Decalogue
(ˈdɛkəlɒg)
[a. F. décalogue (15th c. in Hatzf.), ad. L. decalog-us (Tertullian), a. Gr. δεκάλογος (orig. adj. ἡ δεκάλογος, sc. βίβλος), in Clemens Alexand., etc., from the phrase οἱ δέκα λόγοι the ten commandments, in LXX, Philo, etc. In Wyclif, prob. directly from Latin: cf. quot. 1563.
The word occurs repeatedly in the Latin version of Irenæus adv. Hæres.; and was probably in the Greek original.]
The Ten Commandments collectively as a body of law.
| 1382 Wyclif Rom. Prol. 299 The noumbre of the firste maundementus of the decaloge. 1563 J. Man Musculus' Commonpl. 34 a, The preceptes of the Decalogus bee called, the tenne wordes. 1642 Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 84 They beleeve the Decalog of Moses. 1670 J. Goodwin Filled with the Spirit To Rdr. A iij a, The Second Table of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments. 1755 Young Centaur i. Wks. 1757 IV. 111 Both the tables of the decalogue are broken. 1847 H. Miller First Impr. iv. (1857) 55 The great geologic register, graven, like the decalogue of old, on tables of stone. |
| transf. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Skiamachia Wks. (1711) 199 O new and ever till now concealed decalogue! a 1861 Clough Poems (title), The Latest Decalogue. |