Luke 8:2

Μαρία ἡ κ. Μαγδαληνή, Mary called the Magdalene, the only one of the three named who is more than a name for readers of the Gospel; since the fourth century, identified with the sinful woman of the previous chapter, the seven demons from which she is said to have been delivered being supposed to refer to her wicked life; a mistaken identification, as in the Gospels demoniacal possession is something quite distinct from immorality. Koetsveld, speaking of the place assigned in tradition and popular opinion to Mary as the patroness of converted harlots, remarks: “All the water of the sea cannot wash off this stain from Mary Magdalene,” De Gelijkenissen, p. 366. The epithet Μαγδαληνή is usually taken as meaning “of the town of Magdala”. P. de Lagarde interprets it “the hair-curler,” Haarkünstlerin (Nachrichten der Gesell. der Wissens., Göttingen, 1889, pp. 371 375).