Origin of "excruciating"

[snopes]

Comment: There is an email circulating which states that when Christ was
crucified there was no word to explain the pain and suffering he endured
so the word "excruciating" was derived. Do you know if that is true?

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

The dictionary seems to support the crucifixion connection:
here.

But my OED isn't loaded on this PC, so I can't look up the introduction to the language.

[Richard W]

It's from Latin excruciare, from cruciare, to crucify. (Collins) So it does literally mean "a pain like the pain of crucifixion".

On the other hand, Jesus wasn't the only person ever to be crucified, and people at the time weren't speaking English...

Originally Posted by Richard W

On the other hand, Jesus wasn't the only person ever to be crucified, and people at the time weren't speaking English...

Lies! Lies! Blasphemous lies!!

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by Miss Mouse

Lies! Lies! Blasphemous lies!!

Which part? The company in crucifiction or the English?

Seaboe [who assumes MM was joking and is playing along]

[Bryan With a 'Y']

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

Which part? The company in crucifiction or the English?

Seaboe [who assumes MM was joking and is playing along]

All of the above. Next you'll be saying He wasn't blond.

[Andrew of Ware]

My 'Shorter OED on Historical Principles', volume one, page 698 says it comes from the Latin for 'torment' ('cruciare' which itself comes from the Latin for 'cross' ('crux').

The earliest date the dictionary gives for 'excruciate' is 1570. It gives a quote by Nashe and another one dated 1655. The earliest date for the use of 'excruciating' is 1664, but the earliest quote it gives is from 1833.

[AliBaba]

My 'Shorter OED on Historical Principles', volume one, page 698 says it comes from the Latin for 'torment' ('cruciare' which itself comes from the Latin for 'cross' ('crux').

a-HA!!! So when someone refers to the "crux of the biscuit", they're actually referring to the cross of the biscuit.

Okay, I still don't understand the expression, but now I don't understand it a little less...

Sorry, back to your thread.

Ali "but I digress" Baba

[Canuckistan]

Originally Posted by AliBaba

a-HA!!! So when someone refers to the "crux of the biscuit", they're actually referring to the cross of the biscuit.

What? You've never heard of hot cross buns?

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Sic Buiscuit Disintegraf

Silas

[Skeptic]

Originally Posted by Richard W

It's from Latin excruciare, from cruciare, to crucify. (Collins) So it does literally mean "a pain like the pain of crucifixion".

On the other hand, Jesus wasn't the only person ever to be crucified, and people at the time weren't speaking English...

According to Wikipedia, (I know, not the best source) "Most scholars believe that Jesus spoke Aramaic with some Hebrew, and possibly Greek". But I'm curious, wouldn't he have also spoken Latin, as the Romans were the dominant power in that area at that time.

[Andrew of Ware]

From what I have read and been told, Latin was mainly used in official circles. Greek was the common language of the Roman Empire and was the most widely undertstood. Thus Jesus probably spoke Greek (to what extent can never be known) as well as Aramaic.

The New Testament was written in Greek, admittedly mostly by people with a lot of education (Luke was a doctor and Paul had received a good jewish eduction). If the writers of the NT spoke and wroter Greek then Jesus probably did.

[BamaRainbow]

Originally Posted by Skeptic

According to Wikipedia, (I know, not the best source) "Most scholars believe that Jesus spoke Aramaic with some Hebrew, and possibly Greek". But I'm curious, wouldn't he have also spoken Latin, as the Romans were the dominant power in that area at that time.

To follow up on Andrew's comment, I recall reading that Greek was the prevalent language in the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire since the area around the Eastern Mediterranean had been part of Alexander's Empire. After Alexander's death, his empire was divided by 4 of his generals with Palestine being taken by Ptolemy (as part of his Egyptian kingdom). Throughout much of the Roman Republic's history (and for at least the Empire's first century), Greek was spoken widely (the Greeks had developed a number of colonies around much of the Mediterranean, in parts of modern Spain and France, which would later be absorbed by Rome).

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

Which part? The company in crucifiction or the English?

Seaboe [who assumes MM was joking and is playing along]

Joking? Who could joke about such heresy? My blonde-haired, blue-eyed, American flag-wavin' Lord & Savior will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and fuuuurious anger! (Right after he finishes watching NASCAR)

Originally Posted by Miss Mouse

Joking? Who could joke about such heresy? My blonde-haired, blue-eyed, American flag-wavin' Lord & Savior will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and fuuuurious anger! (Right after he finishes watching NASCAR)

Don't forget that since our Lord and Savior must have more strongly supported the southeastern United States of 'Merica, the bible conveniently omits that he REALLY fed the masses using five slabs of cornbread and two fillets of fried catfish!

[Rabbititus]

I must confess that of all the images of Jesus I have seen, I honestly don't recall him ever being blond - he's always got some variant of brown hair, usually medium to dark brown. I'm sure I've probably seen a blond Jesus before, but it's so rare that it's hardly what I picture in my mind when I think of Jesus.

Originally Posted by Rabbititus

I must confess that of all the images of Jesus I have seen, I honestly don't recall him ever being blond - he's always got some variant of brown hair, usually medium to dark brown. I'm sure I've probably seen a blond Jesus before, but it's so rare that it's hardly what I picture in my mind when I think of Jesus.

The comment about Jesus being "blonde" is just a joke. Nobody shows him as blonde, because it's completely ridiculous and nearly impossible considering what his ethnicity would have been.

The joke is that Americans have sort of "adopted" Jesus as their "homeboy" () and consider him to be as much a part of the American culture as hot dogs and apple pie! Jesus and white, conservative America are pretty intertwined in the minds of far too many people. There's no good reason Jesus should be portrayed as white, he lived in the freaking Middle East. But Americans getting their blessings from a nonwhite savior? Preposterous!

So, in the spirit of fun, we've taken the logic a few steps farther.


ETA: In fairness, the trend of a white Jesus did start before Americans. They just ran with it.

[snapdragonfly]

What I recall of what I've been told is that Greek was the language of learned people and scholars. (thus Luke and Paul spoke Greek, yes.) Latin was the vulgar language of soldiers. Educated Romans would have spoken Greek.

Jesus probably spoke Aramaic, which would have been the common language of Jews, and possibly also Greek.

That's the way I understood it.

Originally Posted by Miss Mouse

The comment about Jesus being "blonde" is just a joke. Nobody shows him as blonde, because it's completely ridiculous and nearly impossible considering what his ethnicity would have been.

You're kidding, right?

[Sylvanz]

Originally Posted by Zakor

You're kidding, right?

Maybe we have a failure to communicate but that doesn't look blond to me. That is the traditional white Jesus with brown hair.

Blond
ETA: I didn't notice the heart on the first picture flashing at first. Ewww how very creepy.
P&LL, Syl