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Χλωρός in the Septuagint: Color or State?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 January 2024
Abstract
The adjective χλωρός appears in the Septuagint to translate Hebrew terms that not only denote color, but state as well. In fact, in biblical Hebrew color is not a quality, but rather a “state” of the entities it describes. It is logical to wonder, then, whether it also expresses this in the Septuagint or if it denotes only color. To answer this question, it is necessary to carry out an interdisciplinary study of color and color language. The methodology followed will first study the concept of color in the Hellenistic world and in the Septuagint, as well as the cultural context in which the Septuagint translators lived. Subsequently, an approximate account of the “encyclopedic knowledge” that those translators possessed will be given, followed, finally, by a semantic analysis of χλωρός in the Septuagint. After applying this methodology, it will be shown that in the Septuagint, as in the Hellenistic world in general, natural color expresses both color and state, with color being the visual reflection of that state.
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1 This article is part of a larger study that I have undertaken as principal investigator of the research group LECOBI (G20/3-08) and the project El Apocalipsis: un universo de color. Del texto a la imagen I (MPFI21LG), both under the auspices of the Universidad San Pablo CEU, CEU Universities. Unless otherwise indicated, the translations are my own.
2 LEH, 664, s.v. χλωρός; GELS, 733, s.v. χλωρός.
3 La Biblia griega. Septuaginta, vol. 2, Libros históricos (trans. Natalio Fernández Marcos and María Victoria Spottorno; Salamanca: Sígueme, 2011); La Biblia griega. Septuaginta, vol. 4, Libros proféticos (trans. Natalio Fernández Marcos, María Victoria Spottorno Díaz-Caro, and José Manuel Cañas Reíllo; Salamanca: Sígueme, 2015).
4 La Biblia Griega omits part of Exod 10:15 in its translation; La Biblia griega. Septuaginta, vol. 1, Pentateuco (trans. Natalio Fernández Marcos and María Victoria Spottorno; Salamanca: Sígueme, 2008).
5 An explanatory note states that this is a metonymy for “erba”: La Bibbia dei Settanta, vol. 1, Pentateuco, (ed. Paolo Lucca; Brescia: Morcelliana, 2012) n. 633.
6 See section “A. The Concept of Color in the Hellenistic World” below.
7 Dámaris Romero argues that adjectives that express an intrinsic quality are those which “denote a quality of the subject that has value in itself, that is, which does not come from outside, as it is possessed in all circumstances and does not depend on this or on certain extrinsic considerations”; El adjetivo en el Nuevo Testamento. Clasificación semántica (Córdoba: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Córdoba, 2010) 110–11 and 520; http://hdl.handle.net/10396/3535.
8 L&N, 79 Features of Objects, G. Color (79.26–79.38).
9 Earlier research by Gradwohl, Brenner, and Hartley is based on color as a luminous sensation having three elements: hue, saturation, and brightness; in other words, they transfer our modern categories of color to the biblical text without questioning whether this might not have been the case in antiquity: Roland Gradwohl, Die Farben im Alten Testament. Eine terminologische Studie (Berlin: A. Töpelmann, 1963); Athalya Brenner, Colour Terms in the Old Testament (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1982); John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (ANESSup 33; Walpole, MA; Leuven: Peeters, 2010).
10 Reiner de Blois, “Lexicography and Cognitive Linguistics: Hebrew Metaphors from a Cognitive Perspective,” Davalogos 3.2 (2004) 97–116, at 102; idem, “Semantic Domains for Biblical Hebrew,” in Bible and Computer: The Stellenbosch AIBI-6 Conference; Proceedings of the Association Internationale Bible et Informatique “From Alpha to Byte,” University of Stellenbosch, 17–21 July 2000 (ed. Johann Cook, Leiden: Brill 2002) 209–29, at 221.
11 Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (hereafter SDBH), s.v. אָדֹם H0122 Reinier de Blois; s.v. לָבָן H3836 H3837 Reinier de Blois.
12 SDBH, s.v. יֵרָקֹון H3420 Reinier de Blois.
13 Lourdes García Ureña et al., The Language of Colour in the Bible: Embodied Colour Terms Related to Green (trans. Donald Murphy; Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2022) 39–80.
14 LEH, 664, s.v. χλωρός; GELS, 733, s.v. χλωρός.
15 In any case, the interpretation of this fragment has been the subject of debate among philosophers: Ekai Txapartegi, “Platón sobre los colores,” Teorema 27.2 (2008) 5–25.
16 Stoicorum veterum fragmenta (ed. Hans von Arnim; 4 vols.; Leipzig: Teubner, 1903–1924) 1:3–71, http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/Iris/Cite?0635:001:51701.
17 See section “E. Xλωρός in Greco-Roman Egypt” below.
18 De coloribus is the first specific treatise on color, dating from the late 4th to early-3rd cent. BCE. Its authorship has long been attributed to Aristotle, although this is contested today, as its style and the manner of presenting its content are quite removed from the usual Aristotelian dialectical and speculative discourse (Aristotle, I colori e i suoni [ed. Maria Fernanda Ferrini; Milan: Bompiani, 2008] 41–42, 56, 67 n. 3).
