A fox, a much-maligned animal, but which is true to its nature and not a hypocrite, as some medieval sources would have it. A red fox standing in the snow.
14 September 2021
Hypocrisy is the assumption of a false appearance, of pretending to be one thing while actually being another, and a hypocrite is one who does so. Both words come into English from Greek via Latin, but their most common usage in those languages was quite different than the English meaning. English adopted a rarer, metaphorical sense of the Greek words that was used in early Biblical translations instead of the more commonly used sense.
The Greek ὑπόκρισις (hypocrisy) is literally a reply or answer, but it was generally used to mean playing a part on stage or an orator’s delivery. It was also used metaphorically by second century BCE historian Polybius and by the second and third century BCE translators of the Septuagint—a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible—and by the author of the gospel of Matthew, which was originally written in Greek, to mean playing a part, pretense, or hypocrisy in the sense we know it today in English. And ὑποκριτής (hypocrite) meant an interpreter or expounder, an actor or orator, and the translators of the Septuagint used it in the sense of a flatterer.
The Septuagint uses the Greek words in several places. For instance, in Job 34:30 ὑποκριτής (hypocrite) is used to translate the Hebrew אָדָ֥םחָנֵ֗ף (literally flatterer, but which in many present-day translations is rendered as godless). And in its translation of 2 Maccabees, the Septuagint uses ὑπόκρισις (hypocrisy) to translate a Hebrew word that today is often translated as pretense.
In Latin, hypocrita was commonly used to refer to a mime who accompanied an actor’s speech with gestures, but it was also used by Jerome in his Vulgate translation of the Bible.
Hypocrite and hypocrisy are first recorded in English in the text known as either Ancrene Wisse or Ancrene Riwle. The book is a handbook for anchoresses, a type of eremitic (solitary) nun. Anchoresses typically lived in walled enclosures built into church walls, with only a window through which communicate with the outside world. Julian of Norwich (1343–c.1416) is, perhaps, the most famous anchoress. The manuscript is from c.1230, but the text may have been composed a few decades earlier in the late twelfth century. In one passage, hypocrites are likened to foxes, animals commonly depicted as guileful and treacherous:
Vulpes foveas habent et volucres celi nidos. That is, “foxes habbeth hare holen ant briddes of heovene habbeth hare nestes.” The foxes beoth false ancres, ase fox is beast falsest. Theose habbeth, he seith, holen the holieth in-ward eorthe with eorthliche untheawes ant draheth into hare hole al thet ha mahen reopen ant rinnen. Thus beoth gederinde ancres of Godd i the Godspel to voxes i-evenet. Fox ec is a frech beast ant freote-wil mid alle, ant te false ancre draheth into hire hole ant fret, ase fox deth, bathe ges ant hennen. Habbeth efter the vox a simple semblant sum-chearre, ant beoth thah ful of gile. Makieth ham othre then ha beoth, ase vox, the is ypocrite.
(Vulpes foveas habent et volucres celi nidos. That is, “foxes have their holes and birds of heaven have their nests” [Luke 9:58, Matthew 8:20]. The foxes are false anchoresses, as the fox is the falsest beast. These have, he says, holes who burrow into the earth with earthly vices and drag into their hole all that they may steal and seize. Thus, are gathering anchoresses compared to foxes in the Gospel. Also, the fox is an impudent beast and voracious besides, and the false anchoress drags into her hole and devours, as the fox does, both geese and hens. [They] sometimes have, like the fox, an innocent appearance, but are nevertheless full of guile. [They] make themselves other than they are, like the fox, who is a hypocrite.)
And later on in the text, hypocrisy is included in a list of common sins:
Of alle cuthe sunnen, as of prude, of great other of heh heorte, of onde, of wreaththe, of slawthe, of yemeles, of idel word, of untohene thohtes, of sum idel herunge, of sum fals gleadunge, other of hevi murnunge, of ypocresie, of mete, of drunch to muchel other to lutel, of gruchunge, of grim chere, of silences i-brokene, of sitten longe ed thurl, of ures mis i-seide withute yeme of heorte, other in untime, of sum fals word, of sware, of plohe, of i-schake lahtre, of schede cromen other ale, of leote thinges muhelin, rustin other rotien, clathes unseowet, bireinet, unwesschen, breoke nep other disch, other biseo yemelesliche ei thing thet me with feareth other ahte to yemen, of keorfunge, of hurtunge, thurh unbisehenesse—of alle the thinges the beoth i this riwle the beoth misnumene, of alle thulliche thing schrive hire euche wike eanes ed te leaste, for nan se lutel nis of theos thet te deovel naveth enbrevet on his rolle.
