2 Timothy 4:13 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

The cloke that I left at Troas, &c.— Τον φαιλονην. This word is variously spelt, and has various meanings. Gataker looks upon it to be a Latin word Graecised. Some understand it to signify a bag, or book-case; and the joining books and parchments with it, say they, makes it probable that this was the sense in which St. Paul here used it: and, in confirmation hereof, it is observed that the Syriac, which is accounted one of the most ancient versions, has rendered the word a house, or repository for writings; meaning, that it is either a box, bag, or portmanteau, wherein books and writings were deposited. Chrysostom, however, OEcumenius, and others, interpret it ενδυμα, a garment; "And this, says Parkhurst, seems the most probable sense of the word, because the apostle, in the same sentence, distinctly mentions both his books and parchments. Hesychius remarks that the word φελλωνης, or φελλονης, is a Cretan word, signifying a waistcoat, or under-garment; and it seems ultimately deducible from the Hebrew פלה, peleh, to sever, or separate our bodies; namely, from the surrounding air; whence also the Greek φελλος, the bark of a tree, for a like reason." The word Βιβλια, rendered books, is a diminutive, and may denote lesser books. The word Μεμβρανας, is a Latin word, and signifies, as we have rendered it, parchment, or vellum, which is said to have been invented at Pergamos; whence it is called in Latin Pergamenum: and hence the French name parchemin, and our English parchment. The books of the ancients were of two forms; one sort they rolled up, and called volumina, volumes, a volvendo, from their being rolled up: these were usually, perhaps, of parchment; the other sort do not appear to have been rolled up; and were probably made of the papyrus, or great Egyptian rush. See the Inferences.