19 De coloribus 794b–797a correspond to the study of plants, fruits, and flowers, while 797b deals with other living entities, but principally with the human being.
20 The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, s.v. ποώδης, 1733. In antiquity, the description of colors based on other entities was frequent.
21 In the same vein, Sandra Bussata, “The Perception of Color and the Meaning of Brilliance among Archaic and Ancient Populations and Its Reflections on Language,” Antrocom Online Journal of Anthropology 10.2 (2014) 300–347, at 312; Maria Fernanda Ferrini, introduzione ai Colori: I Colori e la riflessione antica sulla visione, I Colori (ed. Ferrini) 56–65.
22 Real Academia Española, Diccionario de la lengua española (23rd ed., Madrid: Planeta, 2014) s.v. color, https://dle.rae.es/?id=9qYXXhD.
23 García Ureña et al., Language of Colour, 11–12.
24 It might be considered that χρόα in this pericope has the meaning of “surface”; however, the Vulgate interprets this as “color” and therefore translates it with the lexeme color: ubicundum faciens fuco colorem illius.
25 Juan Carlos Sanz and Rosa Gallego, Diccionario Akal del color (Madrid: Akal, 2001) 260, s.v. color pigmento.
26 Esther 15:7 corresponds to one of the Greek additions to the book of Esther denominated “D” and absent from the Hebrew Masoretic Text; La Biblia griega. Septuaginta, 2: Libros históricos, 648.
27 Esther 15:5 [D.5]: αὐτὴ ἐρυθριῶσα ἀκμῇ κάλλους αὐτῆς.
28 HALOT, s.v. צרע.
29 BDB, s.v. קרן.
30 John I. Durham, Exodus (WBC 3; Accordance electronic ed.; Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1992) 467.
31 Gerhard Kittel, “δοκέω, δόξα, δοξάζω, συνδοξάζω, ἔνδοξος, ἐνδοξάζω, παράδοξος,” TDNT 2: 232–55, at 244, 253.
32 Natalio Fernández Marcos, Septuaginta. La Biblia griega de judíos y cristianos (Salamanca: Sígueme 2014) 37, 46–47.
33 Ibid., 42–43.
34 On only three occasions—Gen 9:3, Isa 37:27, and Ps 36:2 (Ps 37:2 MT) —χλωρός does not appear. On the first, the translator of Genesis uses the expression λάχανα χόρτου, “herb vegetables” (Gen 9:3). The absence of χλωρός may be justified by the translator’s desire to make explicit the products that will serve as food for human beings (Pentateuco [ed. Lucca], n. 92). In Ps 36:2, λάχανα is used again but accompanied by χλόης, perhaps for the presence of χόρτος in the first part of the verse. Finally, in Isa 37:27, the lexeme ירק is not translated in the LXX.
35 García Ureña et al., Language of Colour, 49.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid., 47–48.
38 There is a clear divergence between the Hebrew and Greek texts; Emanuel Tov and Frank Polak, The Revised CATSS Hebrew/Greek Parallel Text (Accordance electronic ed.; Altamonte Springs: OakTree Software, 2008), paragraph 36. La Bible d’Alexandrie considers that the LXX translator perceives the image but re-elaborates it to his own taste (Prov 27:25–26); David-Marc d’Hamonville and Epiphane Dumouchet, La Bible d’Alexandrie. Les Proverbes (Paris: Cerf, 2000).
39 Harold and Alma Moldenke, Plants of the Bible (Waltham, MA: Chronica Botanica, 1952) 253–54.
40 Tov and Polak, Hebrew/Greek Parallel Text, paragraph 65. In the MT, the hapax ערות, “meadow” (Isa 19:7) appears; Liliana Rosso Ubigli, La Bibbia dei Settanta, vol. 4, Profeti (Brescia, Morcelliana, 2019) n. 539.
41 BDB, p. 3892, s.v. לח.
42 SDBH, s.v. לח, H3892 Reinier de Blois.
43 John A. L. Lee, A Lexical Study of the Septuagint Version of Pentateuch (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1983) 131, 145–46.
44 William Ross, “Lexical Possibilities in LXX Research: Revision and Expansion,” in XV Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Munich 2013 (ed. Wolfgang Kraus, Michaël N. van der Meer, and Martin Meiser; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016) 341–59, at 352.
45 Ronald W. Langacker, “Context, Cognition and Semantics: A Unified Dynamic Approach,” in Job 28: Cognition in Context (ed. Ellen J. Van Wolde; BibInt 64; Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2003) 179–230, at 187.
46 Anna Passoni dell’Acqua, “Notazioni cromatiche dall’Egitto greco-romano. La versione dei LXX e i papiri,” Aegyptus 78 (1998) 77–115; and eadem, “Colori e trasparenze nella haute couture dell’Egitto greco-romano,” Semitica et Classica 1 (2008) 113–38.
