HOBART_Medical_Langu.. - Bbc-cromwell.org

IIG THE MEDICAL LANGUAGE OF ST. LUKE. [part ii.
19. " And wlieii tliey could not find by wliat way they
miglit bring him in because of the multitude, they went
upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with
his couch [avv T(^ k\ivi^'h^) into the midst before Jesus,"
The variety of words employed by St. Luke for the
beds of the sick is remarkable. He uses four, two of which
are common to him with the other Evangelists, viz. Kkivn, the
general word for a bed or couch, and Kpaj3(5aTog, the pallet
of the poorer classes ; and two peculiar to himself, viz. * kXlvidiov
and *KXivapiov. Here, after using the generic term
kXiVj? in verse 18, he gives, in verse 19, the particular kind of
kXivy] that the man was carried on, viz. a KXividiov.
*KXividiov, a diminutive from KXtv}],was a small couch, and
was also used, like the Latin diminutives lectica and lecticula,
to denote a litter for carrying the sick, e.g. Dion. Hal. Antiq.
Rom. vii. : rJKe appwarog IttX KXtvidiov KO/xiZofxevog— koi eTTudrj
iravTci die^riXdev, axmaTag £/c tow KXnnSiou airyja Tolg kavrov
TTOCTi dia Trig iroXeiog olicaSe vyirig. Plutarch. Coriolan. : koI
Tov awpaTog ck^vm irapeOevTog aKparrig yevlcxOai. ravra B' Iv
KXiviiiido ^opadr}v KopKjOdg ilg Trjv avyKXriTov aTn'iyyeiXev.
airayyeiXag S', wg ^acnv, evOvg ijaOeTO pu)vvvp.Evov aiiTOv to
(TWjUo, Koi avuGTag airysi dC avrov (SaSi^wv. Compare
Plutarch. De animi tranq. : ol voaovvTsg tov luTpov atnwi'Tat
KoX dvax^paivovai to kXiviSiov.
Plutarch. Animi an Corporis
Affect, sint priores: 6 ti^ awfxaTi vocrwv evOvg Kadeig tavTov
ug TO kXiviEiov— laTpog ucreXOwv Trpog avOpwirov lppifip.ivov
iv T(0 KAtVtSlO).
That the kXiviBiov was a couch of so light a kind that a
woman could lift and carry it may be seen from Aristophanes,
Lysistr. 916: 0£jO£ vw IvtyKw kXiviSiov vtov.
* KXivapiov, Acts, V. 15: "Insomuch that they brought
forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and
couches" (etti KXivapiu)v icai KjOoj3/3araiv).
Besides this passage in St. Luke, KXivapiov
appears to be
found in only two other Grreek authors, viz. Aristophanes,
" Fragments," and Arrian's "Dissertations of Epictetus." The