προφητεία

Forms

προφητείᾱ (prophēteíā) f (genitive προφητείᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek προφήτης (prophḗtēs, “prophet, interpreter of a god”) + -ία (-íā).^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Septuagint, from the 2nd century BC, where Sirach uses it for the gift of prophecy and Chronicles for a prophecy.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Outside the Bible it meant the gift of interpreting the will of the gods, an oracular response, and the office of a temple's prophet, as at Didyma and in Egypt.^[2][3] In the New Testament it is prophetic activity and a prophetic utterance, and Paul uses it for the gift of speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit.^[2][3][5]

It was borrowed as Latin prophētīa and as Gothic 𐍀𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍆𐌴𐍄𐌾𐌰 (praufētja).^[1] Medieval Greek kept the word, and Modern Greek προφητεία (profiteía) took the sense “prediction of the future” from French prophétie.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it for the gift of prophecy and for a prophecy.^[2][4]
• 2nd century BC – Papyri from Egypt use it for the office of a prophet.^[2]
• 1st century AD – Paul uses it for the gift of inspired speech.^[2][3]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian quotes an oracle calling prophecy a fragment of the divine mind.^[2]
• Modern Greek – The learned προφητεία (profiteía) means a prediction of the future.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The gift of interpreting the will of the gods; the gift of prophecy.^[2][3]
2. A prophecy or oracular response.^[2][3]
3. The office of a prophet at a temple.^[2]
4. (New Testament) The gift of expounding scripture or speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.^[2][3][5]

Related words

• προφήτης (prophḗtēs)
• προφητεύω (prophēteúō)
• Latin prophētīa

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 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
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
6. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki