septuaginta

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [sɛp.tu.aːˈɡɪn.taː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [sep.tu.aˈd͡ʒin.ta]^[1]

Forms

septuāgintā (indeclinable)^[1]

Etymology

It continues Proto-Indo-European *septm-dḱomt- (“seven tens”), from Proto-Indo-European *septḿ̥ (“seven”), the source of septem.^[2][1] De Vaan explains the -ā- as taken from the other decades, such as sexāgintā, and the -u- as phonetic: *septmā- became *septumā- and then *septuwā-.^[2][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἑβδομήκοντα (hebdomḗkonta).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates the numeral from Varro onwards.^[2] Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is the indeclinable numeral seventy, as Cicero's centum septuāgintā and Nepos' seventy-seven years.^[4][5] An inscription has it scanned with a short final syllable, and another spells it septaginta.^[6]

In Late Latin septuāgintā interpretēs “the seventy translators” named the translators of the Greek Old Testament, and then the version itself.^[1] Gaffiot cites it from Eucherius.^[7] Wiktionary says the name rests on the probably mistaken story of 72 scholars working at Alexandria under Ptolemy II.^[1] English Septuagint is recorded for the translators in the 1570s and for the Greek Old Testament in the 1630s.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in counting.^[4][3]
• c. 380–c. 450 AD – Eucherius speaks of the seventy translators.^[7][3]
• 1570s – English Septuagint is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Numeral

1. seventy.^[6][4]
2. (Late Latin, capitalized) The translators of the Septuagint; the Septuagint itself.^[1][7]

Word family

• septuāgēnī
• septuagesies
• septuāgēsimus
• septuāgiens,
• septuāgiēs

Related words

• septem
• English Septuagint

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com