exodus

Forms

exodus f or m (genitive exodī); second declension^[1][2] Usually feminine, sometimes masculine.^[1][3] The manuscripts also spell it ⟨exhodus⟩, and the Tironian notes have a neuter ⟨exodum⟩.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔξοδος (éxodos, “a going out, way out”).^[4][1][5] The Greek noun is formed from ἐξ (ex, “out”) and ὁδός (hodós, “way, road”).^[5][6] Isidore of Seville explains the book's name by its subject, the going out of the people of Israel from Egypt.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian is the first to use it, as the name of the second book of Moses, which tells of the departure from Egypt.^[4][1][5]

Semantic evolution

From Tertullian on, Christian writers cite the book by this name: Cyprian quotes what is written in exodō and speaks of the law in exodī lēge, and Gaudentius cites in exodī librō.^[1] In a wider sense it meant a going out, especially that of Israel from Egypt: an old Latin psalter has in exhodō Israhel where the Vulgate has in exitū,^[1] and Ambrose and Augustine also use it so.^[1] Hilary of Poitiers notes that the Greek translators used the word for what Latin calls exitūs, and says that an exodus is properly the place where many narrow roads meet in one open road.^[1] Eucherius explains the name as exitus vel ēgressus, a going out or departure, and Isidore of Seville repeats him.^[1][8]

Medieval writers used it above all for the book: Aldhelm and Bede quote it,^[9] Hrabanus Maurus wrote an exposition of it, and library catalogues list a glossed exodus.^[3] The MLW also records it for a departure into exile.^[3] English Exodus, the name of the book, is late Old English, from the Latin word; the general sense “departure of many people” dates from the 1620s.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian names the second book of Moses with it.^[1][5]
• beginning of 3rd century–258 AD – Cyprian quotes what is written in Exodus.^[1][5]
• c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary of Poitiers explains the Greek word.^[1][5]
• c. 380–c. 450 AD – Eucherius explains the name as “going out, departure”.^[1][8][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the book's name by its subject.^[7][5]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm cites the lampstand described in Exodus.^[9][5]
• late Old English – English borrows it as the name of the book.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament.^{[4][1][10][11]}
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A going out, departure, especially the exodus of Israel from Egypt.^[1][3][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) Departure into exile.^[3]

Related words

• English exodus

Usage notes

Jerome notes that the Hebrews call the book ellesmoth.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
2. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ a b Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson