Aphedron

Look up ἀφεδρών in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The Greek noun aphedron (ἀφεδρών) is a term for latrine. The word occurs twice in the New Testament (Matthew 15:17, Mark 7:19) and was unknown in classical texts. The Vulgate rendered the term secessus, latrine.[1] Wycliffe avoided the reference to a privy with "and beneath it goeth out," while Martin Luther translated the word as natürliche Gang ("natural course"),[2] though Tyndale's "and goeth out into the draught" is more clear. Perhaps due in part to Luther's "natural course," various 18th and 19th Century scholars assumed it was a euphemism for the human bowel.[3] However the discovery and publication of an inscription at Pergamon in 1901[4] confirmed that the word does, as per Latin secessus, in fact mean latrine.[5]

Further the Mark 7:19 verse says "out into the aphedron, cleaning all meats" which makes no sense if the meat is still lodged in the lower intestine.[6]

Inscription

The following is a transcription and translation of the relevant fragment of the Greek text known in Latin as Lex de astynomis Pergamenorum and in English as Law of the town clerks of Pergamon.[7][8][9][10]

483.220 ΑΦΕΔΡΩΝΩΝ = Concerning privies.
ΟΙ ΑΣΤΥΝΟΜΟΙ = the town clerks ΕΠΙΜΕΛΕΙΑΝ = care (f.acc.) ΠΟΙΕΙΣΘΩΣΑΝ = shall make ΤΩΝ ΤΕ = of the ΔΗΜΟΣΙΩΝ = public ΑΦΕΔΡΩΝΩΝ = privies, ΚΑΙ ΤΩΝ = and of ΕΞ ΑΥΤΩΝ = out of them ΥΠΟΝΟΜΩΝ = sewers pl. ΚΑΙ ΕΑΝ = and if ΤΙΝΕΣ = some ΜΗ ΣΤΕΓΝΟΙ = not covers/lids pl. ΥΠΑΡΧΩΣΙΝ = already in existence ΚΑΙ ΤΩΝ.... = and of.... (text broken)

Translation: Concerning WCs. The town clerks shall maintain the public WCs and their outpipes. And if some of them are not covered and of them... (text broken).

References

  1. ^ Vulgate 7:19 "quia non intrat in cor ejus, sed in ventrum vadit, et in secessum exit, purgans omnes escas?"
  2. ^ Markus 7:19 Denn es gehet nicht in sein Herz, sondern in den Bauch und gehet aus durch den natürlichen Gang, der alle Speise ausfeget. 1545
  3. ^ Robley Dunglison, Medical lexicon: a dictionary of medical science 1855, page 88.
  4. ^ Pitt, Robert K (26 October 2012). "Astynomoi, law of the (Pergamon)". The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. ISBN 9781444338386. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  5. ^ "ἀφεδρών". LSJ. 23 November 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  6. ^ James Hope Moulton and George Milligan The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament
  7. ^ Dittenberger, Wilhelm (1905). "Lex de astynomis Pergamenorum". Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae. Leipzig. p. 105.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ "MDAI(A) 27 (1902) 47,71". PHI Greek Inscriptions. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  9. ^ G. Klaffenbach, Lex de astynomis Pergamenorum (1954).
  10. ^ The nature and function of water, baths, bathing, and hygiene from ... - Page 252 Cynthia Kosso, Anne Scott - 2009 "Günther Klaffenbach, “Die Astynomeninschrift von Pergamon,” Abhandlungen der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Klasse für Sprachen, Literatur und Kunst 6 (1953), 3–25 took charge of providing a full, yet strictly philological, commentary. "