Etymology
In the Hebrew Bible, the term for "stumbling block" is mikshowl (מכשול), rendered in the Septuagint as skandalon (σκανδαλον). The English term "scandal" derives from this Septuagint Greek term skandalon, which in turn stands for the Hebrew mikshowl. The Greek term skandalon has little relation to the modern meaning of scandal".
The Greek noun skandalon also has an associated verb, skandalizo (formed with the -iz suffix as English "scandalize"), meaning literally "to trip somebody up" or, idiomatically, " to cause someone to sin."
The idiom may relate to the state of roads in Ancient Palestine.
Apart from skandalon the idiom of "stumbling block" has a second synonym in the Greek term proskomma "stumbling." Both words are used together in 1 Peter 2:8; this is a "stone of stumbling" (lithos proskommatos λίθος προσκόμματος) and a "rock of offense" (petra skandalou πέτρα σκανδάλου).
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
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