מִסְכֵּן

From the study of Ecclesiastes 9:15

Range of meaning

Poor, needy, of low social standing; a dependent or a nobody. In the Bible it occurs only in Ecclesiastes (4:13; 9:15 twice; 9:16). The related noun miskēnut, 'scarcity', appears in Deuteronomy 8:9, and a related word in Isaiah 40:20 is uncertain.

Against the English

English 'poor' is mostly about money. Miskēn includes that but leans toward social insignificance: someone without wealth, rank, patrons or a voice. 'Lowly' or 'a nobody' catches the edge.

How it drifted

The English is not wrong, only narrower. Readers may picture a beggar. The text pictures a man with nothing and no one behind him, whose words carry no weight (v.16).

Used elsewhere in the period

A loanword from Akkadian muškēnu. In the Code of Hammurabi this names a legal class between the free citizen (awīlum) and the slave: a dependent or commoner. In later Akkadian, Aramaic and Syriac (miskēnā) it came to mean simply 'poor'. It passed into Arabic (miskīn) and from there into Italian meschino and French mesquin ('wretched, mean'). The Greek Septuagint translates it πένης, 'poor, a working man of little means'.

From the study of Ecclesiastes 9:16

Range of meaning

Poor, of low status, without resources or standing. In the Hebrew Bible the word occurs only in Ecclesiastes (4:13; 9:15 twice; 9:16). The related noun miskenut, "scarcity", appears in Deut 8:9.

Against the English

"Poor" covers it, but the word is about social standing as much as money. A misken is a nobody, someone whose opinion does not count in the council of elders.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word comes from Akkadian muškēnum, a social class in the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BC) ranked below the full citizen (awīlum). It later meant "poor, wretched" in Aramaic and Syriac (meskēn, meskīnā). The same root eventually gave Arabic miskīn and, through it, Italian meschino and French mesquin. The LXX renders it penēs, "poor, working man". Its use in Ecclesiastes is one of the book's late-language features.