The Appearance of ἐπιούσιος in an ancient bookkeeping papyrus

On the entry for ἐπιούσιος in TDNT, we are told that the term

 

is found only in one papyrus (a list of expenses) among expenses for chick-peas, straw etc., and for material (δαπάνης) and personal ends an expenditure of 1/2 obol for επιουσι …, which should probably be completed to give ἐπιουσίων. (Werner Foerster, “Ἐπιούσιος,” TDNT 2:590-91)

 

The source is listed as being F. Preisigke, Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten, 1915, I, 5224. A. Here is the transcription as found on pp. 522-24 (the term appears on line 20):

 

A. Debrunner was the first scholar to call attention to this in his article, "'Επιουσιος," Theologische Literaturzeitung 50, no. 5 (1925): 119:

 

 

Here is an English translation of the article:

 

'Επιουσιος

 

On account of the just-issued second installment of the Dictionary of Greek Papyrus Documents³ by Fr. Preisigke—which is likewise of paramount importance for New Testament research—I was led to notice a secular attestation of επιουσιος. It occurs in line 20 of an ancient bookkeeping papyrus, which Sayce had already published as No. 245 on p. 34 in Flinders Petrie’s Hawara, Biahmu and Arsinoë (London 1899!), and which Preisigke reprints as No. 5224 in his Sammelbuch Griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten Iʳ (Strasbourg 1915). The papyrus’s date is nowhere specified; on the basis of its orthography and language, it need by no means be assigned to a period later than the Gospels, nor is there any other ground for suspecting Christian influence.

 

Thus we possess the first attestation of the word independent of the New Testament. Ad. Deissmann (in Neutestamentliche Studien, G. Heinrich Dagelbach, Leipzig 1914, pp. 118 f.), who regards it as an everyday Koine term—despite the fact that even Origenes could no longer cite it—has been vindicated against all those who viewed it as a makeshift or spur-of-the-moment coinage by an evangelist. Unfortunately, the papyrus does not allow us to determine the meaning of the word, since επιοσι[ων] appears only in the entry “for επιοισια Obolus,” listed alongside items for peas, meat, etc. One may think of something like “pocket money” (cf. by contrast δαπανη[ς] “for expenses” at line 37 and the fourfold χεφαλ[ις], also εμοι. at ll. 167 ff., which I discussed in ZTS 13 [1924], pp. 167 ff.), but I venture no conclusion as to its sense in Vadiumser (on which I also recently wrote in Glotz, ZTS 13 [1924], pp. 167 ff.). Nevertheless, the hope that new discoveries will yield clearer explanation is strengthened.