The word for this week is “bible.” This is rather ubiquitous
word with a background more curious than some may suspect. Johnson says this
word comes from βιβλιον (biblion). Johnson says this means “a book.” This accords
with the general meaning offered by reliable Greek lexicons. However, what
Johnson does not mention is the background for βιβλιον. Liddell and Scott (mentioned
last week) states that βιβλιον comes from βίβλος (biblos). This word identifies the
slices of papyrus plant pith that was used to make the writing material we call
papyrus or what the Greeks would have called βίβλος. The name of the end
product, a book or properly a scroll, was bound up in the material from which
it was made.
The work a day writing material of the ancient Hellenistic
world (Greek world) was papyrus sheets made from the papyrus plant. This plant was
very common along the Nile River and is still found in various places in the
Middle East. The pith of the plant was taken from its outer rind and split into
strips. These strips were laid alongside one another until the desired width
was achieved. On these strips was laid another set perpendicular to the first
and the two adhered to one another by pressure and being left to dry. The
individual sheets, about twelve inches square, were polished and joined end to
end to make scrolls. The draw back to papyrus sheets and scrolls is their lack
of durability in damp conditions. This is why ancient scrolls have survived in
places like Qumran, near the Dead Sea (hence the Dead Sea Scrolls), which is
one of the hottest and driest places on Earth. Papyrus has also survived in the
dry environments found in many places in Egypt.
Βιβλιον and βιβλος mean book. When one says “Holy Bible” the phrase really
means holy book, though “bible” is a generic word. Its generic
use can be seen in such possible titles such as “The Baker’s Bible” or “The
Shooter’s Bible.” The first simply describes a book specific to baking and the
latter to those who use firearms. It is the word Holy that distinguishes
the Scriptures from other books. Interestingly, the terms Bible and Holy
Bible are not found in the King James Bible, though the Greek root βιβλίον is found numerous times in reference to the
books of both the Old and New Testaments, collectively and individually.
Should any be wondering if the English word paper comes
from papyrus or πάπῡρος (papuros) in Greek, it does by way of
Latin’s papyrus and through the French word papier. Modern paper,
from which books (βιβλία) are made, shares few characteristics with
ancient papyrus sheets. Today’s paper is made of plant cellulose multi-directionally
bonded to form sheets of nearly infinite sizes. “Multi-directionally bonded” is
just a fancy way of saying the plant fibers are pressed together in a soup
where the fibers may point in any direction. Papyrus sheets were more akin to
modern-day multi-layer plywood than modern paper.
Until next week,
John
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