The noun υσσωπος (hussopos) means hyssop (John 19:29 and Hebrews 9:19 only), and describes a group of plants with aromatic and medicinal faculties. Or so it's commonly professed.

Hyssop is named after the Hebrew noun אזוב ('ezob), or at least any close relative of that ancient word, from which a great many languages of the world, including English, derive their words for soap. This is why David could exclaim: "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Psalm 51:7). It appears that, over time, the sponge or any sponge-like plant, became named after the soap, but since the stems of the plant we call hyssop today are about half a meter long and rather wobbly, one could hardly have served as the stalk upon which the sponge with vinegar (οξος, oxos) was hoisted toward the dying Christ (John 19:29).

John speaks of vinegar and hyssop, but Matthew of vinegar and χολη (chole), gall (27:34; Mark and Luke only mention vinegar, Mark 15:36, Luke 23:36). This suggests that in New Testament times, the word υσσωπος (hussopos) still denoted a liquid of some sort, perhaps taken from the plant that would later be known for its liquid. Something rather similar happened to the word מור (mor), or myrrh, from the verb מרר (marar), to be strong or bitter. The word οξος (oxos) comes from οξυς (oxus), meaning sharp, which reminds of the name Tigris, which denotes formal authority and legislation, and ultimately the beginning of complex civilization.

The noun σπογγος (spoggos) means sponge and is used solely in the scene in which Jesus is given wine by means of a sponge (Matthew 27:48, Mark 15:36 and John 19:29 only).

In the classics, our noun may refer to any spongy substance such as fungus, which was originally known by the word "sfungus", which came from the same root (words like that occur all over the Indo-European language basin). What that root might have been, or even in what language it originally occurred, is entirely unknown. But in Greek, the 'gg' is pronounced 'ng' — as in αγγελος (aggelos), messenger, from which English gets the word angel. Our noun σπογγος, spoggos, likewise is pronounced "spongos" and clearly comes from a root s-p-n.

Here at Abarim Publications we also don't know what that root might have been, but if we were to guess we would guess that our word was introduced into the Greek language area along with the alphabet and a long list of accompanying terms. And that brings us to the verb צפה (sapa), meaning to lay out or lay over (like plating or a rug), or the related verb צפן (sapan), to hide or store up. The "-gus" part could then be explained by the verb חשש (hashash), to hurry or to progress swiftly.

Our word σπογγος (spoggos), sponge or fungus, may thus be based on a noun derived from the verb צפה (sapa), to overlay, which would be צפון (sapon), meaning an overlay. And that happens to also be the Hebrew word for north. As we explain in our article on the word μοδιος (modios), measuring basket (the item that nobody would place a candle beneath: Matthew 5:15), the Indo-Europeans imagined the sky to be the home of the two bears who had raised Zeus, namely Ursa Major and Minor, whose revolutions around the pole star inspired the formation of the swastika.

This idea of the northern sky as overbearing canopy or great storehouse (Colossians 2:3) is significant also because our verb חשש (hashash) appears to relate to the noun תחש (thahash), which is the name of the animal whose hides overlaid the outer covering of the tabernacle (see our article on the name Thahash).

The verb ραντιζω (rantizo) means to sprinkle. It stems from the in the New Testament unused verb ραινω (raino), to sprinkle, which is of unclear pedigree. (Also of unclear pedigree is the widely attested Germanic root that gave English the word rain, which is Regen in German and regn in Norwegian, and more probably stems from the same Latin "reg-" root that gave us the word irrigate. Still, the similarity is uncanny).

In the Septuagint, our verb ραντιζω (rantizo) translates the verb נזה (naza), which describes a ritualistic sprinkling (Exodus 29:21, Leviticus 4:6) of items with blood but also water (Numbers 8:7) and oil (Leviticus 8:11). The purpose of this sprinkling was cleansing (Isaiah 52:15), which suggest that what the ancients called "blood" may also have included natural soap deposits in the animal pancreas (which would help to explain how people might wash their robes white in blood: Revelation 7:14).

Our verb is used 4 times; see full concordance, and from it derives: