περίψημα, περιψηματος, τό (from περιψάω 'to wipe off all round'; and this from περί (which see III. 1), and ψάω 'to wipe,' 'rub'), properly, what is wiped off; dirt rubbed off'; offscouring, scrapings: 1Co_4:13, used in the same sense as περικάθαρμα, which see Suidas and other Greek lexicographers under the word relate that the Athenians, in order to avert public calamities, yearly threw a criminal into the sea as an offering to Poseidon; hence, ἀργύριον ... περίψημα τοῦ παιδίου ἡμῶν γένοιτο (as if to say) let it become an expiatory offering, a ransom, for our child, i. e. in comparison with the saving of our son's life let it be to us a despicable and worthless thing, Tob_5:18 (where see Fritzsche; (cf. also Müller on the Epistle of Barnabas 4, 9 [ET])). It is used of a man who in behalf of religion undergoes dire trials for the salvation of others, Ignatius ad Eph. 8, 1 [ET]; 18, 1 [ET]; (see Lightfoot's note on the former passage).

περίψημα peripsēma 1x filth which is wiped off; met. 1Co_4:13

**† περί -ψημα , -τος , τό ( < περιψράω , to wipe off all round), [in LXX : Tob_5:18 * ;] that which is wiped off, offscouring: metaph . (assoc. with περικάθαρμα , q.v. ), 1Co_4:13 (and so prob., To, l.c ., as EV ; but v. Thayer , s.v. , for the meaning expiation, ransom, in To; and cf. LS , s.v. κάθαρμα ; Lft., Notes , 200 f ., and on Ign., Eph., 8).†

περίψημα [page 510] περίψημα , as distinguished from περικάθαρμα ( q.v. ), the rinsing, is the scraping of a dirty vessel. It is found in Tob_5:19 , where the meaning may be either offscouring (cf. Ignat. Eph. xviii. 1) or ransom. For this latter meaning cf. the phrase περίψημα ἡμῶν γενοῦ , which, according to Photius Lex. , was pronounced over the criminal who at Athens was flung into the sea as a propitiatory offering to avert public calamity. From this, περίψημά σου came to be used as an epistolary formula much like your humble and devoted servant : cf. Ignat. Eph. viii. 1 with Lightfoot s note ad l. , and especially the Festal Letter of Dionysius of Alexandria (Eus. H.E. vii. 22. 7), who says that this popular saying which always seems a mere expression of courtesy (τὸ δημῶδες ῥῆμα μόνης ἀεὶ δοκοῦν φιλοφροσύνης ἔχεσθαι ) was translated into action by those Christians who, during the plague, gave their lives in tending the sick. In this connexion cf. the use of the word in an epitaph by a wife on her husband εὐψύχει , κύριέ μου Μάξιμε , ἐγώ σου περίψημα τῆς καλῆς ψυχῆς (cited by Thieling Der Hellenismus in Kleinafrika , p. 34). For the verb Herwerden ( Lex. s.v. περιψῆν ) cites an inscr. from Delos of B.C. 250, BCH xxvii. (1903), p. 74 .84 σπόγγοι περιψῆσαι τὰ ἀναθήματα .

περί-ψημα, -τος, τό (περιψράω, to wipe off all round), [in LXX: Tob.5:18 * ;] that which is wiped off, offscouring: metaphorically (assoc. with περικάθαρμα, which see), 1Co.4:13 (and so prob., To, l.with, as EV; but see Thayer, see word, for the meaning expiation, ransom, in To; and cf. LS, see word κάθαρμα; Lft., Notes, 200 f., and on Ign., Eph., 8).† (AS)