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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Never occured to me! Maybe it does... but that's exegesis of the legend then, not of the Bible... TGD >>> [log in to unmask] 02/21/03 10:59AM >>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture So, does this shed light on the origins of the legend of St Jerome and the lion's paw, which, I understood, is metaphorically related to chastity and sexual restraint? "As I understand it, the reference to "feet" as a euphemism for genitals was fairly common ... And since he was a scholar of Hebrew as well as of the Bible, St Jerome knew this and recognized that what was going on in this passage of Ruth was basically that Ruth was proposing to Boaz, and both of them behave quite respectably. Later medieval exegetes who did not know Hebrew, did not pick up on the double entendre, nor on Jerome's rather delicate circumlocutions about it (again, I am writng from memory, ...)..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html