The heritage of prick jokes

I came across a remarkable line in Charles Williams’s novel Many Dimensions. The point of view is Lord Arglay, the Chief Justice. The mind of his assistant Chloë Burnett has been temporarily possessed by the villain and she’s coming on to him, though more with cupidity than with lust:

To play deity to an attractive young girl — there was, for a moment he felt, a certain point to the idea. But even as the point pricked him ever so slightly he smiled to think of it, and the consciousness of the prick passed from him.

My marginal notation was just “Ahem”.

I had some Charles Williams scholars available the other day, so I asked if this was intentional. Their immediate reaction was “heavens, no!” but then there was a long discussion of how far back the slang term “prick” went. It’s in Shakespeare, certainly. Williams was well (though not formally) educated, so even if he didn’t notice what he was doig at that moment, he certainly knew about it.

Now comes Tom Hillman to remind us that “prick” is in the King James Version. He’s focused on the mention in Acts of the Apostles, and he concludes that the double meaning goes all the way back to ancient Greek, and who knows but what those Jacobean scholars might have used the word with humorous intent? Modern horseless, bloodless, and prudish translators use the word “goad” instead. But I notice that “prick” is also in the Book of Numbers, where the context is suitable for yet a third vulgar meaning. Where’s a Hebrew scholar who can tell us if it goes all the way back?