Bible Lexicons

For the special sense of ";kindling"; see P Tebt T. 88.12 f. (B.C. 115–4) εἴς τε τὰς θυσίας καὶ λύχνων ἁφῶν , ";for sacrifices and for the kindling of lamps"; (cf. λυχναψία , BGU II. 362i. 1, .12, etc.); and for the meaning ";sand"; or ";dust"; as a technical term of the arena see Syll 804.11 (? ii/A.D.) ἁφῇ πηλώσασθαι (with the editor’s note). It is, however, a wholly different connexion with wrestling that is associated with the NT meaning of the word. Dean Robinson (on Ephesians 4:16) has shown how from the ἁφὴ ἄφυκτος with which the wrestler fastened on his opponent ἁφή came to be used of the union of the Democritean atoms, and further of a band or ligament in ancient physiology. Hence in the Pauline usage, the thought is not so much of ";touch"; as of ";fastening";—the whole body is compacted διὰ πάσης ἁφῆς τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας ";by every ligament of the whole apparatus"; (Ephesians 4:16), which in Colossians 2:19 is expanded into διὰ τῶν ἁφῶν καὶ συνδέσμων ";by the ligaments and sinews."; A mysterious ἔπαφος occurs in the new Median parchment, P Saїd Khan 1a. .26 (B.C. 88) : the assignee of a vineyard is to be fined ἐὰν . . ὀλιγωρήσῃ τὴν ἄμπελον καὶ μὴ ποιήσῃ αὐτὴν ἔπαφον . Can this mean ";properly tied up";—the branches being tied to the poles or trees on which they are trained? The adj. will thus be formed from ἐπὶ ἁφαῖς ";depending on fastenings";—a formation well paralleled in Hellenistic.

 

 

αφαίς αφή αφηγή αφηγούμενε αφηγούμενοι αφηγουμένοις αφηγούμενον αφηγούμενος αφηγουμένου αφηγουμένους αφηγουμένω αφήν αφης αφής ἁφῆς αφων αφών ἁφῶν aphes aphēs aphon aphōn haphes haphês haphēs haphē̂s haphon haphôn haphōn haphō̂n