Arsenokoites

[Brennin]

arsenokoitês

lying with men

Entry in LSJ or Middle Liddell

arsenokoitês
​

masc nom sg

Frequency by Authors
​

Greek Word Search
​

Corpus
​

Words
​

Max. Inst.
​

Freq./10K
​

Min. Inst.
​

Freq./10K
​

Greek Texts

4844028
​

2
​

0.00
​

2
​

0.00
​

Click on a number in the Max. Inst. column to search for this word in that group of texts.
​

Click on a number in the Freq./10K column for a more detailed frequency table.
​

 

[crazyfingers]

That's nice

 

[Brennin]

arseno-genês , es,

A. male, genos A.Supp.818 (lyr.).

arseno-morphos , on,

A. of masculine form or look, Orph.H.36.7.

arseno-plêthês hesmos

A. crowding swarm of men, A.Supp.29 (anap.).

arseno-thêlus , u, gen. eos,

A. hermaphrodite, of both sexes, Plu.2.368c; Pythag. epith. of unity, Theol.Ar.5:--also arrenothêlus , Orph.Fr.56, Porph. ap. Eus. PE3.11, Man.5.140; of a vine twining about a wild fig, D.S.8 Fr.23.

arseno-thu_mos , on,

A. man-minded, Procl.H.7.3, Nonn.D.34.352.

 

[Brennin]

koitos

a place to lie on, bed

Entry in LSJ or Middle Liddell or Autenrieth

koite
​

masc voc sg

Frequency in other Authors
​

Greek Word Search
​

Corpus
​

Words
​

Max. Inst.
​

Freq./10K
​

Min. Inst.
​

Freq./10K
​

Greek Prose

4172940
​

3</a>
​

0.01
​

1
​

0.00
​

Greek Poetry

671088
​

15</a>
​

0.22
​

10
​

0.15
​

Greek Texts

4844028
​

18
​

0.04
​

11
​

0.02
​

koitos , ho, keimai)

A. resting-place, bed, koitoio medômetha Od.3.334 , cf. 2.358; hoi d' epi koiton esseuonto 14.455 ; stugeros d' hupedexato k., of birds, 22.470; stall, fold, Arat.1116; apagein epi koiton pen, Longus 1.8.

II. sleep, epên nux elthêi, helêisi te k. hapantas Od.19.515 ; koitoio hôrê bed-time, ib.510; ep' êoa k. lying abed till dawn, Hes.Op. 574; ton hupaspidion koiton iauein sleep under arms, E.Rh.740 (lyr.); k. poieesthai go to bed, Hdt.7.17; es k. pareinai Id.1.9 .

 

[crazyfingers]

Even more nice

 

[Brennin]

Anyone who claims a¹rsenokoiðthv (arsenokoites) does not refer to homoeroticism is either ignorant/deluded or prevaricating; there is no other alternative.

 

[wblastyn]

So it's talking about a man's bed?

 

[crazyfingers]

Anyone who claims a¹rsenokoiðthv (arsenokoites) does not refer to homoeroticism is either ignorant/deluded or prevaricating; there is no other alternative.

So?

 

[Brennin]

So it's talking about a man's bed?

No, it refers to lying with men.

 

[Brennin]

So?

So what? I was countering a falsehood on a closed thread.

 

[Stinker]

What is so confusing to Bible scholars is that they say that there were secular Greek words available for homoeroticism but the Apostle Paul didn't use them. Instead he used this one unknown word in (1Cor.6:9) & (1Tim.1:10):


http://christianlesbians.com/articles/biblehomosexuality.php?id=000012

 

[Arnold_Philips]

Anyone who claims a¹rsenokoiðthv (arsenokoites) does not refer to homoeroticism is either ignorant/deluded or prevaricating; there is no other alternative.

It's also a great for legislating against gays and reinforcing biases!

 

[Brennin]

What is so confusing to Bible scholars is that they say that there were secular Greek words available for homoeroticism but the Apostle Paul didn't use them. Instead he used this one unknown word in (1Cor.6:9) & (1Tim.1:10):


http://christianlesbians.com/articles/biblehomosexuality.php?id=000012

Novel or not, the definition of the word is plain (good writers use uncommon words and have even been known to invent words).

