Septuagint
(ˈsɛptjʊədʒɪnt)
[ad. L. septuāgintā seventy, f. weakened form of septem seven.]
† 1. The ‘seventy translators’ of the Old Testament into Greek (see 2); = L. septuaginta (interpretes), Gr. οἱ ο{p}. Obs.
| [1563 Homilies II. Parell of Idol. i. E e j b, Accordynge as the Septuaginta haue in theyr translation in Greke εἴδωλα. 1584 in D. Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 44 Will you followe the Septuaginta in their whole translation?] |
| 1589 Cooper Admon. 50 The translation..was..according to the Septuagint. 1622 T. Ailesbury Serm. 2nd June 11 Which latter clause though it answer not the Originall; yet the Septuagint so translate it. a 1656 Hales Golden Rem. (1673) 84 The Septuagint, to make the sense more plain, do add another clause. 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth ii. vii. 251 The Septuagint, who render this word Eden. |
† b. pl. in the same sense. Obs.
| 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist., Euseb. v. viii. 84 The translation of the olde testament by the septuagintes. 1621 Bp. R. Montagu Diatribæ 217 The Septuagints were no Grammarians, saith that bold bayard, Stenchius. 1653 Gataker Vind. Annot. Jer. 36 Whether they..had studied upon the matter apart in their several cels, as the tale goes of the secluded Septuagints. 1656 Blount Glossogr. |
2. The Greek version of the Old Testament, which derives its name from the story that it was made by seventy-two Palestinian Jews at the request of Ptolemy Philadelphus (284–247 b.c.) and completed by them, in seclusion on the island of Pharos, in seventy-two days. (Denoted by LXX.)
The authority for the old story is the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates, long known to be spurious, which purports to give contemporary evidence of the undertaking. The translation is now held to have been made by Egyptian Jews, independent of each other and living in different times.
| 1633 J. Done (title) The Auncient History of the Septuagint. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. i. 278 As for the Septuagint, it is the first and most ancient Translation recorded. 1778 R. Lowth Transl. Isaiah Prelim. Diss. p. lxvi, The Greek Version, commonly called the Septuagint, or of the Seventy Interpreters. 1854 Gentl. Mag. Apr. 377/1 The severe condemnation which we have been compelled to pass on the Septuagints of the Christian Knowledge Society and the University of Oxford. 1887 Bible (R.V.) Pref., The Ancient Versions, the oldest of which, namely the Greek or Septuagint, was made, at least in part, some two centuries before the Christian era. |
† 3. pl. The ‘seventy elders’ of Israel. (Exod. xxiv. 1.) Obs.
| 1564 Rastell Confut. Jewel's Serm. 137 He [sc. the pope] continueth in his supremacie, as a Moyses aboue the septuagintes. |
4. A group of seventy.
| 1864 De Morgan in Athenæum 2 July 21 Not to mention the Iscariot which Leverrier and Adams calculated into existence, there is more than a septuagint of new planetoids. 1887 Sir W. Harcourt in Times 29 Sept. 5/3 The Septuagint [of Liberal Unionists] still meets, I believe, at Devonshire House. |
5. attrib. of sense 2.
| 1658 Phillips s.v., The Septuagint translation of the Bible. 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth i. iii. 24 If you follow the Septuagint Chronology. 1708 Kersey s.v., The Septuagint or Septuagint-Bible. 1769 H. Owen (title) An Enquiry into the present state of the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament. 1850 Donaldson New Cratylus (ed. 2) §100. 151 The Septuagint translators. |