Editing Epiousion (section)

{{Short description|Greek adjective used in the Lord's Prayer}}
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[[File:Epiousion Papyrus 75.png|300px|right|thumb|{{transliteration|grc|EPIOUSION}} (ΕΠΙΟΥ[[sigma#Lunate sigma|Ϲ]]ΙΟΝ) in the Gospel of Luke, as written in [[Papyrus 75]] ({{c.|200 CE}})]]
'''{{transliteration|grc|Epiousion}}''' ({{lang|grc-x-koine|ἐπιούσιον}}) is a [[Koine Greek]] adjective used in the [[Lord's Prayer]] verse "{{lang|grc|Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον}}"{{efn|[[Romanization of Greek|Transliteration]]: {{transliteration|grc|{{#Invoke:Ancient Greek|translit|Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον}}}}}} ('Give us today our {{transliteration|grc|epiousion}} bread'). Because the word is used nowhere else, its meaning is unclear.  It is traditionally translated as "daily", but most modern scholars reject that interpretation. The word is also referred to by '''{{transliteration|grc|epiousios}}''', its presumed [[lemma (morphology)|lemma]] form.

Since it is a [[Koine Greek]] ''[[hapax legomenon|dis legomenon]]'' (a word that occurs only twice within a given context) found only in the New Testament passages [[Matthew 6:11]] and [[Luke 11:3]], its interpretation relies upon [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological analysis]] and context. The traditional and most common English translation is ''daily'', although most scholars today reject this in part because all other [[New Testament]] passages with the translation "daily" include the word {{transliteration|grc|hemera}} ({{lang|grc|ἡμέρᾱ}}, 'day').<ref name="greek-english interlinear"/><ref name="herema-bible" />

The ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' holds that there are several ways of understanding {{transliteration|grc|epiousion}} (which the ''Catechism'' calls {{transliteration|grc|epiousios}}), including the traditional 'daily', but most literally as 'supersubstantial' or 'superessential', based on its morphological components.<ref name="CatCat">2837 in {{cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - The seven petitions |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PAA.HTM |access-date=1 February 2023 |website=www.vatican.va |language=en}}</ref> Alternative theories are that—aside from the etymology of {{transliteration|grc|[[ousia]]}}, meaning 'substance'—it may be derived from either of the verbs {{transliteration|grc|einai}} ({{lang|grc|εἶναι}}), meaning "to be", or {{transliteration|grc|ienai}} ({{lang|grc|ἰέναι}}), meaning both "to come" and "to go".<ref name="Pitre2015_172">{{cite book|author=Brant Pitre|title=Jesus and the Last Supper|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bWxeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT159|date=23 November 2015|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-1-4674-4404-0 |page=172 |ref=refPitre2015 }}</ref><ref name="Davies(Jr.)1988">{{cite book|author1=William David Davies|author2=Dale C. Allison (Jr.)|title=Matthew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U3RhMwEACAAJ|year=1988|publisher=Clark|isbn=9780567094810 |page=608}}</ref>