Talk:Eutrapelia

Use by St. Paul of εὐτραπελία in Ephesians 5:4

[5:3] Πορνεία δὲ καὶ ἀκαθαρσία πᾶσα ἢ πλεονεξία μηδὲ ὀνομαζέσθω ἐν ὑμῖν, καθὼς πρέπει ἁγίοις, [5:4] καὶ αἰσχρότης καὶ μωρολογία ἢ εὐτραπελία, ἃ οὐκ ἀνῆκεν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον εὐχαριστία.

But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints: Or obscenity or foolish talking or scurrility, which is to no purpose: but rather giving of thanks.

The paragraph that says eutrapelia "returned to being considered a virtue by commentators" in the thirteenth century (presumably after St. Thomas Aquinas rehabilitated it) seems like a non sequitur given that all the discussion in the article is about eutrapelia as a virtue. St. Paul uses the same word in a list of vices or sins to be avoided, in the passage above -- translated "scurrilitas" by the Vulgate, "scurrility" in the Douay-Rheims version, "jesting" in the KJV, "smartness in talk" in Ronald Knox's translation, "language which is ... vulgar" in the Today's English Version.

My best guess is that it was regarded as a vice by the Church Fathers and earlier medieval theologians, before St. Thomas, but I don't know and don't have access to secondary sources. Possibly The Owl and the Nightingale, which is cited in that paragraph, would have more detail? --Jim Henry (talk) 08:31, 18 August 2024 (UTC)