The English word “lunatic,” which in popular speech signifies a sufferer from any mental derangement, whether periodic or chronic, other than congenital idiocy, appears in the King James Version as a translation of the Greek word σεληνιάζομαι, selēniázomai, in the two passages where it occurs. In the Revised Version the word has very properly been displaced by the strictly accurate term “epileptic.” This change is justified not only by the extra-Biblical usage (see Liddell and Scott, under the word), but clearly enough by Matthew 17:15 (compare Matthew 4:24), where epilepsy is circumstantially described.
The original meaning of the term selēniázomai, “moon-struck,” is connected with the popular belief, widespread and of strange persistency, that the moon, in certain of its phases, is injurious to human beings, especially in the case of diseases of a periodic or remittent character. There are no data by which to determine whether, in the New Testament times, this particular word represented a living and active belief or had passed into the state of usage in which the original metaphor disappears, and the word simply indicates the fact signified without reference to the idea embodied in the etymology. We still use the word “lunatic” to signify a person mentally diseased, although we have long since ceased to believe in the moon’s influence in such cases.
To continue reading this Bible article, click here.
Author: International Std. Bible Encyclopedia
Keywords: Lunatick, Epileptic, Epilepsy, Moonstruck, Moon struck, Lunacy, Crazy, Insanity, Mental illness, Insane, mental derangement, Demon possessed, Unclean spirit, Evil spirit, Demon spirit, Brain disease, Possessed by a devil, Devil possession, Medicine, Lunatic, mental disorder
Bible reference(s): Matthew 4:24, Matthew 17:15, Mark 9:17, Luke 9:39
Source: James Orr (editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 5 volume set.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.