Septuagint

See also: septuagint

English

Etymology

From Late Latin Septuaginta, lit. "The Seventy", a clipping of earlier descriptional names such as septuaginta translatio (“translation by the seventy”) and septuaginta interpretes (“the 70 interpreters”), calques of Koine Greek names such as οἱ ἐβδομήκοντα ἑρμηνευταί (hoi ebdomḗkonta hermēneutaí, “the 70 interpreters”) and οἱ Ο′ (hoi O′, “the LXX”), deriving from the popular (but probably mistaken) belief that its translation of the Torah had been produced in 72 days by a team of 72 Jewish scholars from Jerusalem (6 from each tribe) summoned to Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy II.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /sɛpˈtu.ə.d͡ʒənt/, /sɛpˈtju.ə.d͡ʒənt/, /ˈsɛp.ʃə.wəˌd͡ʒɪnt/, /ˈsɛp.t͡ʃə.wəˌd͡ʒɪnt/, /ˈsɛp.tə.wəˌd͡ʒɪnt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛp.tjʊ.ə.d͡ʒɪnt/, /ˈsɛp.t͡ʃʊ.ə.d͡ʒɪnt/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Sep‧tu‧a‧gint

Proper noun

Septuagint (countable and uncountable, plural Septuagints)

1. (now rare) The team of translators who produced the Septuagint.
2. An influential Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible produced in Alexandria in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.
   • 2006, Katrin Hauspie, Theodoret and Messianic Verses in the Septuagint version of Ezekiel, Michael Anthony Knibb (editor), The Septuagint and Messianism, Leuven University Press, Peeters Publishers (Peeters Leuven), page 503,

     Traces of messianism in the Septuagint have occupied scholars for years; the Book of Ezekiel too has challenged attention in this specific domain of research.

   • 2009, Jan Joosten, The Prayer of Azariah (DanLXX 3): Sources and Origin, Johann Cook (editor), Septuagint and Reception, BRILL, page 5,

     The Septuagint originated, for the most part, as a translation of a source text. As such it represents a link—and a very important one—in the reception history of the Hebrew-Aramaic scriptures. But the Septuagint very soon turned into a literary and religious reference in its own right. […] The Septuagint itself became the starting point for a new reception history.

   • 2022, William A. Ross, Postclassical Greek and Septuagint Lexicography, SBL Press, page 42:

     Other important works appeared that continued the discussion about the position of the Septuagint within postclassical Greek.

Synonyms

• LXX

Derived terms

• septuagint, Septuagintal, Septuagintalist

Translations

an ancient translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek

• Arabic: اَلتَّرْجَمَة اَلسَّبْعِينِيَة f (at-tarjama s-sabʕīniyya)
• Armenian: Յոթանասնից թարգմանություն (Yotʻanasnicʻ tʻargmanutʻyun)

  Old Armenian: Եօթանասնից թարգմանութիւն (Eōtʻanasnicʻ tʻargmanutʻiwn)

• Catalan: Septuaginta
• Chinese: 七十士譯本／七十士译本 (Qīshíshìyìběn), 七十士译本 (qīshí shì yìběn)
• Czech: Septuaginta
• Danish: Septuaginta
• Dutch: Septuaginta f, Septuagint (nl) f
• Esperanto: Septuaginto
• Estonian: Septuaginta
• Finnish: Septuaginta
• French: Septante (fr)
• German: Septuaginta (de) f
• Greek: Μετάφραση των Εβδομήκοντα (Metáfrasi ton Evdomíkonta), Εβδομήκοντα (el) (Evdomíkonta)
• Hebrew: תרגום השבעים m (targum ha-shiv‘iyím)
• Indonesian: Septuaginta
• Italian: Septuaginta
• Japanese: 七十人訳聖書 (shichijū-nin yaku seisho)
• Latin: Septuaginta n
• Norwegian: Septuaginta
• Polish: Septuaginta (pl) f
• Portuguese: Septuaginta f
• Romanian: Septuaginta
• Russian: Септуаги́нта (ru) f (Septuagínta)
• Spanish: Septuaginta (es) f
• Swedish: Septuaginta
• Ukrainian: Септуаґі́нта f (Septuagínta)

References

• “Septuagint, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2022.

Dutch

Etymology

Shortening of older Septuaginta, perhaps influenced by English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌsɛp.ty.aːˈɣɪnt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Sep‧tu‧a‧gint
• Rhymes: -ɪnt

Proper noun

Septuagint f

1. Alternative form of Septuaginta.