The word scourge - 'a cause of suffering' - is metaphorically derived from what instrument of punishment?
Scourge Scourge A scourge is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type, used to inflict severe corporal punishment or self-mortification. It is usually made of leather. 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 , "to flay", built of two Latin parts, "ex"- ("off") and , "skin". A scourge (; diminutive: ) typically consists of several thongs fastened
Instrument of Jesus' crucifixion It reports that in the writings of the first-century BC Diodorus Siculus, first-century AD Plutarch and early second-century Lucian—as well as in , , —the word "σταυρός" is used to refer to a cross, either as the instrument of crucifixion or metaphorically of voluntary suffering; "its form was indicated by the Greek letter T". It also reports that Plutarch used the word with regard to a pale for impaling a corpse. Of the writers whom Liddell and Scott gives as using "σταυρός" to mean a cross, the "New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology" holds that in Diodorus Siculus the