Acts 27:14

εὐρακύλων with אAB. Vulg. ‘Euroaquilo.’

14. ἔβαλεν κατ' αὐτῆς, there beat down from it. αὐτῆς can only here refer to Κρήτη. And whatever sense is to be given to the preposition must be determined by the context. The effect of the wind described in this verse was to carry the vessel to the island of Cauda. And they were sailing on the south of and close under Crete. Therefore they were driven still more southward. This could only be by a wind from the north, a wind therefore blowing over Crete. Hence κατά must be taken = down from. Cf. such phrases as ῥίπτειν κατὰ τῆς πέτρας which are common enough.

What happened was that the wind suddenly changed from south to north, and coming over the land carried the vessel southward away from Crete. Such changes are not unusual in the Mediterranean (Smith’s Voyage of St Paul, p. 99).

ἄνεμος τυφωνικός, a tempestuous wind. The adjective is not found elsewhere in this sense, but the noun τυφώς for ‘a whirlwind’ is frequent, and is represented in the English ‘typhoon.’

εὐρακύλων, Euraquilo. This reading has the support of the oldest MSS., and has also the Vulgate ‘Euroaquilo’ in its favour, and it exactly describes the wind which would carry the vessel in the direction indicated. It is known in Greek by the name ‘Coecias’ and is a north-east wind. Some have thought that the reading of the A.V. Εὐροκλύδων, which has the support of many MSS., arose from a corruption in the mouths of sailors. For the word ‘Euraquilo’ is a hybrid, the first portion being Greek, the latter Latin. The form in the Text. recept. gives it a look of being all Greek, and the words ὁ καλούμενος seem to intimate that the name was one known to the sailors, rather than a word of general use, whereas ‘Euraquilo’ would have needed no such introductory expression, but have been understood at once by its etymology.