The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1875-06-23
From the Frankfort Yeoman.
WHAT is BIBLICAL WINE"
Continued next week.


paper Of the 10th a query put by one who
calls himself Clerical STUDENT" in ref
erence TO the meaning of the word vine in
Biblical language He wants 70 know
whether cine, as there used, means der
mented liquor" or not. One cannot ex-
pect TO do much in an effort to Get right
the common apprehension of men with re-
gard TO this matter, seeing that the error
has been so widely and so diligently diff
fused by persons who, doubtless, were sim
cere in their belief of a strictly accurate
Interpretation. But truth, however un-
pleasant to the imagination it may appear
in its sterner forms, should be the direct
result Of human endeavor, since it is only
by the impulsion of truth that we are adj
vanced in the pathway of progress. The
error as TO the meaning Of the word wine
threatens to become a lance of defiance in
the hands of the triumphant promoters
ola good cause. That they may not sud-
denly find it shivered like Ice when val
iantly fighting, and thus become instantly
defenseless, l propose taking the time and
opportunity now offered to examine the
word.
In John ii, 9, where is mentioned "the
water that was made wine" in Greek, to
hudor Onion gegenemenOn), and in LIST Tim
otiy, V, %, where Paul exhorts Timothy
10 Fuse little wine for thy stomach's
sake" Greek, ONO oligo chro diG ton stoma-
chon sou), the intelligent reader will OBJ
serve that in both instances OiaoS is the
original word translated by ,oiae. Now,
it requires small scholarship to find out
that oiaos, in both classical and Hellenis>
tic Greek, is ordinarily used for liquor
which will intoxicate, if not sparingly
used. The first instance of the word is
found in the objurgation of Achilles adj
dressed to Agamemnon, in Homers Had,
i, 225: "Thou drunkard, with the eyes of
a dog, and the heart of a stag (O;aoJares,
k'moS Ommaf cchon kradien d elapAoio).-
The Greek word here, oinoJares (heavy
with wine), is translated "drunkard' BY
Anthem. A like compound of the word is
used in Homer's Odyssey, tx, 374, in ref,
erence to the drunken sleep of Polyphe>
mus, who was made drunk on ,cine-ho d
ereggeto oianoLareion In Herodotus, i, 202,
we are told of the inhabitants of certain
islands who collect certain fruits, throw
them into the fire, surround the flames,
and "get uproariously drunk on the smell,
as the Greeks do on wine" (methuskcaha;
te Odnae, Hataper Hellenas TO oino). In the
Alcestis of Euripides, lines 1919, a SER
want is introduced, who chides Hercules
for becoming too HILARIOUS over his wine
(oinos) in the mourning house of Admetus.
! could quote with convincing effect pas
sages from Sophocles, Arstophanes. Xen-
} ophon, Plutarch and Lucian, but turn
TO Biblical Greek
In Genesis, tx, 81, it is said that Noah
drank OF the wine and was dru > ken -
The Septuagint has it land he drank OF
the wine and became dead drunk" (kai
epie' ek ton Oino", kai e0,etEusthe). b. turn
ing to my Hebrew Bible, | find this pas
sage to read raJycst minhqyyqy;n rq,yisL>
kar, in which yayin translates the Greek
word oinos. Now, yay;n is derived from
the root yoR, which means, in the language
, of Gesenius, "to boil up, to be in fer
|. ment." The word occurs by metonymy
for drunkenness in Gen. tx, 81, and Sam
, uel, i, II. The verb shatar, of which the
} future with cae conccrs;cc, us given above,