medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Hm, Nancy, somebody on the KJV translator crew knew the color of
the material was a golden brown -- his guess seems to be raw silk.
Interesting thread.
Rochelle
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>"Byssus, also cloth of byssus,
>so called from its whiteness ...
>
>Thank you for all comments to date about "byssus" in Proverbs 31:22.
>
> From a textile historian's point of view, I can tell you that
> byssus was never white: it was known for its shimmering golden
> brown color. So if it is being translated anywhere as "white", the
> translator either does not know what byssus fiber / woven material
> looks like or they are talking about linen, possibly cotton.
>
>There was some confusion about what part of the verse was referring
>to byssus. Here are the translations from the web page
>(<http://www.websters-dictionary-online.org/definition/english/by/byssus.html>www.websters-dictionary-online.org/definition/english/by/byssus.html)
>which are pertinent.
>
>
>Greek (transliterated), 250 BC, Septuagint -- DissaV clainaV
>epoihsen tw andri authV ek de bussou kai porfuraV eauth endumata.
>
>Latin, 405 AD, Vulgate -- Mem stragulam vestem fecit sibi byssus et
>purpura indumentum eius.
>
>Middle English, 1395, Wyclif -- Men. A rai cloth she made to hir;
>bijs and purpre the clothing of hir.
>
>Jacobean English, 1611, King James -- She maketh herself coverings
>of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
>
>Victorian English, 1833, Webster -- She maketh herself coverings of
>tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
>
>Basic English, 1964, Ogden -- She makes for herself cushions of
>needlework; her clothing is fair linen and purple.
>
>
>I think one of the problems is that, like the murex shell which
>provided Tyrian purple, the large mollusk which provided the byssus
>fiber was "farmed" to near extinction. Further, byssus is a very
>specialized textile identification; translators would be clueless
>what it actually was unless they knew what it actually was, as it
>were. So the further back you go in these translations, the more I
>believe the word IS referring to byssus and not linen. (Apparently
>there is one woman on Sicily who still spins byssus threads and does
>embroidery with them.)
>
>Nancy
>
>P.S. This is a hoot of a site, by the way. You can read Proverbs
>31:22 in Croatian, Haitian Creole, or Maori; you can find words that
>rhyme with "byssus" and that are anagrams of "byssus"; you can learn
>how to write "byssus" in html code or using British sign language, etc.
>
>
>
>
>
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