The word for this week’s blog is “cynick.” Johnson says this
comes from κυνικος (kunikos) meaning, “Having the qualities of a dog; currish;
brutal; snarling; satirical.” Liddell and Scott agree with Johnson, saying κυνικος means “dog-like.” The Oxford
English Dictionary says its contemporary usage is to describe someone who
is skeptical of good motives and manifests their skepticism as a “sneering
fault-finder.” “Cynick” and its modern spelling of cynic paint a rather
sad and off-putting picture of someone who is almost violently negative.
Interestingly, this word is used in the 250 BC Greek translation
of the Hebrew Old Testament, commonly called the Septuagint or LXX, First
Samuel chapter twenty-five, verse three. Of the man Nabal, the King James text says
he was, “churlish and evil in his doings.” The Greek here is, “πονηρος εν επιτηδευμασιν και ο ανθρωπος κυνικος” or in English translation, “wicked
in habits of life and man churlish (dog-like).” In English and Greek it is
describing an evil and cynical man. Nabal was the fellow who spurned and besmirched
David in his time of need, though he besought Nabal kindly and respectfully. It
was only through the wise actions of Nabal’s wife Abigail that he avoided the
deadly consequences of his foolishness. By the way, the name Nabal means fool
or impious. I have often wondered if the name came to mean fool before
or after the Nabal described by Samuel. The Hebrew word for Nabal is used in the Book of Job in chapter two
verse ten. Given that Job may be the oldest book of the Old Testament, it seems
very possible that nabal meant fool before the man was born.
A snarling biting dog is an apt description of the person
who refuses to see anyone or anything in a positive light. Just as any one
would prefer to avoid such a vicious creature, so they would prefer to stay away
from the cynic.
A few other “cyn” words nearby in Johnson are: “cyanthropy,”
“cynarctomachy,” and “cynegeticks.” These three words mean (in the order just given):
a type of insanity where one displays dog-like characteristics; bear baiting
with a dog; and, the process of training and hunting with dogs. All these
Johnson says comes from Greek words, alone or in combination. It may seem
strange to modern minds to attribute such violence and distastefulness to dogs,
given dogs’ favored status as beloved pets. However, in the not-so-distant past,
animals seen today only as pets or at worst as abandoned waifs were not
considered so uniformly as loving companions. In ages were men and beasts labored
to survive and packs of semi-wild dogs were familiar at every garbage heap or
other unsavory place of refuse, animals were not seen in the same kindly light prevalent
today. This fact, perhaps shocking to some, is a useful lesson that life was much
harder and required more physical and mental toughness than most societies
require currently.
Until next week,
John
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