Re: Mk 15:45 - Jesus' Corpse (ptwma)

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Fri Jul 12 1996 - 16:26:56 EDT


At 3:08 PM -0400 7/12/96, Kevin W. Woodruff wrote:
>Henry Baclay Swete comments on this passage:
>
>...the Body which 'saw no corruption' is not elsewhere called 'a corpse' (cf
>6:29; Rev 11:8ff) but to Pilate, it would appear merely in that light. TO
>SWMA is substituted in Matthew, Luke and John. ptwma is used of the carcases
>of animals e.g Judges 14:8; when employed for the dead body of a human being
>it carries a tone of contempt. The Majority of uncial manuscripts avoid the
>word here and borrow SWMA from Matthew, Luke and John. and the Latin
>versions similarily prefer _corpus- to _ cadaver_
>
>At 10:22 AM 7/12/96 MST, Wes Williams wrote:
>> While researching this verse this week, I noticed that the KJV renders
>> this word as "body." What is strange is the fact that even Strong's
>> number on the word references SWMA (body) instead of PTWMA (corpse)!
>>
>> Can anyone please supply the history behind this confusion? My
>> assumption is that at one time some thought it disrespectful to call
>> Jesus' dead body a "corpse," but I don't know why Strong got this
>> incorrect. Is this just a mistake on his part? Or is there more to it?

While it is true that PTWMA is comparable in terms of derivation from a
verb (PIPTW) to Latin CADAVER (from CADO), it would be wrong to suppose
that there's any fundamental difference in meaning between SWMA and PTWMA
in reference to a corpse. It is strictly a matter of dialect. While SWMA
frequently means "self," "personality" rather than "physical body" (as in
Romans 12:1ff.), it's common in Koine for corpse. The more common word,
perhaps, is NEKROS ("dead person") with its 3rd-declension variant NEKUS.
It's worth noting that the central square of Alexandria was called SWMA
because at that site (where the present Mosque of the Prophet Daniel is?)
was the monument containing the body of Alexander, which the first Ptolemy
schemed to have brought from Babylon to Egypt for display rather like
Lenin's tomb in Moscow. Also, there's the familiar jingle used by the
Orphics & Pythagoreans, SWMA SHMA, "the body is a tomb,{" indicating the
sense that the physical body is just a shell of the real self and has no
life of its own.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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