a sow that washes herself by wallowing in the mire

βόρβορος, ου, ὁ (Aeschyl., Pla., al.; Jer 45:6; Jos., Ant. 10, 121; ParJer 3:13; Tat. 21, 4)

① boiling mire in the netherworld, mire ApcPt 8:23; 9:24; 16:31 (cp. Diogenes the Cynic [IV B.C.] in Diog. L. 6, 39: the wicked are tormented in the next world ἐν τῷ βορβόρῳ; AcThom 56; MartMt 3 [Aa II/2, 172, 9; II/1, 220, 1]).

② sullied mud, slime, mud (cp. TestBenj 8:3 κόπρον και β.) in which swine wallow ὗς λουσαμένη εἰς κυλισμὸν βορβόρου 2 Pt 2:22. This is usu. taken to mean a sow, after she has washed herself, (turns) to wallowing in the mud (the ptc. is mid., Mlt. 155f; 238f; s. JHarris, The Story of Aḥikar 1898, lxvii, also in Charles, APOT II, 772; RSmend, Alter u. Herkunft d. Achikar-Romans 1908, 75). But the idea was also current that swine preferred to bathe in mud or slime (Sext. Emp., Pyrrhon. Hypot. I 56 σύες τε ἥδιον βορβόρῳ λούονται … ἢ ὕδατι … καθαρῷ; cp. Clem. Al., Protr. 92, 4; Aristot., HA 8, 6 p. 595a, 31; Galen, Protr. 13, p. 42, 22 John); the tr. might then be a sow, having (once) bathed herself (in mud), (returns) to wallowing in the mire (CBigg, ICC, 1901 ad loc.), or a sow that washes herself by wallowing in the mire (M-M. s.v. λούω); cp. PWendland, Ein Wort des Heraklit im NT: SBBerlAk 1898, 788–96. On swine wallowing in mud, lit. and fig., see Semonides 7, 2ff; Heraclitus, Fgm. 37; Epict. 4, 11, 29 (cp. 31) χοίρῳ διαλέγου, ἵνʼ ἐν βορβόρῳ μὴ κυλιήται; Plut., Mor. 129a; Ael. Aristid. 33, 31 K.=51 p. 582 D.; Philo, Spec. Leg. 1, 148, Agr. 144; Clem. Al., Protr. 92, 4. In the light of Israelite and Gr-Rom. emphasis on purification before participation in religious rites, the imagery is esp. forceful in its devastating satire. S. BHHW I 20.—Schmidt, Syn. II 193f, and s. πηλός. DELG. M-M. Sv.