Bible Lexicons

*† ἐλλογάω , -ῶ

(a κοινή word, elsewhere usually -έω ; cf. Bl., § 22, 2),

to charge to one's account, impute: Philemon 1:18 (on parallels, cf. Deiss., LAE, 79 f., 335 f.; Milligan, NTD, 73; MM, Exp., xii); of sin, Romans 5:13 (Cremer, 400).†

To Lightfoot’s examples of this word from the inscriptions in his note on Philem .16 τοῦτο ἐμοὶ ἐλλόγα, may now be added several occurrences in the papyri in its general Hellenistic form ἐλλογέω. Thus the technical sense of ";set to one’s account,"; as in the Philemon passage, comes out well in P Ryl II. 243.11 (ii/A.D.) where two women write to their steward—ὅσα ποτὲ οὖν ἐὰν ̣ ἀναναλώσῃς (l. ἀναλώσῃς) ἰς τὴν τοῦ κλήρου κατεργασίαν, ἡμεῖν ἐνλόγησον ἐπὶ λόγου, ";put down to our account everything you expend on the cultivation of the holding"; (Edd.), and in P Grenf II. 67.16 (A.D. 237) (= Selections, p. 109) ἐντεῦθε [ν ] δὲ ἐσχή (κασι) ὑπὲρ ἀραβῶνος [τῇ τ ]ιμῇ ἐλλογουμέν [ο ]υ ̣ σ ̣[ο ]ι ̣ (δραχμὰς) [.] β ̣̄, ";earnest money to be reckoned in the price"; : cf. P Strass I. 32.10 (A.D. 261) καὶ δότω λόγον, τί αὐτῷ ὀφείλ [ε ]ται καὶ ποῦ παρέσχεν, ἵνα οὕτως αὐτῷ ἐνλογηθῇ, and so P Flor II. 134 * * .10 (A.D. 261), PSI I. 92.17 (iii/A.D.). The more metaphorical usage of Romans 5:13 may be paralleled from an interesting rescript of the Emperor Hadrian in which he authorizes the announcement of certain privileges to his soldiers : BGU I. 140.32 (A.D. 119) οὐχ ἕνεκα τοῦ δοκεῖν με αὐτοῖς ἐνλογεῖν, ";not however that I may appear to be making a reckoning against them."; The form ἐνελογήθ (ησαν) is found septies in BGU IV. 1028 (ii/A.D.).

On the mixing of —άω and —έω, see s.v. ἐλεέω ad fin.

The verb is = ἐν λόγῳ τίθημι, according to the common use of λόγος, ";accounts."; There is no connexion with ἔλλογος, ";rational,"; which is derived from ἐν λόγῳ in the other sense.