ἀκατακάλυπτος

From the study of 1 Corinthians 11:5

Range of meaning

"Uncovered, unveiled." It is built from a- ("not") + kata- ("down") + kalyptō ("cover"), so "not covered down over". Its relatives in this passage are katakalyptō, "to cover (the head)" (vv.6–7), and kata kephalēs echōn, "having [something] down from the head" (v.4). The word itself only says the head lacks a covering. What the missing covering was has to come from context and custom.

Against the English

Most English versions say "uncovered", which is accurate. Some older and mid-century versions said "unveiled" or "veiled", which can make modern readers picture a face veil. That picture is not supported. Some versions add a footnote with a hair-based alternative.

How it drifted

The Latin Vulgate's non velato capite ("with head not veiled") and the long Western tradition of veiling, already argued over in Tertullian's On the Veiling of Virgins (about AD 200), shaped the picture of a "veil". The Greek points to the head, not the face.

Used elsewhere in the period

• LXX Leviticus 13:45: the person with a skin disease must keep his head akatakalyptos. The Hebrew behind it (paruaʿ) is usually understood as hair left unbound or dishevelled, a sign of mourning or uncleanness.
• LXX Numbers 5:18: the priest "uncovers" (apokalypsei) the head of a woman suspected of adultery. Philo (Special Laws 3.60) retells this as removing her head-covering.
• Susanna 32 (Theodotion): the wicked elders order Susanna to be uncovered "for she was covered" (katakekalymmenē), as a public humiliation.
• Plutarch, Roman Questions 14: says it was more usual for women to go out in public with their heads covered and men with heads uncovered.