προφήτης

Forms

προφήτης (prophḗtēs) m (genitive προφήτου); first declension^[1] Doric and Boeotian προφάτας.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek πρό (pró) + φημί (phēmí, “to say”) + -της (-tēs), an agent noun.^[1][4] Babiniotis compares the agent suffix of λήπτης (lḗptēs).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Pindar's first Nemean ode the seer Tiresias is the “prophet of Zeus”, one who speaks for a god and interprets his will.^[2][3] Babiniotis says it first meant an interpreter of omens and signs.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Aeschylus calls Apollo, the god of the Delphic oracle, the prophet of his father Zeus, and Herodotus uses the word for the minister of the oracle at Delphi.^[2][3] It became the title of officials at oracles such as Branchidae, and in Egyptian temples of the highest order of priests.^[2] Plato distinguished the prophet, who interprets, from the inspired seer, the μάντις (mántis); poets were called prophets of the Muses.^[2][3]

The Septuagint used it more than 300 times, mostly for Biblical Hebrew נביא (nāḇîʾ), the spokesman of God,^[5][6] and the New Testament for Old Testament figures such as Moses and Isaiah, for John the Baptist and for Jesus.^[3][7] It was borrowed as Latin propheta,^[8] which Christian writers preferred to the native vates, and English prophet came from it in the late 12th century through Old French.^[6]

Medieval Greek kept it.^[9] In Modern Greek προφήτης (profítis) is a learned word; its wider sense, one who foretells, follows French prophète.^[10]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar calls Tiresias the prophet of Zeus.^[2][3][11] Aeschylus gives Apollo the same title.^[2][3][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the minister of the Delphic oracle.^[2][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the interpreter of a seer's words.^[2][11]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – Egyptian inscriptions and papyri use it for a high order of priests.^[2]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the prophets of Israel, John the Baptist and Jesus.^[7][3]
• Late 12th century – English borrows prophet through Old French and Latin.^[6]
• Modern Greek – προφήτης (profítis) means a prophet and one who predicts.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who speaks for a god and makes known his will; an interpreter of an oracle.^[2][3]
2. A seer, prophet, one who foretells.^[3]
3. The title of officials at oracles, and of a high order of Egyptian priests.^[2]
4. An interpreter of a seer's words; a spokesman of the Muses, a poet.^[2][3]
5. (Septuagint, New Testament) A prophet who proclaims the will of God.^[5][7][3]

Word family

• προφητεύω (prophēteúō)
• προφῆτις (prophêtis)
• ψευδοπροφήτης (pseudoprophḗtēs)
• προφητεία (prophēteíā)
• προφητίζω (prophētízō)
• προφητικός (prophētikós)
• προφήτωρ (prophḗtōr)
• συμπροφητεύω (sumprophēteúō)

Related words

• φημί (phēmí)
• Latin propheta
• English prophet

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge