MOTE

[Dr. Goodword]

• mote •

Pronunciation: mot • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A speck of dust, minute particle, iota, crumb, grain, mite, smidgen.

Notes: Today's Good Word is pretty simple and straightforward. In northern England and Scotland people still refer to motey (the adjective) substances and moteless (spotless) homes but these variants are marginal elsewhere.

In Play: Today's Good Word is most familiar in English idiom "a mote in the eye" referring to someone who criticizes others for faults they possess themselves. It comes from a passage in the St. James version of the New Testament, Matthew 13:3: "But what seest thou a little mote in the eye of thy brother, and seest not a beam in thine own eye?" Here is the way we would use it today: "Don't you think Sparky the Clown has a mote in the eye when he criticizes the way you dress?" We do still use this word figuratively: "There isn't a mote of truth in what Mel Arky says about me!"

Word History: Mote is a pure-blood English word, not borrowed from any other language. It certainly went into the making of motley and is probably related to smut, with a Fickle S that comes and goes as it pleases. (We have seen the Fickle S elsewhere in related words like English slack and Latin lax.) It is also possible that midge and smidgen are a part of the larger family of words related to mote; however, supporting evidence is lacking. (We certainly owe a gazillion motes of gratitude to Doug Schulek-Miller for suggesting today's fascinating little Good Word.)

[skinem]

That Bible passage is where I learned this word as a child.
Always struck me as funny--observing a mote while packing your own beam...

As if there wasn't enough around, more proof that God has a sense of humor!

[Bailey]

don't forget the camel and the eye of the needle. I love those examples so homey.

mark squeeezing-easily-wallet-really-skinny Bailey

[gailr]

don't forget the camel and the eye of the needle.

Actually, that's probably a translation error: kamelos (camel) for kamilos (rope). It's still a mystic's hyperbole, but at least it's more comprehensible hyperbole. You can get into exciting debates in certain circles over the Aramaic pronunciations and variable meanings of gamla, but that's out of my league.

-gailr

[Bailey]

A translation error? Please elucidate, I want to hear the correction, I'm sure it will be illuminating. How does rope fit in to the comparison, I mean logically?

mark curiosity Bailey

[Perry]

Gail, I think I need a pair of those horns for my bicycle helmet. But then, I don't have a mote of sense.

[gailr]

A translation error? Please elucidate, I want to hear the correction, I'm sure it will be illuminating. How does rope fit in to the comparison, I mean logically?

mark curiosity Bailey

Looking at ancient texts, particularly those which have passed through several copyings, cultural shifts and language translations--not to mention carrying such societal weight--invites lively scholarly debate. NB: I'm not commenting on the validity of any path here.

The premise is that effective spiritual teachers employ mind-bending images in order to open their hearers to new ideas. However, those ideas cannot be so surreal as to turn off the same potential students. (example: industrialized westerners can be quite peeved when confronted with a Zen koan.) Thus, the original audience would have understood and appreciated the image of attempting to thread a surgeon's or sewing needle with a rope, and stayed to make the leap to the idea of a spiritual 'narrow gate'. They would also have passed the pithy saying on to others, keeping the concept alive for later collection. But they would have shook their heads and walked off to more sensible pursuits at some itinerant waffling on about sending camels through sewing needles.

How would an error like this get perpetuated? Well, people can be...somewhat emotional...about anything written down in a 'revealed text', and there are valid questions regarding correction vs revision. What might be enjoyed as poetry or hyperbole to one cultural group can be deadly literal to another. Add the human tendency to embellish stories to make them even more amazing, and next thing you know, centuries of sincere people are not even blinking at camels and needles.

Hope that helps. If Anders happens to catch this thread [sic] he would be able to provide more scholarly support.

-gailr
whose eyes are starting to rebel when passing a thread the size of a camel's hair through the eye of a needle...

[gailr]

Gail, I think I need a pair of those horns for my bicycle helmet. But then, I don't have a mote of sense.

Only if you're doing stunt riding, Perry!
So mote it not be!

[Bailey]

I know they'd sew nets and sails and clothes but did they actually have surgeons? Did they sew up flesh? I thought that was much later, hence my curosity. Would that be Hebrew? If so they didn't have vowels so that tittle of difference would be moot.

threading a rope into a needle not a camel thru' the needle gate?

mark itinerate-waffler Bailey

I like waffles, so there!

[gailr]

I know they'd sew nets and sails and clothes but did they actually have surgeons? Did they sew up flesh? I thought that was much later, hence my curosity. Would that be Hebrew? If so they didn't have vowels so that tittle of difference would be moot.

It's true that neither Jewish nor Greek physicians of the time looked kindly on cutting human bodies. Yet there were Greek and Roman specialists who performed bladder stone surgery, and the Roman war machine required attending physicians. One hopes that they stitched up their patients before releasing them.

The translation dispute stems from Greek texts and written Koine Greek had vowels. By the time of the earliest extant Gospels there was a break between the original, Aramaic-speaking audience and an evangelized, foreign-based gentile audience, with an increasing marginalization and disregard for the first group.

threading a rope into a needle not a camel thru' the needle gate?

A "Needle Gate" is not referenced in historical texts recovered to date, neither by locals, visitors, nor members of occupying forces. It's my understanding that Americans tourists seeking guides to this spot provide a certain comedy to the locals.

Fred at Slacktivist had an excellent take on this:

The key I think is the end of the story, after everything is taken off the camel's back and it is made to crawl through the legendary narrow gate. Then everything is put back on the camel.

That's what we want to hear.

[Perry: you lived there. Care to toss in a couple denarii on a Needle Gate?]

As I said earlier, historical texts invite lively debate, particularly when so freighted with beliefs. You can find references to other large animals and needles in Talmudic writings, so the camel isn't ruled out. Of course, that brings us back to gamla.

-gailr
more of a 'so let it be written; so let it be critically evaluated' kind of girl...

[Perry]

This [urlhttp://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/04/a-camel ... -a-needle/]chap [/url]has a pretty good grasp of the issue. He explains, as I would have, that there is no gate to the Old City of Jerusalem with such a name or moniker.