 

[outlaw]

Anyone who claims a¹rsenokoiðthv (arsenokoites) does not refer to homoeroticism is either ignorant/deluded or prevaricating; there is no other alternative.





Novel or not, the definition of the word is plain (good writers use uncommon words and have even been known to invent words).

Just like the meaning of the word “understand is crystal clear…to understand something you must be uprights (on your feet) and beneath the object/event you are understanding.



"As the debate over homosexuality and the Bible has become more explicit, various attempts have been made to defend the interpretation of arsenokoités as a reference to male-male or homosexual sex in general. A common error made in such attempts is to point to its two parts, arsLn and koitLs, and say that "obviously" the word refers to men who have sex with men.6 Scholars sometimes support this reading by pointing out that the two words occur together, though not joined, in Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible and in Philo in a context in which he condemns male homosexual sex.7 Either Paul, it is suggested, or someone before him simply combined the two words together to form a new term for men who have sex with men.

This approach is linguistically invalid. It is highly precarious to try to ascertain the meaning of a word by taking it apart, getting the meanings of its component parts, and then assuming, with no supporting evidence, that the meaning of the longer word is a simple combination of its component parts. To "understand" does not mean to "stand under." In fact, nothing about the basic meanings of either "stand" or "under" has any direct bearing on the meaning of "understand." This phenomenon of language is sometimes even more obvious with terms that designate social roles, since the nature of the roles themselves often changes over time and becomes separated from any original reference. None of us, for example, takes the word "chairman" to have any necessary reference to a chair, even if it originally did. Thus, all definitions of arsenokoités that derive its meaning from its components are naive and indefensible. Furthermore, the claim that arsenokoités came from a combination of these two words and therefore means "men who have sex with men" makes the additional error of defining a word by its (assumed) etymology. The etymology of a word is its history, not its meaning."

Arsenokoités and Malakos: Meanings and Consequences by Dale B. Martin1996 Westminster John Knox Press

 

[ebia]

No, it refers to lying with men.

So women won't enter the kingdom of heaven?

 

[Brennin]

Just like the meaning of the word “understand is crystal clear…to understand something you must be uprights (on your feet) and beneath the object/event you are understanding.



"As the debate over homosexuality and the Bible has become more explicit, various attempts have been made to defend the interpretation of arsenokoités as a reference to male-male or homosexual sex in general. A common error made in such attempts is to point to its two parts, arsLn and koitLs, and say that "obviously" the word refers to men who have sex with men.6 Scholars sometimes support this reading by pointing out that the two words occur together, though not joined, in Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible and in Philo in a context in which he condemns male homosexual sex.7 Either Paul, it is suggested, or someone before him simply combined the two words together to form a new term for men who have sex with men.

This approach is linguistically invalid. It is highly precarious to try to ascertain the meaning of a word by taking it apart, getting the meanings of its component parts, and then assuming, with no supporting evidence, that the meaning of the longer word is a simple combination of its component parts. To "understand" does not mean to "stand under." In fact, nothing about the basic meanings of either "stand" or "under" has any direct bearing on the meaning of "understand." This phenomenon of language is sometimes even more obvious with terms that designate social roles, since the nature of the roles themselves often changes over time and becomes separated from any original reference. None of us, for example, takes the word "chairman" to have any necessary reference to a chair, even if it originally did. Thus, all definitions of arsenokoités that derive its meaning from its components are naive and indefensible. Furthermore, the claim that arsenokoités came from a combination of these two words and therefore means "men who have sex with men" makes the additional error of defining a word by its (assumed) etymology. The etymology of a word is its history, not its meaning."

Arsenokoités and Malakos: Meanings and Consequences by Dale B. Martin1996 Westminster John Knox Press

Who is this person that I should care what he says? I provided other examples of compound words with aµrshn in them and all of them have to do with men (which should come as no surprise) and koitos is a cognate of coitus (as in coitus interruptus). Also, if this no-name you cited wants to make a point he needs to make recourse to an Ancient Greek word, not a modern English word.

