It has been conjectured that the compound προσκυνέω4 was “originally nothing more than the Greek term for a phenomenon of oriental life.

Also evident is the fact that προσκυνεῖν as a tt. for adoration of the gods is of great antiquity, for worship of chthonic deities is probably older than that of the Olympians.

The Septuagint. In the LXX προσκυνεῖν is virtually the only rendering of הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה23 on the one side and סָגַד24 or סָגֵד (Aram.)25 on the other; both words have the basic sense “to bow.” It is also used once each for נָשַׁק26 “to kiss,” עָבַד “to serve,” “to worship”

προσκυνεῖν naturally suggested itself for חִשְׁתַּחֲוָה, since the Heb. word, originally denoting only a movement of the body

Statistics concerning προσκυνεῖν in the NT disclose the astonishing fact that the word is very common in the Gospels and Acts and then again in Rev., but that it is completely absent from the Epistles apart from two OT quotations in Hb. (1:6; 11:21) and one verse in Pl. (1 C. 14:25). Apart from

The data in the post-apost. fathers are much the same as in the NT. προσκυνεῖν is for the most part used only in the description of pagan worship