Editing Scourge

{{Short description|Type of whip or lash}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Gordon, scourged back, NPG, 1863.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Medical examination photo of [[Gordon (slave)|Gordon]] showing his scourged back, widely distributed by Abolitionists to expose the brutality of slavery.]]
A '''scourge''' is a [[whip (implement)|whip]] or lash, especially a multi-thong type, used to inflict severe [[physical punishment|corporal punishment]] or [[Mortification of the flesh|self-mortification]]. It is usually made of leather.

==Etymology==
The word is most commonly considered to be derived from Old French ''escorgier'' - "to whip", going further back to the Vulgar Latin ''excorrigiare'': the Latin [[prefix]] ''ex''- "out, off" with its additional English meaning of "thoroughly", plus ''corrigia'' - "thong", or in this case "whip". Some connect it to {{langx|la|excoriare}}, "to [[flaying|flay]]", built of two Latin parts, ''ex''- ("off") and {{lang|la|corium}}, "skin".

==Description==
[[Image:Karwats.jpg|thumb|right|Reproduction of a medieval scourge]]
A scourge ({{langx|la|flagrum}}; diminutive: {{lang|la|flagellum}}) consists of a rope with metal balls, bones, and metal spikes. 

The scourge, or [[flail (agriculture)#Flail and crook|flail]], and the [[shepherd's crook|crook]] are the two symbols of power and domination depicted in the hands of [[Osiris]] in Egyptian monuments.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Crook and Flail in Ancient Egypt|url=http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/crooksandflails.htm|publisher=touregypt|access-date=25 July 2013}}</ref> The shape of the flail or scourge is unchanged throughout history.<ref name="EB1911">{{1911|inline=1|wstitle=scourge}}</ref> However, when a scourge is described as a 'flail' as depicted in Egyptian mythology, it may be referring to use as an agricultural instrument. A flail's intended use was to [[threshing|thresh]] [[wheat]], not to implement corporal punishment.<ref>{{cite book| last=Budge| first=Wallis| author-link=E. A. Wallis Budge| title=Egyptian Magic| publisher=Dover| year=1971| page=[https://archive.org/details/egyptianmagic00budg/page/72 72]| isbn=0486226816| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/egyptianmagic00budg/page/72}}</ref>

The priests of [[Cybele]] scourged themselves and others. Such stripes were considered sacred.{{sfn|Tierney|1909}}

Hard material can be affixed to multiple thongs to give a flesh-tearing "bite". A scourge with these additions is called a scorpion. {{lang|la|Scorpio}} is Latin for a Roman {{lang|la|flagrum}} and is referred to in the Bible: [[Books of Kings|1 Kings]] 12:11: "...My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions" said Rehoboam, referring to increased conscription and taxation beyond Solomon's. The name testifies to the pain caused by the [[arachnid]]. Testifying to its frequent Roman application is the existence of the Latin words {{lang|la|Flagrifer}} 'carrying a whip' and {{lang|la|Flagritriba}} 'often-lashed slave'.{{sfn|Tierney|1909}}  According to the [[Gospel of John]], [[Pontius Pilate]], the Roman governor of Judea, ordered [[Flagellation of Christ|Jesus to be scourged]].<ref>{{bibleref2|John|19:1|RSV}}</ref>

[[Image:Flagellants.png|thumb|right|Fifteenth-century woodcut of flagellants scourging themselves]]
Scourging was soon adopted as a sanction in the monastic discipline of the fifth and following centuries. Early in the fifth century it is mentioned by [[Palladius of Galatia]] in the {{lang|la|[[Historia Lausiaca]]}},<ref>
{{harvnb|Tierney|1909}} cites ''Historia Lausiaca'' vi</ref> and [[Socrates Scholasticus]]<ref>{{harvnb|Tierney|1909}} cites Socrates ''Hist. Eccl.'', IV, xxiii</ref> tells us that, instead of being excommunicated, offending young monks were scourged. (See the sixth-century rules of [[Caesarius of Arles|St. Cæsarius of Arles]] for nuns,<ref>{{harvnb|Tierney|1909}} cites ''[[Patrologia Latina]]'', LXVII, 1111</ref> and of [[St. Aurelian of Arles]].<ref>{{harvnb|Tierney|1909}} cites ''[[Patrologia Latina]]'', LXVIII, 392, 401-02</ref>) Thenceforth scourging is frequently mentioned in monastic rules and councils as an enforcer of discipline.<ref>{{harvnb|Tierney|1909}} cites [[Karl Josef von Hefele|Hefele]], "Concilieng.", II, 594, 656</ref> Its use as a punishment was general in the seventh century in all monasteries of the severe [[Columban rule]].<ref>{{harvnb|Tierney|1909}} cites St. Columbanus, in "Regula Cœnobialis", c. x, in ''Patrologia Latina'', LXXX, 215 sqq; for later centuries of the early Middle Ages see [[Louis Thomassin]], ''Vetus ac nova ecclesiae disciplina'', II (3), 107; [[Du Cange]], "Glossar. med. et infim. latinit.", s. v. "Disciplina"; [[Gretser]], "De spontaneâ disciplinarum seu flagellorum cruce libri tres" (Ingolstadt, 1603); [[Franz Quirin von Kober]], "Die körperliche Züchtigung als kirchliches Strafmittel gegen Cleriker und Mönche" in Tüb. "Quartalschrift" (1875).</ref>

[[Canon law]] ([[Decree of Gratian]], [[Decretals of Gregory IX]]) recognized it as a punishment for ecclesiastics; even as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it appears in ecclesiastical legislation as a punishment for [[blasphemy]], [[concubinage]] and [[simony]]. Scourging as a means of [[penance]] and [[Mortification of the flesh|mortification]] is publicly exemplified in the tenth and eleventh centuries by the lives of [[St. Dominic Loricatus]]<ref>{{harvnb|Tierney|1909}} cites ''Patrologia Latina'', CXLIV, 1017; the surname means 'strapped'</ref> and [[St. Peter Damian]] (died 1072). The latter wrote a special treatise in praise of self-flagellation; though blamed by some contemporaries for excess of zeal, his example and the high esteem in which he was held did much to popularize the voluntary use of a small scourge known as a [[Discipline (mortification)|discipline]], as a means of mortification and penance.{{sfn|Tierney|1909}}

From then on the practice appeared in most medieval religious orders and associations.{{sfn|Tierney|1909}} The fourteenth-century [[Flagellant#Flagellantism|Flagellants]] were named for their self-flagellation; King [[Louis IX of France]] and [[Elisabeth of Hungary]] also made private use of the "discipline".{{sfn|Tierney|1909}}

==Metaphoric use==
Semi-literal uses such as "the scourge of God" for [[Attila]] the [[Hun]] (i.e. "God's whip with which to punish the nations") led to [[metaphor]]ic uses to mean a severe affliction, e.g. "the scourge of drug abuse".

==See also==
* [[Cat o' nine tails]]
* [[Flagellation]], includes flogging
* [[Knout]]
* [[Skin]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{Catholic|last=Tierney |first=John j.|wstitle=Flagellation|volume=6}}

==Further reading==
*H. H. Mallinckrodt, ''Latijn-Nederlands woordenboek'' (Latin-Dutch dictionary)

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btgs45ibcVE Scourging of Jesus] - Video scene from the movie ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]''

[[Category:Ritual weapons]]
[[Category:Whips]]