Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Yonah Mishael wrote:

> I just looked up "Christ" in Webster's New World College 
> Dictionaryjust for fun. I am suprised at what I found in one instance, 
> theword's Indo-European origin. Did you know that the word "Christ" 
> isrelated to the word "grime"?
> Christ (krīst) [[ ME & OE /Crist/ < LL(Ec) /Christus/ < Gr 
> /christos/,the anointed (in N.T., MESSIAH) < /chriein/, to anoint < IE 
> base*/ghrēi-, to spread over, smear > GRIME ]]
> I was not aware that χριστος shared an IE base with "grime."
> Anyway, I think we will have to agree to disagree on this point. 
> Anytime someone says "Christ," they do so to the exclusion of the 
> Jewishview of Messiah. The two have very different connotations in 
> modernEnglish, despite what they meant to native Greek speakers 2000 
> yearsago. Modern connotation is really what we are accustomed to 
> dealingwith, and it is from here that we draw meaning.


HH: It's not a matter of disagreeing. You flatly don't believe me.  I'm 
giving you facts. If you want to ignore and contradict them, that's 
fine. I'm even giving you the modern connotation. You may know some 
people who don't think that way, but our understanding is to be derived 
entirely from God's word, not human opinion. There are millions of 
people who think the way I do. I can't give you a number of how many 
millions.  Dispensaltionalism is considered to be the majority viewpoint 
in America about prophetic realities, and that viewpoint sees things 
just the way I described.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard