Scourge

For other uses, see Scourge (disambiguation)}}}.

A scourge (from the Italian scoriada, ultimately from the Latin excoriare = "to flay" and corium = "skin") is a whip or lash, especially a multi-tong type used in order to inflict severe corporal punishment on the back.

Contents

1 Description
2 Metaphoric use
3 Homonym
4 Sources and references

Description

The typical scourge (in Latin: flagrum; flagellum is the English derivative) has several thongs or lashes attached to a single handle, Compare in the Scottish tawse (equally leather, but usually only two or three and without a separate handle) and the cat o' nine tails (the well-known naval version was made from thick ropes, often with knots; the army and prison version usually from leather).

From a Biblical quotation, scorpio 'scorpion' is a Latin term for a severe Roman flagrum. Hard material was fixed onto multiple thongs to give them a flesh-tearing 'bite' [1 Kings 12:11: ...My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions]. The choice of the name testifies how much the hellish pain caused by the small arachnid, which is well-known in the mediterranean world, was feared, as many biblical passages testify.

Scourging played a famous role as the punishment inflicted on Jesus Christ (together with a crown of thorns on his head) prior to his crucifixion, disabling him from carrying his cross all the way to Golgotha.

The scourge or flail, and the solid crook, are the two symbols of power and domination depicted in the hands of Osiris in ancient Egyptian monuments; these show the unchanging form of the instrument throughout the ages. It should be noted, though, that the flail depicted in Egyptian mythology was an agricultural instrument used to thresh wheat, and not a recorded device for corporal punishment.

Metaphoric use

Semi-literal usages such as "the scourge of God" for Attila the Hun (i.e. "God's whip to punish the nations with") led to metaphoric uses to mean a severe affliction, e.g. "the scourge of drug abuse". As a result, some people forget its literal meaning and seem to imagine a connection with "scour".

Homonym

"The Scourge" as used by Modern day Wiccans (especially Gardnerian and New Arthurian), is an instrument to create and return from an Altered State of Consciousness. During Rituals, these sub-groups of Wiccans will bind an initiate, have them kneel with their heads upon the floor, and they will strike the tailbone at the base of the spine for a specified number of times in order to induce an Altered State of Consciousness. Furthermore, the scourge has been used to help an initiate return from such an Altered State as well. See also Catholicism, Arwythur's Wicca 101.

Sources and references

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