Aphedron
The Greek noun aphedron (ἀφεδρών) is a term for "latrine". The word occurs twice in the New Testament (Matthew 15:17 and Mark 7:19) but was unknown in classical texts. The Latin 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 clearer. Perhaps due in part to Luther's "natural course", various 18th- and 19th-century scholars assumed that the word was a euphemism for the human bowel.[3] However, in 1901 the discovery and publication of an inscription at Pergamon[4] confirmed that the word does, as per secessus, in fact mean "latrine".[5]
The Mark 7:19 verse translates as "out into the aphedron, cleaning all meats" which makes no sense if the meat is still lodged in the lower intestine.[6]
Inscription
[edit]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 toilets
Concerning toilets.
ΟΙ
the
ΑΣΤΥΝΟΜΟΙ
town clerks
ΕΠΙΜΕΛΕΙΑΝ
care.F.ACC
ΠΟΙΕΙΣΘΩΣΑΝ
shall make
ΤΩΝ
of the
ΤΕ
both
ΔΗΜΟΣΙΩΝ
public
ΑΦΕΔΡΩΝΩΝ
toilets
The town clerks shall maintain the public toilets and their outpipes.
ΚΑΙ
and
ΤΩΝ
of the
ΕΞ
out of
ΑΥΤΩΝ
them
ΥΠΟΝΟΜΩΝ
sewers.PL
ΚΑΙ
and
ΕΑΝ
if
ΤΙΝΕΣ
some
ΜΗ
not
ΣΤΕΓΝΟΙ
covers/lids
ΥΠΑΡΧΩΣΙΝ
exist
ΚΑΙ
and
ΤΩΝ...
of the...
And if some of them are not covered and of them...(text broken thereafter)
References
[edit]- ↑ Vulgate 7:19 "quia non intrat in cor ejus, sed in ventrum vadit, et in secessum exit, purgans omnes escas?"
- ↑ 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
- ↑ Robley Dunglison, Medical lexicon: a dictionary of medical science 1855, page 88.
- ↑ Pitt, Robert K. (26 October 2012). "Astynomoi, law of the (Pergamon)". The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. ISBN 9781444338386. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ↑ "ἀφεδρών". LSJ. 23 November 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ↑ James Hope Moulton and George Milligan The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament
- ↑ Dittenberger, Wilhelm (1905). "Lex de astynomis Pergamenorum". Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae. Leipzig. p. 105.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ "MDAI(A) 27 (1902) 47,71". PHI Greek Inscriptions. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ↑ G. Klaffenbach, Lex de astynomis Pergamenorum (1954).
- ↑ 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. "
