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In the Vulgate of 1 Cor. 10:16, it is written,

calicem benedictionis cui benedicimus nonne communicatio sanguinis Christi est et panis quem frangimus nonne participatio corporis Domini est

Why did Jerome translate the Greek word «κοινωνία» in 1 Cor. 10:16 into Latin once as communicatio and the other time as participatio?

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    Interesting! Did you notice that he also switched σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ --> corporis Domini (vs αἵματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ --> sanguinis Christi). Maybe he was working with a Greek text with the variant, but TR has both τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
    – Susan
    Commented Mar 17, 2015 at 9:45
  • A variant is more likely. It is the only place where Χριστοῦ is "translated" as Domini. Domini is usually the translation of κυρίου. By the way, the Nova Vulgata has communicatio sanguinis Christi and communicatio corporis Christi, respectively.
    – Paul Vargas
    Commented Mar 17, 2015 at 11:40
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    @PaulVargas. It would be useful to know if this "variant" is recorded anywhere. The Nova Vulgata is of course a modern work.
    – fdb
    Commented Mar 17, 2015 at 12:56

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It is difficult to believe that Jerome perceived any theological distinction between “communication” of Christ’s blood and “participation” of the Lord’s body. I can only suggest that he is using the rhetorical figure known as “interpretatio”, where a statement is repeated with substitution of one synonym by another, for the sake of stylistic variety.

There is some discussion here: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rzESGVfBEWIC&q=interpretatio#v=snippet&q=interpretatio&f=false

Esp. p. 335.

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    Wow, that is one insanely expensive tome. :)
    – user862
    Commented Mar 17, 2015 at 16:00
  • Yes. It is no wonder that everything gets pirated on the internet.
    – fdb
    Commented Mar 17, 2015 at 19:24

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