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It is important to point out here that the acronym LEPRA is identical to the Latin word lepra, which is the origin of the modern term leprosy and its equivalents and derivatives. Faulty transmission of the word had far-reaching consequences. Between Mediterranean Antiquity and the European Middle Ages, the interpretation changed gradually, from a generic designation for scaly skin diseases in Greek medicine to a specific label for what largely corresponds to Hansens Disease. In a first stage, the Septuagint and Vulgate translations of the Bible adopted the Greek word and its Latin transliteration for the Hebrew term tzaraath. The latter term referred primarily to skin disease(s) as an issue of ritual pollution (Mosaic Law) and of incurability by human hand (New Testament miracles). Thus, the translators’ choice, imprecise albeit not incorrect, shifted the meaning of lepra towards legal and moral connotations. The impact of this shift became historic in a second stage of the tortuous transmission. Between the fifth and tenth centuries of the Common Era, at times and places not yet determined with certainty, Latin religious and medical authors gradually substituted the word lepra for elephantia and similar terms which covered the disfiguring, disabling, and incurable disease upon its first appearance in the Roman Empire. Ridemate (talk) 22:29, 5 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