(Of all common sins, such as pride, of a haughty or high heart; of envy; of wrath; of sloth; of carelessness; of idle words; of undisciplined thoughts; of some idle listening; of some false gladness, or of heavy mourning, of hypocrisy; of too much or too little meat and drink; of grumbling; of grim looks; of broken silences; of sitting too long at the window; of misspeaking the canonical hours without attention of heart or at the wrong time; of some false words; of swearing; of playing; of shaking laughter; of spilling crumbs or ale; of letting things spoil, rust or rot; clothes unsewn, rained on, unwashed; breaking a cup or dish, or attending carelessly to anything one handles or ought to pay attention to; of cutting, of hurting through inattention—all the things in this rule which are done wrong, of all such things let her confess at least once each week, for none of these is so small that the devil has not recorded in his roll.)
But it is their use in translations of the gospel of Matthew, chapter 23 that cemented the words’ use in English. A Wycliffite translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible, written sometime before 1382, reads:
13 Sothely woo to ȝou, scribis and Pharisees, ypocritis, for ȝe closen the kingdom of heavens before men; sothely ȝe entren nat, ne suffre men entrynge for to entre.
14 Woo to ȝou, scribis and Pharisees, ypocritis, that eten the housis of widues, in longe preier preyinge; for this thing ȝe shulen take the more dom.
15 Woo to ȝou, scribis and Pharisees, ypocritis, that cumpasen the se and the lond, that ȝee maken o proselite, that is, a conuertid to ȝoure ordre; and whanne he shal be maad, ȝe maken hym a sone of helle, double more than ȝou.
[...]
23 Woo to ȝou, scribis and Pharisees, ypocritis, that tithen mente, anete, and comyn, and han lefte tho thingis that ben greuouser, or of more charge, of the law, dom, and mercy, and feith. And these thingis it behofte, or nedide, for to do, and not to leeue hem.
24 Blynde leders, clensynge a gnatte, but swolowynge a camel.
25 Woo to ȝou, scribis and Pharisees, ipocritis, that maken clene that thing of the cuppe and plater, that is the outforth; forsothe with ynne ȝe ben ful of raueyne and vnclennesse.
26 Thou blynd Pharisee, clense first that thing of the cuppe and platter that is with ynneforth, that and that thing that is outenforth be maad clene.
27 Woo to ȝou, scribis and Pharisees, ipocritis, that be lic to sepulcris maad whijt, the whiche with outen forth semen faire to men; sothely with ynne thei ben ful of boonys of dead men, and al filthe.
28 So and ȝee forsothe with outen forth aperen iuste to men; but with ynne ȝee ben ful of ypocrisie and wickidnesse.
29 Woo to ȝou, scribis and Pharisees, ipocritis, that belden sepulcris of prophetis, and maken faire the birielis of iuste men, and seien,
30 Ȝif we hadden ben in the dayes of or fadris, we shulden nat han be here felowes in the blood of prophetis.(13 Truly, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you close the kingdom of heaven to men, truly you enter not, nor suffer entry to men who are entering.
14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who eat the houses of widows, praying in long prayers, for this thing you should receive the greater judgment.
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that compass the see and the land, so that you make one proselyte, that is, one converted to your order, and he shall be made, you make him a son of hell, twice as much as you.
[...]
23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left those things that are more grievous, that is of more importance to the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith. And these things it is beneficial, or needful, to do, and not leave them.
24 Blind leaders, purifying a gnat, but swallowing a camel.
25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that make clean that part of the cup and platter that is outside, truly within you are full of greed and uncleanliness.
26 You blind Pharisee, clean first that part of the cup and platter that is within, then make clean that part that is outside.
27 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside seem fair to men; truly within they are full of bones of dead men and all kinds of filth.
28 So, and truly you appear righteous to men on the outside, but within you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that build the tombs of the prophets, and make fair the burials of righteous, and say
30 If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been fellows in [shedding] the blood of the prophets.)
Note: the verse numbers are later editorial interventions, which I include for ease of reference. Also, verse fourteen is omitted from many present-day Bibles as it is not found in the oldest manuscripts and is widely believed to be a later addition.
So, the English words hypocrite and hypocrisy are based on a rarely used, metaphorical sense of the classical Greek and Roman words because that’s how biblical translators used them.
Sources:
Hasenfratz, Robert, ed. Ancrene Wisse. TEAMS Middle English Text Series. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 2000, lines 3:110–17, 5:488–99. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 402.
The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocryphal Books, in the Earliest English Versions Made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and His Followers, vol. 4 of 4. Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, eds. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1850, Matthew 23:13–15 and 23–30, 63–64. HathiTrust Digital Archive. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 369, Part 2.
Lewis, Charlton T. and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1879, s.v. hypocrites.
Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented by. Henry Stuart Jones and Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940, s.v. ὑπό-κρι^σις.
Middle English Dictionary, 2019, s.v. ipocrite, n., ipocris(e, n.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989, s.v. hypocrite, n., hypocrisy, n.
Image credit: John Akbari, 2021.