Abomination taking the Sheqets (Abomination, Language and the Bible, Part 1)

Abominable and abomination are fascinating words. They come to us from the Latin abominabilis which, according to my copy of the Lewis and Short Latin dictionary means ‘deserving of  imprecation or abhorrence’ but originally meant ‘deplore as an evil omen’, according to the pretty good Online Etymology Dictionary by Douglas Harper. This makes sense as it becomes ab ominatis ([away] from the prophesied), suggesting a movement from that which might indicate bad tidings, or the feeling you might have on receiving an evil omen.

The main source of these word is, of course, the Bible, where they occur  around 130 times, depending on version. Related terms are also common; another word that would later become interchangeable with abomination - detestable - occurs around 120 times.
In the Old Testament, abominable and abomination are usually translations of the Biblical Hebrew words shiqquwts, shâqats and sheqets, tōʻēḇā or to'e'va, ta'ev or taab, ba_ash, zaam, and pigguwl or piggul. It would appear that abominable and abomination were a much more complicated affair than most modern English Bibles would have us believe.

To begin with, let’s take a quick look at the first three of these: shiqquwts, shâqats and sheqets. These words did not always have the same moral connotations as implied by the use of abominabilis in the Vulgate, and abomination in most modern English Bibles. They more relate to something taboo or forbidden, rather than the exceptional type of revulsion, hatred and disgust that the words relating to abomination are currently associated with. Where shiqquwts, shâqats and sheqets are always translated as abomination/abominable in most modern English Bibles, they were often rendered using different words in the Vulgate.

Shiqquwts

Referring to idolatry

abominations (Deuteronomy 29:17)
idolum/idolos (1 Kings 11:5-7) Idols.

abominations (Jeremiah 13:27)

abominatio (Daniel 9:27)

abominationem (Daniel 11:31)
Referring to scandals

offensiones (Ezekiel 20:7) 

abominations (Ezekiel 20:8). 

Referring to sinful sacrifices, or sacrifices done incorrectly

abominationibus (Isaiah 66:3)

Referring to witchcraft

abominationesque (2 Kings 24:25) or, [and] abominations.

Shâqats

Referring to contamination or pollution

‘contaminare’ (Leviticus 11:43)

‘polluatis’ (Leviticus 20:25)

Sheqets

Referring to pollution/the uncleanliness of certain creatures

polluta (Leviticus 11:12) shellfish

abominabile (Leviticus 11:41) Creepy crawlies

abominatus (Leviticus 20:23) More creepy crawlies

Generally, these words mean things to be avoided and taboo, from shellfish to worshipping God in the wrong way, but aren’t (apart from the creepy crawlies) necessarily disgusting or revolting in that yucky/icky way. It is also worth noting where the Vulgate and most modern English Bibles differ. It would seem that both the Hebrew and the Vulgate had more subtle meanings than we find in most modern English Bibles, with pollution separate from what we might now call abomination in the Latin, and a division of action (Shiqquwts), contamination (Shâqats) and the pollution of certain creatures (Sheqets) in the Hebrew.

This merging of subtle emotional states into a single blanket emotion through a change in language – by either natural drift or translation – is an intriguing peek at how emotions at a sociocultural level and language seem to exist in symbiosis. When one changes, so does the other.

In the next few posts, I’ll look at the other Hebrew words for abomination, and finally the Greek New Testament words bdelugma, bdeluktos, bdelusso, and athemitos. Once I have done that, I shall reflect back and see what these snapshots can tell us about the shifting landscape of abomination and disgust through history.

That should keep me out of trouble for a while.