτῷ ὃ εἰλήφει ὄψον, ὃ δ’ ἔτι αὐτῷ λοιπὸν ἦν τοῦ ἐμβάπτεσθαι, τοῦτό πως ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐκπεπλῆχθαί τε καὶ τῇ τύχῃ ὀργίζεσθαι δυσθετούμενος ἀνέτρεψεν. ὁ μὲν δὴ λοχαγὸς ὁ ἐγγύτατα ἡμῶν ἰδὼν συνεκρότησε τὼ χεῖρε καὶ τῷ γέλωτι (“Thereupon he took his mishap so to heart that he lost not only the meat he had taken but also what was still left of his sauce;54 for this last he upset somehow or other in the confusion of his vexation and anger over his hard luck. The lieutenant nearest us saw it and laughed and clapped his hands in amusement”; W. Miller) (V). Hippocrates, De affectionibus interioribus 7.13-14: ἐν ὕδατι ψυχρῷ βάπτων σεῦτλα καὶ τῷ σώματι ἐπιτιθεὶς, μάλιστα πρὸς πόνον νέον, ἢ ῥάκια βάπτων ἐν ψυχρῷ ὕδατι καὶ ἐκθλίβων προστιθέναι (“dipping in cold water“) (V/IV). Hippocrates, De diaeta 3.79.11-12: ἔστω δὲ τὰ σῖτα ἄρτοι συγκομιστοὶ ἄζυμοι, κλιβανῖται, ἢ ἐγκρυφίαι, θερμοὶ ἐς οἶνον αὐστηρὸν ἐμβαπτόμενοι (“The food should consist of unleavened bread, made from unbolted meal, baked in a pot or under ashes, dipped warm into a dry wine”; W. H. S. Jones) (V/IV). Hippocrates, De morbis popularibus (Epidemiae) 5.63.3-7: Περὶ πέμπτην, γούνατος ἄλγημα, οἴδημα τοῦ ἀριστεροῦ: καὶ κατὰ τὴν καρδίην ἐδόκεέ τι ξυλλέγεσθαι αὐτῇ, καὶ ἀνέπνεεν ὡς ἐκ τοῦ βεβαπτίσθαι ἀναπνέουσι, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ στήθεος ὑπεψόφεεν, ὥσπερ αἱ ἐγγαστρίμυθοι λεγόμεναι: τοιοῦτό τι ξυνέβαινεν (a woman breathes as divers breathe after having been immersed in the sea) (V/IV). Aristotle, Mirabilium auscultationes 844a.136: Λέγουσι τοὺς Φοίνικας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὰ Γάδειρα καλούμενα, ἔξω πλέοντας Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν ἀπηλιώτῃ ἀνέμῳ ἡμέρας τέτταρας, παραγίνεσθαι εἴς τινας τόπους ἐρήμους, θρύου καὶ φύκους πλήρεις, οὓς ὅταν μὲν ἄμπωτις ᾖ μὴ βαπτίζεσθαι, ὅταν δὲ πλημμύρα, κατακλύζεσθαι, ἐφ’ ὧν εὑρίσκεσθαι ὑπερβάλλον θύννων πλῆθος, καὶ τοῖς μεγέθεσιν ἄπιστον καὶ τοῖς πάχεσιν, ὅταν ἐποκείλωσιν (“They say that 54 The term ἐμβάπτεσθαι is the present infinitive passive of ἐμβάπτω which LSJ trans- lates as ‘dip in.’