apocryphus

Forms

apocryphus (feminine apocrypha, neuter apocryphum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀπόκρυφος (apókruphos, “hidden, obscure”),^[1][2][3] an adjective of ἀποκρύπτω (apokrúptō, “to hide away”), made of ἀπό (apó, “away”) and κρύπτω (krúptō, “to hide”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Tertullian, who asks whether a writing inter apocrypha et falsa iūdicārētur, “was to be judged among the apocryphal and false ones”, and writes of illō apocryphō pāstōre Hermae, “that apocryphal Shepherd of Hermas”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From the first it was a Church word for writings kept out of the canon of Scripture: Lewis & Short label it ecclesiastical, “spurious, uncanonical”.^[6] Augustine speaks of apocryphae scrīptūrae,^[5][7] and the neuter plural apocrypha became a noun for the apocryphal books, as in Tertullian and in the letters of Seneca to Paul, a 4th-century forgery.^[5][2] Commodian writes of locī apocryphī, hidden places,^[4] and ancient glossaries explain it by sēposita, recondita, occulta, “put aside, hidden away”.^[4]

Medieval Latin kept the canonical sense and widened it: a text or report of doubtful authority, something heretical or illegitimate, and as a masculine noun a heretic.^[3][8][9] British writers from Lanfranc on use it of uncanonical scripture, of anything unauthentic, and perhaps of a cryptic saying with a hidden meaning.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of writings outside the canon.^[4][2]
• 4th century AD – The forged letters of Seneca to Paul use the plural apocrypha as a noun.^[5][2]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine speaks of apocryphal scriptures.^[5][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Apocryphal, not canonical;^[6][5][9][8] (neuter plural as noun) the apocryphal books.^[6][5][9][8]
2. (Late Latin) Hidden, secret.^[4]
3. (Medieval Latin) Spurious, of doubtful authority; heretical.^[3][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press