47 LSJ, s.v. χλωρός; DELG, 1264; s.v. χλωρός; Bailly, 960, s.v. χλωρός; The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, 2366, s.v. χλωρός.
48 BDAG, 1085, s.v. χλωρός.
40 LSJ, s.v. χλωρός; The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, 2366, s.v. χλωρός.
50 Eleanor Irwin, Colour Terms in Greek Poetry (Toronto: Hakkert, 1974) 31–77.
51 Bailly, 960, s.v. χλωρός.
52 DELG, 1264, s.v. χλωρός.
53 However, the meaning of χλωρός when it describes blood has been debated; P. Ferrarino, “Χλωρὸν αἷμα. Soph, Trach. 1055,” in Scritti scelti (ed. Pietro Ferrarino, Opuscoli accad, XV; Florence: Olschki, 1986) 25–28.
54 Irwin, Colour Terms, 46–48.
55 Ibid., 45.
56 Ibid., 43.
57 A discussion of the meaning of χλωρός in this context is beyond the scope of the present research. On this question, see Dikaios B. Bagiakakos, “Χλωρός, μέλι χλωρόν. μελίχλωρος καί τινα σύνθετα,” Ἀθηνᾶ 58 (1954) 98–119; Rita D’Avino, “La visione del colore nella terminologia greca,” Ricerche linguistiche 4 (1958) 99–134; Irwin, Colour Terms, 62–64; Alberta Lorenzoni, “Eustazio. Paura ‘verde’ e oro ‘pallido’ (Ar. Pax 1176, Eup. fr. 253 K.-A., Com. adesp. frr. 390 e 1380 A E.),” Eikasmos 5 (1994) 139–63; Evelyne Samama, “Constance, l’empereur ‘verdâtre,’ ” in Le corps polychrome. Couleurs et santé; Antiquité, Moyen Âge, Époque moderne (ed. Franck Collard and Évelyne Samama; Paris: L’Harmattan, 2018) 241–52; Marta González, “Homérico χλωρὸν δέος. El significado de χλωρός en la poesía griega arcaica,” Minerva 18 (2005) 11–23; Franco Giorgianni, “Colori dell’eros nella Grecia antica,” Medicina nei Secoli 32.2 (2020) 443–76; Amneris Roselli, “Colorito della pelle e sistema degli umori. Galeno interprete di Ippocrate Epidemie VI 3, 13 e VI 2, 6,” Medicina nei Secoli 32.2 (2020) 477–90.
58 Passoni dell’Acqua, “Notazioni cromatiche dall’Egitto greco-romano,” 109.
59 Ibid., 111 n. 178.
60 Passoni dell’Acqua, “Colori e trasparenze,” 129.
61 Ibid., 128–29.
62 A search made at papiri.info found more than 240 scrolls in which χλωρός and its derivates appear, dating from the 3rd cent. BCE to the 7th cent. CE. The present study focuses on scrolls from the 3rd cent. BCE to the 1st cent. CE. Papyrus scrolls in which the term described by χλωρός is not clear have been excluded.
63 See Papyri.info, at https://papyri.info/ddbdp/p.cair.zen;1;59083.
64 See section “D. Χλωρός according to the Leading Greek Dictionaries” above.
65 This scroll contains a letter in which the author complains that Zenon’s cattle have grazed on his corn (https://papyri.info/ddbdp/p.cair.zen;4;59631). However, as we no longer have the complete text, nothing more can be specified.
66 Diccionario Griego-Español (DGE), s.v. ἄρακος, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/index.en.
67 APIS Translation, https://papyri.info/ddbdp/p.mich;1;56.
68 Ibid. gives this as “green crops”; https://papyri.info/ddbdp/p.mich;5;311.
69 Antonio Barcelona, “La metonimia conceptual,” in Lingüística cognitiva (ed. Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano et al.; 2nd ed.; Barcelona: Anthropos, 2016) 123–46.
70 The meaning “moist” is excluded, since in Classical Greek this occurs only in the domain of liquids, and we have not found this use in the papyrus scrolls.
71 This is not from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, but in the sense that color has a physical form.
72 This is not the case in the NT, where it is used to describe a horse (Rev 6:8). See Lourdes García Ureña, “ Ἵππος χλωρός (Rev 6.8): A Methodology for the Study of Colour Terms in the New Testament” NTS 67(2021) 205–19, doi:10.1017/S0028688520000375.
73 Ezechiel (ed. Joseph Ziegler; SVTG 16.1; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1952), Ezek 20:47.
74 See section “A. The Concept of Color in the Hellenistic World” above.
75 Santiago Segura Munguía and Javier Torres Ripa, Las plantas en la Biblia (Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto; Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2011) 55.
76 Ibid., 88–89.
77 Ibid., 74–76.
78 See section “F. Synthesis of the Encyclopedic Knowledge Acquired” above.
79 Loanword from Egypt; GELS, s.v ἄχι.
80 See section “A. Χλωρός in the Septuagint” above.