דַּכָּא

From the study of Isaiah 57:15

Range of meaning

To crush, beat to pieces, pulverize. Figuratively, to oppress or afflict, or to be broken in spirit. The adjective/noun dakkāʾ means "crushed", even "crushed matter, dust." The word covers people crushed by others (oppression), by circumstances or by God's judgment, and, in some contexts, a broken and penitent heart.

Against the English

"Contrite" (KJV, ESV, NIV, NASB, WEB, BSB in the second instance) to most modern readers means "feeling sorry for one's sins." YLT's "bruised" and BSB's "oppressed" (first instance) keep the physical and social picture. NLT pushes further toward repentance in its wording of the final clause.

How it drifted

English "contrite" comes from Latin contritus, "ground to pieces" (Vulgate: cum contrito). The Latin was a good match. But medieval theology made contritio a technical term for sorrow over sin in the sacrament of penance, and English "contrite" kept only that later moral sense, losing the physical image of being crushed.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 90:3: "You return mortals to dakkāʾ" (dust, crushed matter). Isaiah 53:5, 10: the servant "crushed (mədukkāʾ) for our iniquities"; "YHWH was pleased to crush him." Isaiah 3:15: "crushing my people." Proverbs 22:22: "do not crush the afflicted at the gate." Psalm 72:4: the king will "crush the oppressor." Psalm 34:19 (Eng. 18): YHWH saves "the crushed in spirit" (dakkəʾê-rûaḥ). Psalm 51:19 (Eng. 17): "a broken and crushed (nidkeh, from a sister root) heart", where repentance is clearly in view.

From the study of Psalm 34:18

Range of meaning

From the root dk' / dkh, "crush, pound, grind small." The adjective or noun means crushed, pulverized, and also the crushed matter itself: dust (Ps 90:3). The verb is used of oppressors crushing the poor (Ps 72:4; Isa 3:15), of being crushed to death (Job 6:9), and of the servant "crushed for our iniquities" (Isa 53:5, 10).

Against the English

KJV and BSB "contrite"; NIV, ESV, NASB and WEB "crushed"; YLT "bruised"; NLT "whose spirits are crushed." "Contrite" originally meant exactly "crushed" (Latin contritus, "ground to pieces"), but today it means "remorseful, sorry for sin."

How it drifted

Latin conterere / contritus ("grind, wear down") became the technical word in medieval church teaching on penance: contritio, true sorrow for sin. English "contrite" took over that moral sense. Today almost nobody hears "crushed" in it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 57:15: God dwells "with the crushed and lowly of spirit, to revive the heart of the crushed," where crushed and humble go together. Ps 51:17 (Heb 19) uses the related verb in a confession of sin. Ps 90:3 "You turn mortals back to dust (dakka')." The Greek Septuagint here translates it "the humble/lowly in spirit" (tapeinous tō pneumati).

From the study of Psalm 90:3

Range of meaning

From the root dkʾ, 'to crush, pulverize, beat small'. As an adjective it means 'crushed' (Deut 23:1, of bodily injury; Isa 57:15, 'the crushed/contrite in spirit'). As a noun in this verse it most likely means 'crushed matter', 'powder', 'dust' (BDB; HALOT).

Against the English

KJV and WEB 'destruction' turns a concrete picture into an abstraction. BSB, ESV and NIV 'dust' get the picture and the Genesis echo but lose the sense of something ground down. YLT's 'a bruised thing' is the most literal.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'destruction' followed the general sense of ruin. In modern English 'destruction' suggests annihilation or catastrophe, not crumbling back into earth.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Septuagint it is rendered tapeinōsis, 'lowliness, humiliation', and in the Latin Vulgate humilitas. Jerome's Latin translation made directly from the Hebrew uses a word for 'crushing/contrition'. The related verb appears in Psalm 34:18 ('crushed in spirit') and Psalm 51:17 ('a crushed heart').