The Passover Afikoman in light of its Hebrew origin

This paper is mainly a translation into English of the part of the doctoral thesis: W. KOSEK, Pierwotny ryt Paschy w świetle schematu literackiego Księgi Wyjścia 1-18, Kraków 2008, p. 322-357. Here is the first publication of this translation: April 18, 2019, i.e., Holy Thursday.
It shows the word 'Afikoman' as a compound Hebrew term, not a Greek one. The way to discover it was to analyze both The Hebrew Bible and The Tractate Pesachim X.8 in The Mishnah. Lexical and structural literary analyses of these Hebrew texts show Afikoman as the unleavened bread eaten not as a dessert at the end of the official supper in the second part of the Passover Seder, but as the central liturgical element of the third part. The Passover Seder has four parts, each of them connected with one of the four cups of wine. Afikoman appears not as a symbol of the lamb-Passover. Consumption of it is not a fulfillment of the Lord's order to eat the lamb-Passover with unleavened bread. Afikoman is an unleavened bread commanded by God to commemorate this time of Exodus which followed the consumption of the lamb-Passover, namely, the time of bringing the people out of Egypt by the Lord.
As the first step in our research, we will perform lexical analysis in The Hebrew Bible to check if the term אפיקומן or any part of it is present here. Furthermore, the meaning of Afikoman as an unleavened bread of Passover – the feast commemorating the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt – can be investigated by analyzing very significant fragment of The Book of Exodus in The Hebrew Bible. This six-pericope whole is the place where the structure of the Passover ritual hides and where it appears as the liturgical realization of the six-stage Exodus and the six-stage ritual of the covenant-making between God and Israel at the same time .
As the second step, we must analyze the whole original sentence in Pesachim X.8, where the word מַפְטִירִין is. A biblical and structural study of the law pericope (Ex 12:1-13:16) will be the base for this task. Why? Because it will show the strict connection between two structures – that of Seder and that of this pericope – and, in consequence, the place and the role of each of the laws of this pericope in a strictly defined order in the annual Passover. It will turn out that the last of these laws links with the word מַפְטִירִין. 
מַפְטִירִין in Pesachim X.8 is an important word and the reason for the mistakes. Why? Because the root of this term (פטר) means ‘to open,’ so the translators and commentators understand it as ‘an act of eating’ for the reason that such an activity connects with an opening of the mouth. Lexical analysis of this sentence will explain it as a prohibition valid during the celebration of the Passover ritual to offer ‘these opening the womb’ (פֶּטֶר־רֶחֶם) to the Lord, in the exceptional opposition to the order contained in the law pericope.
An essential element in proving this thesis is the observation that the fourth part of the law pericope, Ex 13:1-16, contains two orders: to eat unleavened bread and to offer ‘these opening the womb’ to the Lord. However, the fourth part of the Passover Seder contains the first of these acts – the eating of the Afikoman – but not the second one. The prohibition expressed in Pesachim X.8 is the reason for this. Instead of that offering, there is the singing for the Lord – according to Ex 15:1-21 as the fourth part of the structure of the Ex 6:1-15:21.
The identification of analogies and differences between the commandments of the law pericope and their fulfillment in the Passover Seder is necessary not only for an understanding of the origin of the Passover rite but also for the proving the thesis of this article that Afikoman is a combined Hebrew word with a strictly defined meaning.