Hellenist
(ˈhɛlɪnɪst)
[ad. Gr. Ἑλληνιστής a follower of the Greeks in language, etc., one who Hellenizes, f. Ἑλληνίζειν to Hellenize: see -ist.]
1. One who used the Greek language, though not a native Greek. Applied esp. to those Jews of the Dispersion who used the Greek language and were more or less affected by Greek influences.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 137 The Hebrewes and Hellenists often disagreed. 1653 Hammond Annot. Acts vi. 1 (R.) These Jews understood Greek, and used the Greek Bible, and therefore are called Hellenists. 1879 Farrar St. Paul vii. 125 It is to these Greek-speaking Jews that the term Hellenist..properly applies..It means one who ‘Græcises’ in language or mode of life..It is therefore..the..antithesis..to strict ‘Hebrews’. 1881 N. T. (R. V.) Acts vi. 1 There arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews [marg. Hellenists] against the Hebrews. |
| attrib. 1789 Gibbon Autobiog. (1896) 141 The corrupt dialect of the Hellenist Jews. |
2. One skilled in the Greek language and literature; a Greek scholar.
| 1680 Dalgarno Didascolocophus 126 (T.) But if all this do not satisfy the critical Hellenist, then I must add [etc.]. 1837 Hallam Hist. Lit. i. iii. §3 In Italy..there were still professors of it [Greek] in the university; but no one Hellenist distinguishes this [17th] century. 1880 Contemp. Rev. XXXVII. 479 An Oxford Hellenist (as we venture to call any person with considerable knowledge of Greek). |
3. One of the Byzantine Greeks who contributed to the revival of classical learning in Europe in the 15th century.