 

[Brennin]

Immoralism, Homosexual Unhealth, and Scripture

excerpt:

“Soft men” and “men who lie with a male” (1 Corinthians 6:9) in historical and literary context. The terms malakoi (literally, “soft men”) and arsenokoitai (literally, “men lying with a male”) in 1 Corinthians 6:9 also do not suggest any kind of restriction to exploitative practices. The sense of malakoi as “men who feminize themselves to attract male sex partners” is evident from: its place in the vice list amidst other participants in illicit sexual intercourse, its pairing with the immediately following word arsenokoitai, Philo of Alexandria’s use of cognate words, and instances where the parallel Latin word molles is used to refer to effeminate adult males who are biologically and/or psychologically disposed to desire penetration by men. The complaint about such figures in the ancient world generally, and certainly by Philo, centers around their attempted erasure of the masculine stamp given them by God/nature, not their exploitation of others, age difference, or acts of prostitution (see, for example, Philo, Contemplative Life 59-60, and Special Laws 3.37-42 and On Abraham 135-6).

The word arsenokoitai is a compound formed from the Greek words for “lying” (koite) and “male” (arsen) that appear in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Levitical prohibitions of men “lying with a male” (18:22; 20:13). The rabbis used the corresponding Hebrew abstract expression mishkav zakur, “lying of/with a male,” drawn from the Hebrew texts of Lev 18:22; 20:13. This way of talking about male homosexuality is a distinctly Jewish and Christian formulation, undoubtedly used as a way of distinguishing their absolute opposition to homosexual practice, rooted in the Torah of Moses, from more accepting views in the Greco-Roman milieu. The appearance of arsenokoitai in 1 Tim 1:10 makes the link to the Mosaic law explicit, since the list of vices of which arsenokoitai is a part are said to be derived from “the law” (1:9). That Jews of the period construed the Levitical prohibitions of male-male intercourse absolutely and against a backdrop of a male-female requirement is beyond dispute. For example, Josephus (a first-century Palestinian Jew) explained to Gentile readers that “the law [of Moses] recognizes only sexual intercourse that is according to nature, that which is with a woman. . . . But it abhors the intercourse of males with males” (Against Apion 2.199). There are no limitations placed on the prohibition as regards age, slave status, idolatrous context, or exchange of money. The only limitation is the sex of the participants. According to b. Sanh. 54a, the male with whom a man lays in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 may be “an adult or minor.” The term arsenokoites and cognates after Paul (the term appears first in Paul) are applied solely to male-male intercourse but, consistent with the meaning of the partner term malakoi, not limited to pederasts or clients of cult prostitutes.
​

This absolute and inclusive sense is further confirmed not only by Paul’s longer treatment of male-male intercourse in Romans 1:27 (“males with males”) but also by the broader context of 1 Corinthians 5-7: the parallel case of incest in ch. 5 (which gives no exceptions for committed, loving unions and echoes both Levitical and Deuteronomic law), the vice list in 6:9-11 (where the sexual offenders are distinguished from idolaters, consent is presumed, and a warning is given to believers not to engage in such behavior any longer), the analogy to (and not identity with) sex with a prostitute in 6:12-20 (where Gen 2:24 is cited as the absolute norm and the Christian identity of the offender is presumed), and the issue of marriage in ch. 7 (which presumes throughout that sex is confined to male-female marriage).

​

 

[TeddyKGB]

Odd coincidence.

I was just thinking that not enough was being done via Biblical exegesis and translation to reinforce conservative Christians' 'ick-factor'-based biases against male homosexuality.

 

[ebia]

There was a program on the radio (ABC Radio National) yesterday about Aboriginal broadcasting in Australia. Someone said that, in the early days, translation into Language from English was done on the fly - the broadcaster read the script in English and spoke it in Language. In one such programme the broadcaster translated "The Shadow Minister" as "The priest who sits in the shade".

Determining what words or phrases mean by breaking them up is so unreliable as to be close to useless.

 

[Brennin]

There was a program on the radio (ABC Radio National) yesterday about Aboriginal broadcasting in Australia. Someone said that, in the early days, translation into Language from English was done on the fly - the broadcaster read the script in English and spoke it in Language. In one such programme the broadcaster translated "The Shadow Minister" as "The priest who sits in the shade".

Determining what words or phrases mean by breaking them up is so unreliable as to be close to useless.

1) "The Shadow Minister" is not a compound word, nor is it Ancient Greek

2) Mailman, policeman, fireman, fisherman, newspaper, doghouse, etc.