CIRCUMCISION (Lat. a cutting around), the cutting off the foreskin (praputium), rite widely diffused among ancient and modern nations. The prevalent idea among Christians was (and perhaps still is), that the rite originated with Abraham, who (as we read in Gen. xvii. 9-14) was commanded by God to circumcise himself and his whole household, and to transmit the custom to his descendants. But, as Jahn (Biblische Archliologie, Vienna, 1797-1800) acutely observes, this is inconsistent with the very terms in which the command is expressed, these terms presupposing a knowledge of the rite on the part of Abraham. That it existed previously to the time of the patriarch, how ever, seems to be indisputable. The researches of modern scholars prove that the Egyptians, for instance, were in the habit of circumcising long before Abraham was born. Ra.wlinson, in a note to his version of Herodotus, remarks that " circumcision was already common in Egypt at least as early as the fourth dynasty of kings, and probably earlier, long before the birth of Abraham, or 1996 B.C." The testimony borne by the monuments of and Lower Egypt (consult sir Gardiner Man ners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians) is to the same effect, and conclu sive. Another argument which has been adduced against its Abrahamic origin, is the fact of its being so extensively practiced. At the present day, it may be traced almost in an unbroken line from China to the cape of Good Hope. It is also a usage in many of the South Sea islands, and the followers of Columbus were much astonished to find it existing in the West Indies, and in Mexico. Recently, too, it has been ascertained to have been long practiced by several tribes in South America. Such being the case, many scholars hold it impossible to suppose that the origin of so universal a rite can be traced to a single Semitic nation, more especially when that nation was peculiarly averse to intercourse with other nations, and in other respects exercised no overt influence on their customs. Whether, as Jahn supposes, Abraham obtained his knowl
edge of C. from the Egyptians, we cannot determine. It would appear, however, that the Canaanites, among whom he came to reside, were not circumcised, for we read of the prince of Shechem and his people undergoing the operation, that the former might obtain the hand of Dinah, daughter of Jacob; and the institution of it in the family of Abraham was probably sufficient to mark off that family from the surrounding tribes. In the case of Abraham and his descendants, the rite acquired a religious significance. It was ordained to be the token or seal of the everlasting covenant between God and his people. Such is the view of St. Paul, who looked upon the C. of the foreskin as symbolical of the C. of the heart; and that along with all that was merely Judaistic and material, it was abrogated by the more spiritual teaching of Christ.
The time for C. among the Jews is the 8th day after the birth of the child; among the Arabians, the 13th year, in remembrance, it is said, of their ancestor Ishmael; among the Kaffirs, at a still later period, marking, in fact, the transition from youth to man hood; and, indeed, each nation seems to have selected the time most agreeable to its own notions of what is prudent or becoming. The Abyssinians are the only people professing Christianity among whom C. is practiced. The C. of females. or what is equivalent to such, is not unknown among various African nations. For fuller informa tion in regard to C., consult Sonnini's Travels in Egypt, sir John Marsham's Chronicus Canon zEgyptioeus, and Winer's Biblisches Realleorterbueh.