ABSTRACT
The terms used for the mocking of Christ in the Latin Vulgate are ones well understood in the Latin-educated Renaissance. They are basic to any study of Christian laughter. In both Matthew and Luke the Latin Vulgate word for 'to mock' is illudo. It is a compound word, containing within it the verb ludo, to sport, to play, to amuse oneself. The Greek implies that Christ was mocked with a laughter akin to the pitiless laughter of children. In one case the Latin Vulgate does bring out the actual laughter where the Greek original does not. The translation of Erasmus never superseded the Vulgate. The nasty explicit laughter implied by that single verb derideo continued to work its way into the other accounts. It also mentally linked the mocking of Jesus at his trial and Crucifixion with other episodes where the same verb is employed.
