Editing Narthex (section)

==Etymology==
The original meaning of the [[Classical Greek]] word ''narthex'' νάρθηξ<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3Dna%2Frqhc LSJ narthex]</ref> was "[[giant fennel]]".
Derived meanings are from the use of the fennel stalk as [[thyrsus]], as a schoolmaster's cane, as a [[singlestick]] for military exercise, or as a splint for a broken limb. The term was also used for a casket for unguents, and hence as the title of a number of medical works. 
Use for the architectural feature of church building is medieval ([[Byzantine Greek]]), in use by the 12th century (''[[Etymologicum Magnum]]''). English use dates from the 1670s. It isn't clear how this meaning was derived, allegedly from a resemblance of the entrance area of the church to a hollow stem.
In [[Modern Greek]] ''narthekas'' (νάρθηκας) no longer has the classical meaning and is either the porch of a church, as English, or the brace of a sprained wrist or sling of a broken arm. 
 
In English the narthex is now the porch outside the church at the [[Liturgical east and west|west end]]; formerly it was a part of the church building itself,<ref>[[William George Clark]] ''Peloponnesus: notes of study and travel'' 1858 Page 110  "One of the most perplexing words in etymology and application is the word narthex. In modern times it can be applied to the porch outside the church at the west end; in old days it was given to a part of the church itself, ..."</ref>
albeit not considered part of the church proper,  used as the place for [[penitent]]s.<ref>The national encyclopædia. ed.  John H F. Brabner – 1884 "This space was the narthex or " scourge," and was for the use of penitents. The name was also extended to the outer court "</ref>