Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Gooch's dad · 06-24-2004, 07:12 AM

One claim that I've seen more than a few times from fundamentalists is that Chernobyl in Russian (or Ukrainian) translates to "wormwood". They see this as absolute proof that the Revelation of John is a book of end-times prophecy, and that we are in those end times today.

Googling for "chernobyl revelation wormwood" brings up 900 or so web pages on the topic. Virtually all of these web pages repeat this claim. A few examples:

Endtimes Ministries:

Quote:

Every aspect of Revelation 8:10-11 was fulfilled by the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant meltdown in April 1986, including the very name given to the 3rd Trumpet star in the Bible! But most people have been taught that these events cannot occur until a future 7-year tribulation period.
<snip>
The Chernobyl Disaster, a secular book by Soviet-born Viktor Haynes, begins not with an introduction, but with the prophecy and a quote from The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 6th edition: “Chernobyl is a Russian transliteration of the Ukrainian word ‘chornobyl’, which in English means wormwood

Study notes for Revelation:

Quote:

Wormwood falling to earth, making a third of the fresh water of the earth bitter, poison, deadly to drink. It might interest you to know that "Wormwood" in Russian is "Chernobyl."

Well, does Chernobyl actually translate to "wormwood" in either Russian or Ukrainian? No. It translates to mugwort.

Wikipedia entry for Chernobyl

Quote:

The city is named after the chornobyl' grass, or mugwort. The word itself is a combination of chornyi (чорний, black) and byllia (билл�?, grass blades or stalks), hence it literally means black grass or black stalks.

Sometimes it is erroneously translated as wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), with consequent apocalyptic associations, probably originating from a New York Times article by Serge Schmemann, Chernobyl Fallout: Apocalyptic Tale, July 25, 1986. There, an unnamed "prominent Russian writer" was quoted as claming the Ukrainian word for wormwood was chernobyl.

Actually, the Ukrainian Чорнобиль (chornobyl) and its Russian equivalent Чернобыльник (chernobylnik) refer to the plant mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris). Wormwood is a different plant, Artemisia absinthium, Полин in Ukrainian and Полынь in Russian (both pronounced Polyn). "Polyn" has no English equivalent, but corresponds to the botanical genus Artemisia. Botanically, mugwort is "Common Polyn" (Ukr. Полин звичайний / Rus. Полынь Обыкновенна�?); while wormwood is "Bitter Polyn" (Ukr. Полин гіркий / Rus. Полынь горька�?).

So, that fundamentalist claim is soundly debunked. Mugwort simply isn't wormwood. I remember asking a Russian coworker about this, a year or so ago, and I do recall that he said "chernobyl" was something like "black grass". I'm glad that Wikipedia has this information handy.

Cheers,

Kelly

Derec · 06-24-2004, 08:46 AM

And besides, as bad as Chernobyl was, it was hardly apocalyptic. For example, a third of Earth's fresh water did not become "bitter, poison, deadly to drink". Not even close.
If all the trumpets are as lame as this one I think we have nothing to worry about.

UMoC

Sven · 06-24-2004, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Botanically, mugwort is "Common Polyn" [...]; while wormwood is "Bitter Polyn"

I might add the German version once again

:
wormwood = "Bitterer Beifuß"
mugwort = "Beifuß"

Peter Parslow · 09-07-2004, 01:22 PM

This may come as news to some (even in the church), but Revelation was written in Greek. The Greek word used is Άψινθος. That's obviously font-dependent, but few would dispute that it transliterates to Apsinthos. However, it's less obvious exactly which currently recognised species the writer (or God, if you go for a word-for-word view of inspiration) had in mind.

It is clearly the word which carried forward into Latin & ended up being applied to the genus containing both wormwood & mugwort.

A quick Google search on Apsinthos comes up with it being the modern Greek for Wormwood (Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages, at http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katz...?Arte_vul.html), with Mugwort being the English for Artemesia.

That page supports the comment that the Ukrainian / Russian for Wormwood is polyn, and that chernobyl actually refers to mugwort.

More interesting to me, given that chernobyl is the name of a plant, why was the power station named after it? Was whoever named the power station aware of the verse in Revelation, or was it just 'cos they flower is common there?

None of this has much bearing on whether the Chernobyl meltdown has anything to do with the prophecy. As UglyMan says, while bad, it was hardly apocalyptic.

P

Dean Anderson · 09-08-2004, 04:19 AM

The verse in revelation makes much more sense once you realise that the Greek Apsinthos is best translated into the English Absinthe.

"Bitter poison, deadly to drink" - yep, that's Absinthe all right.

The absinthe reference also tells us a lot about John of Patmos' state of mind when he wrote the book...

09-07-2004, 01:22 PM	#4
Peter Parslow Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: England Posts: 8	Revelation wasn't written in English This may come as news to some (even in the church), but Revelation was written in Greek. The Greek word used is Άψινθος. That's obviously font-dependent, but few would dispute that it transliterates to Apsinthos. However, it's less obvious exactly which currently recognised species the writer (or God, if you go for a word-for-word view of inspiration) had in mind. It is clearly the word which carried forward into Latin & ended up being applied to the genus containing both wormwood & mugwort. A quick Google search on Apsinthos comes up with it being the modern Greek for Wormwood (Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages, at http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katz...?Arte_vul.html), with Mugwort being the English for Artemesia. That page supports the comment that the Ukrainian / Russian for Wormwood is polyn, and that chernobyl actually refers to mugwort. More interesting to me, given that chernobyl is the name of a plant, why was the power station named after it? Was whoever named the power station aware of the verse in Revelation, or was it just 'cos they flower is common there? None of this has much bearing on whether the Chernobyl meltdown has anything to do with the prophecy. As UglyMan says, while bad, it was hardly apocalyptic. P

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06-24-2004, 08:46 AM	#2
Derec Contributor Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 15,686	And besides, as bad as Chernobyl was, it was hardly apocalyptic. For example, a third of Earth's fresh water did not become "bitter, poison, deadly to drink". Not even close. If all the trumpets are as lame as this one I think we have nothing to worry about. UMoC

09-08-2004, 04:19 AM	#5
Dean Anderson Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Brighton, England Posts: 6,947	The verse in revelation makes much more sense once you realise that the Greek Apsinthos is best translated into the English Absinthe. "Bitter poison, deadly to drink" - yep, that's Absinthe all right. The absinthe reference also tells us a lot about John of Patmos' state of mind when he wrote the book...

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