Samaritan, n. and a.
(səˈmærɪtən)
Also 6 Samerytane, 6–8 Samaritane.
[ad. late L. Samarītānus, f. Gr. σαµαρείτης Samaritan, f. σαµαρεία Samaria.]
A. n. a. A native or inhabitant of Samaria, a district of Palestine named from its chief city, anciently the capital of the kingdom of Israel; esp. one who adheres to the religious system which had its origin in Samaria.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. x. 5 Ne ga ᵹe innan samaritana ceastre. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 48 Þanne seye we a samaritan sittende on a mule. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 31/2 There be some crystened that in the holy land is namyd samerytanes. 1577 Hanmer tr. Eusebius' Eccl. Hist. iv. xxi. 70 Sundry sectes among the children of Israell..the Samaritans: the Sadduces: the Pharises. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 439 The Samaritans who, in a life of solitude and retirement, incessantly contemplating the deity, abstained from the use of flesh. 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 376/1 Samaritans are still found in their old country, especially at Nablous, near Sichem, and also in Egypt. 1957 Oxf. Dict. Chr. Ch. 1211/1 The Samaritan Pentateuch, a slightly divergent form of the Pentateuch in Hebrew, current since pre-Christian times among the Samaritans. It is the only part of the OT accepted by the Samaritans. 1965 M. Spark Mandelbaum Gate iv. 91 Those Israelites, Samaritans, those boys. 1977 Sci. Amer. Jan. 100/1 Although the kingdom of Samaria vanished long ago, the Samaritans still survive today as perhaps the smallest ethnic minority in the world. |
b. fig. (freq. in full, good Samaritan) with reference to the ‘good Samaritan’ in Luke x. 33; also transf., a kind and helpful person; hence (nonce-wds.) good Samaritanism, good Samaritanship.
Samaritan's balsam, ‘a mixture of wine and oil, formerly used in treating wounds’ (Cent. Dict. 1891); Samaritan hospital, a hospital specially devoted to the sick poor; Samaritan schools, ‘common name in the Unites States for ambulance classes’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1897).
| 1640 N. Rogers (title) The good Samaritan, or an exposition on that parable, Luke x. ver. xxx–xxxviii. 1644 (title) The compassionate Samaritane: Vnbinding the Conscience, and powring oyle into the wounds which have beene made upon the Separation. 1649 P. Chamberlen (title) The Poore Mans Advocate, or, Englands Samaritan. 1823 Scott Quentin D. ii, The bonny Scot had already accosted the younger Samaritan. 1840 J. Ruskin Let. 4 July in Lett. to College Friend (1894) 11 You have sacrificed half a Good Samaritanship to insult your friends with letters of brown paper. 1846 Ld. Ashburton in Croker Papers III. xxiv. 77, I wish some good Samaritan of a Conservative with sufficient authority could heal the feuds among our friends. 1887 Hall Caine Deemster xxxix, The Samaritans laughed and bade them not to think of price or money until their captain should return. 1898 ‘A. Hope’ Rupert of Hentzau iii. 42 Good Samaritans but not men of war, they returned to where I lay senseless on the ground. 1919 M. Beer Hist. Brit. Socialism I. i. v. 74 The new order would act as a good Samaritan and pour oil and wine into the wounds of the nation. 1923 Virginia Law Rev. Apr. 423 It is unreasonable that the priest and the Levite should go free while the good Samaritan should be forced to undergo the ordeal and expense of a trial. 1925 A. Huxley Those Barren Leaves ii. vi. 156 On the faces of all my good Samaritans I noticed an expression of childlike earnestness. 1930 H. Redwood God in Slums 14 A co-opted partner in every kind of Good Samaritanism. 1950 T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party i. ii. 49 Don't you realise how lucky you are To have two Good Samaritans? a 1953 E. O'Neill Touch of Poet (1957) i. 9 Sure, the good Samaritan was a crool haythen beside you. 1963 Reader's Digest May 89/1 The best known and most effective curb of the malpractice-suit racket is California's so-called Good Samaritan law. 1977 Times of Zambia 7 Sept. 1/6 Shawa started as a Good Samaritan, trying to separate a fight in which Mr Sichinga was involved. |
c. the Samaritans, an organization founded in London in 1953 that offers counselling by telephone to those in distress or contemplating suicide; hence as sing., a member of this organization. Also (in sing.) attrib.
| [1953 Church Times 27 Nov. 854/5 The Rev. Chad Varah..intends to open a ‘Good Samaritan’ centre—on the telephone.] 1960 Times 29 Nov. 6/6 The vast majority of those who came to the Samaritans were not mentally ill... The Samaritans had helped people of all types, from a duke to a dustman. 1967 Guardian 8 June 3/5 The most common reasons for people calling the Telephone Samaritans for help in the Greater Manchester area..were depression, anxiety, and mental illness. 1969 Listener 10 Apr. 508/1 The girl..works for Oxfam and wants to be a Samaritan. 1973 J. Seabrook Loneliness 115 I'd break down, I'd be all trembling. I used to ring the Samaritans. I don't know what I'd have done without the man who was my counsellor. 1977 Hongkong Standard 14 Apr. 13/3 (Advt.), Discouraged/Depressed? Dial the Samaritans, day or night. 1978 M. Dickens Open Bk. xxi. 186 The Samaritans is a world-wide fellowship of men and women of all ages, creeds and races, dedicated to befriending people who are desperate enough to want to kill themselves. Ibid., I went to the Samaritan centre in London to talk about the isolated and lonely people who I knew must be among their callers. |
B. adj. a. Of or pertaining to Samaria or the Samaritans; used by the Samaritans. Also Comb., as (sense b of the n.) Samaritan-like adj.
Samaritan Pentateuch: a recension of the Hebrew Pentateuch used by the Samaritans; the MSS. are written in ‘Samaritan’ (i.e. archaic Hebrew) characters.
| 1382 Wyclif Luke x. 33 Forsoth sum man Samaritan, makynge iourney, cam bisydis the weye. 1624 in Abp. Ussher's Lett. (1686) 311 The five Books of Moses in the Samaritan Character. Ibid. 321, I also told him of your Samaritan Pentateuch. 1641 Milton Animadv. 21 As little doe wee esteem your Samaritan trumpery, of which people Christ himselfe testifies, Yee worship you know not what. 1858 G. F. Nicholls (title) A grammar of the Samaritan language. 1889 Harper's Mag. Sept. 582/1 The greatest of the Samaritan festivals, the Passover, is still celebrated on the top of Gerizim. 1973 E.-J. Bahr Nice Neighbourhood vi. 64 We callously discussed how Samaritan-like we'd been, having John over for dinner. |
b. absol. (quasi-n.) in various contextual uses, e.g. the Aramaic dialect formerly spoken in Samaria; the character in which this is written; the Samaritan text of the Hebrew Pentateuch.
| 1627 Abp. Ussher Let. to Selden 30 Nov. Lett. (1686) 385 In the numbering of the Years of these Fathers..there is not the like consent betwixt the LXX, and the Samaritan, as was before. 1653 Ibid. 588 The Persian Pentateuch..being translated not out of the Original, but out of the Chalde and the Hebrew Samaritan. 1770 [Luckombe] Hist. Printing 159 Pica Samaritan. 1787 Printer's Gram. 300 Long Primer Samaritan. 1797 J. Pratt Prospectus New Polyglot Bible 8 Printing the Samaritan and Syriac in a character familiar to the Hebrew scholar. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 648/2 The false notion that Samaritan is a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic. |