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]
- ^ 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