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CIRCUMCISION (Lat. circum, round, and...

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 390 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CIRCUMCISION (See also:Lat. circum, See also:round, and caedere, to cut) , the cutting off of the foreskin. This surgical operation, which is commonly prescribed for purely medical reasons, is also an See also:initiation or religious ceremony among See also:Jews and Mahommedans, and is a widespread institution in many Semitic races. It remains, with Jews, a necessary preliminary to the See also:admission of proselytes, except in some Reformed communities. The origin of the rite among the Jews is in See also:Genesis (xvii.) placed in the See also:age of See also:Abraham, and at all events it must have been very See also:ancient, for See also:flint stones were used in the operation (See also:Exodus iv. 25; See also:Joshua V.2). The narrative in Joshua implies that the See also:custom was introduced by him, not that it had merely been in See also:abeyance in the See also:Wilderness. At See also:Gilgal he " rolled away the reproach of the Egyptians " by circumcising the See also:people. This obviously means that whereas the Egyptians. practised circumcision the Jews in the See also:land of the Pharaohs did not, and hence were regarded with contempt. It was an old theory (See also:Herodotus ii. 36) that circumcision originated in See also:Egypt; at all events it was practised in that See also:country in ancient times (See also:Ebers, Egypt en and See also:die See also:Bucher Mosis, i. 278-284), and the same is true at the See also:present See also:day. But it is not generally thought probable that the See also:Hebrews derived the rite directly from the Egyptians.

As See also:

Driver puts it (Genesis, p. Igo): " It is possible that, as See also:Dillmann and Nowacksuppose, the peoples of N. See also:Africa and See also:Asia who practised the rite adopted it from the Egyptians, but it appears in so many parts of the See also:world that it must at any See also:rate in these cases have originated independently." In another biblical narrative (Exodus iv. 25) See also:Moses is subject to the divine anger because he had not made himself " a bridegroom of See also:blood," that is, had not been circumcised before his See also:marriage. The rite of circumcision was practised by all the inhabitants of See also:Palestine with the exception of the See also:Philistines. It was an ancient custom among the See also:Arabs, being presupposed in the See also:Koran. The only important Semitic peoples who most probably did not follow the rite were the Babylonians and Assyrians (See also:Sayce, Babyl. and Assyrians, p. 47). See also:Modern investigations have brought to See also:light many instances of the prevalence of circumcision in various parts of the world. These facts are collected by See also:Andree and Ploss, and go to prove that the rite is not only spread through the See also:Mahommedan world (See also:Turks, Persians, Arabs, &d.), but also is practised by the See also:Christian Abyssinians and the See also:Copts, as well as in central See also:Australia and in See also:America. In central Australia (See also:Spencer and Gillen, pp. 212-386) circumcision with a See also:stone See also:knife must be undergone by every youth before he is reckoned a full member of the tribe or is permitted to enter on the married See also:state.

In other parts, too (e.g. See also:

Loango), no uncircumcised See also:man may marry. Circumcision was known to the See also:Aztecs (See also:Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iii.), and is still practised by the Caribs of the See also:Orinoco and the Tacunas of the See also:Amazon. The method and See also:period of the operation vary in important particulars. Among the Jews it is performed in See also:infancy, when the male See also:child is eight days old. The child is named at the same See also:time, and the ceremony is elaborate. The child is carried in to the godfather (sandek, a hebraized See also:form of the Gr. cuvreicvos, " godfather," See also:post-class.), who places the child on a See also:cushion, which he holds on his knees throughout the ceremony. The operator (mohel) uses a See also:steel knife, and pronounces various benedictions before and after the rite is performed (see S. See also:Singer, Authorized Daily See also:Prayer See also:Book, pp. 304-307; an excellent See also:account of the domestic festivities and spiritual joys associated with the ceremony among See also:medieval and modern Jews may be read in S. Schechter's Studies in Judaism, first See also:series, pp. 351 seq.).

Some tribes in See also:

South America and elsewhere are said to perform the rite on the eighth day, like the Jews. The Mazequas do it between the first and second months. Among the See also:Bedouins the rite is performed on See also:children of three years, amid dances and the selection of brides(Doughty, See also:Arabia Deserta, i. 340); among the Somalis the age is seven (Reinisch, Somalisprache, p. rio). But for the most See also:part the tribes who perform the rite carry it out at the age of See also:puberty. Many facts bearing on this point are given by B. See also:Stade in Zeitschrift See also:fur die alttest. Wissenschaft, vi. (1886) pp. 132 seq. The significance of the rite of circumcision has been much disputed. Some see in it a tribal badge.

If this be the true origin.of circumcision, it must go back to the time when men went about naked. Mutilations (See also:

tattooing, removal of See also:teeth and so forth) were tribal marks, being partly sacrifices and partly means of recognition (see See also:MUTILATION). Such initiatory See also:rites were often frightful ordeals, in which the See also:neophyte's courage was severely tested (See also:Robertson See also:Smith, See also:Religion of the Semites, p. 310). Some regard circumcision as a substitute for far more serious rites, including even human See also:sacrifice. Utilitarian explanations have also been suggested. See also:Sir R. See also:Burton (See also:Memoirs Anthrop. See also:Soc. i. 318) held that it was introduced to promote fertility, and the claims of cleanliness have been put forward (following See also:Philo's example, see ed. Mangey, ii. 21o).

Most probably, however, circumcision (which in many tribes is per-formed on both sexes) was connected with marriage, and was a preparation for connubium. It was in Robertson Smith's words " originally a preliminary to marriage, and so a ceremony of introduction to the full See also:

prerogative of manhood," the transference to infancy among the Jews being a later See also:change. On this view, the decisive Biblical reference would be the Exodus passage (iv. 25), in which Moses is represented as being in danger of his See also:life because he had neglected the proper preliminary to marriage. In Genesis, on the other See also:hand, circumcision is an See also:external sign of See also:God's See also:covenant with See also:Israel, and later Judaism now regards it in this symbolical sense. See also:Barton (Semitic Origins, p. too) declares that " the circumstances under which it is per-formed in Arabia point to the origin of circumcision as a sacrifice to the goddess of fertility, by which the child was placed under her See also:protection and its reproductive See also:powers consecrated to her service." But Barton admits that initiation to the connubium was the See also:primitive origin of the rite. As regards the non-See also:ritual use of male circumcision, it may be added that in See also:recent years the medical profession has been responsible for its considerable See also:extension among other than Jewish children, the operation being recommended not merely in cases of malformation, but generally for reasons of See also:health.

End of Article: CIRCUMCISION (Lat. circum, round, and caedere, to cut)

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