ἑβδομάς

Forms

ἑβδομᾰ́ς (hebdomás) f (genitive ἑβδομᾰ́δος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἕβδομος (hébdomos, “seventh”) + -άς (-ás), and the ordinal is itself formed from ἑπτά (heptá, “seven”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in Solon, where it means a period of seven years in a human life.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Besides seven years, the word could mean any group of seven: the number seven itself, seven of anything (an epigram counts two sevens of Niobe's children), and above all seven days, a week.^[4][3][5] The medical writers counted the course of diseases and of the growing embryo in such weeks, and a work ascribed to Hippocrates was titled “On Sevens”.^[3] Aristotle reports the division of life into seven-year ages.^[3][4]

In the Septuagint the word is the Jewish week, and the “feast of weeks” is named after it; the word can also mean the sabbath itself or, in Daniel, a week of years.^[6][3] Josephus too uses it for the sabbath.^[7][3] Babiniotis traces the week of seven days that is still used to the Jewish calendar.^[2]

Medieval Greek kept it as εβδομάδα (evdomáda) (also βδομάδα (vdomáda)), built on the accusative, and used it for a week and, in the phrase “a week of years”, for seven years.^[8][9] In Modern Greek εβδομάδα (evdomáda) is the week, and Holy Week before Easter is the “Great Week”.^[9] Latin borrowed the word as Latin hebdomas, from which English took hebdomad in the 16th century.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – Solon uses it for a period of seven years.^[3][4]
• 5th century BC – Empedocles and the Hippocratic writers count in weeks of seven days.^[3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle mentions dividing human life into periods of seven years.^[3][5]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it for the week, the feast of weeks and the sabbath.^[6][3]
• 2nd century BC – Antipater of Sidon uses it for a group of seven.^[3][4]
• 1st century AD – Josephus uses it for the sabbath, and Philo for the number seven.^[7][4]
• 5th century AD – A papyrus counts three weeks of fasting.^[3]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek has εβδομάδα (evdomáda) for a week.^[8]
• 1540s – English borrows hebdomad through Latin, first in the sense “the number seven”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The number seven.^[4][5]
2. A group of seven.^[4][3]
3. A period of seven days, a week.^[4][3][7]
4. (Septuagint) The seventh day of the week, the sabbath.^[6][3]
5. A period of seven years.^[4][3][5]

Related words

• ἕβδομος (hébdomos)
• ἑπτά (heptá)
• Latin hebdomas
• English hebdomad

References

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