The quest for Anchiton

[-JKP-]

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What I must say is that "amianton" is a far more common word than "anchiton", it was early used to designate asbestos and, if I'm not mistaken, it is used in the New Testament (needs check). If the latter is correct, then it is incomprehensible that any learned bible scholar would use "amianton" instead of "anchiton", and vice versa. It would also be very strange that anyone would use the word "amianton" to designate the wood, while knowing that it is asbestos. This could be done only be way of blind copy of what "multa patres" wrote. As David informed me, "amiantos" is asbestos in Spanish still.
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It might not be as strange as it seems. They may not always have meant "wood" when they used the lignum/lignan/etc. words. They may have meant "woody" or "fibrous" and asbestos is very fibrous. Look how it resembles the texture of wood:

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