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Bible Lexicons
Old & New Testament Greek Lexical Dictionary Greek Lexicon
Strong's #831 - αὐθεντέω
- Thayer
- Strong
- Mounce
- one who with his own hands kills another or himself
- one who acts on his own authority, autocratic
- an absolute master
- to govern, exercise dominion over one
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- Word
- Parsing
αὐθεντ-έω,
1. to have full power or authority over, τινός 1 Timothy 2:12; πρός τινα BGU 1208.37 (i B. C.): c. inf., Lyd. Mag. 3.42.
2. commit a murder, Sch. A. Eu. 42.
αὐθεντέω, ἀυθέντω; (a Biblical and ecclesiastical word; from αὐθέντης contracted from αὐτοέντης, and this from αὐτός and ἔντεα arms (others, ἑντης, cf. Hesychius συνεντης συνεργός; cf. Lobeck, Technol., p. 121); hence,
a. according to earlier usage, one who with his own hand kills either others or himself.
b. in later Greek writings one who does a thing himself the author" (τῆς πράξεως, Polybius 23, 14, 2, etc.); one who acts on his own authority, autocratic, equivalent to αὐτοκράτωρ an absolute master; cf. Lobeck ad Phryn., p. 120 (also as above; cf. Winers Grammar, § 2, 1 c.)); to govern one, exercise dominion over one: τινς, 1 Timothy 2:12.
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*† αὐθεντέω , -ῶ
(< αὐθέντης , i.e. αὐτο - ἕντης , one who acts on his own authority, in Papyri, an autocrat; cf. Wisdom of Solomon 12:6; cf. -ία , 3 Maccabees 2:29; -ικος is freq. in vernacular, MM, s.v.),
to govern, exercise authority over: 1 Timothy 2:12.†
Copyright © 1922 by G. Abbott-Smith, D.D., D.C.L.. T & T Clarke, London.
The history of this word has been satisfactorily cleared up by P. Kretschmer, in Glotta iii. (1912), p. 289 ff. He shows that αὐθέντης ";murderer"; is by haplology for αὐτοθέντης from θείνω , while αὐθέντης ";master"; (as in literary MGr) is from αὐτ -ἕντης (cf. συνέντης · συνεργός in Hesychius, root sen ";accomplish,"; ἀνύω ). The astonishing sense-development described in Grimm may accordingly disappear. So likewise may his description of the verb as a ";bibl. and eccl. word,"; after the evidence (given below) that the adj. αὐθεντικός is very well established in the vernacular. ";Biblical";—which in this case means that the word occurs once in the NT (1 Timothy 2:12)—seems intended to hint what ἅπαξ εἰρημένον in a ";profane"; writer would not convey. We may refer to Nägeli, p. 49, for evidence which encourages us to find the verb’s provenance in the popular vocabulary. The Atticist Thomas Magister, p. 18, 8, warns his pupil to use αὐτοδικεῖν because αὐθεντεῖν was vulgar (κοινότερον ) : so Moeris, p. 58—αὐτοδίκην (l.—εῖν ) Ἀττικοι , αὐθέντην (l.—εῖν ) Ἕλληνες . The use in 1 Timothy 2:12 comes quite naturally out of the word ";master, autocrat."; Cf. P Leid Wvi. 46 ὁ ἀρχάγγελος τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν κόσμον , αὐθέντα ἥλιε . For the adj. cf. ib. vi. 46, P Oxy II. 260.20 (A.D. 59), a document signed by the assistant of the strategus to give it legal sanction—Θέ [ω ]ν Ὀννώφριος ὑπηρέτης ἐπηκολ [ού ]θ [η ]κα τῆι [α ]ὐ ̣θεντι [κ ]ῆι χιρ [ογρ ]α (φίᾳ ), ";I, Theon, son of O., assistant, have checked this authentic bond"; (Edd.) : so ib. IV. 719.30, .33 (A.D. 193). In BGU I. 326ii. 23 (ii./A.D.) a scribe declares the ἀντίγραφον before him to be σύμφωνον τῇ αὐθεντικῇ διαθήκῃ : cf. Wilcken Ostr 1010 (Roman) ὁμολ [ογοῦμεν ) ἔχιν τὴν αὐθεντικήν ἀποχὴν ἀχύρ [ου ), P Hamb I. 18 ii. 6 (A.D. 222) αὐθ (εντικῶν ) ἐπιστολ (ῶν ) καὶ βιβλ (ιδίων ) ὑποκεκολ (λημένων ), P Giss I. 34.4 (A.D. 265–6) τ ̣ὰ αὐθεντικ [ά ], and P Lond 985.18 (iv/A.D.) (= III. p. 229) ἔδ ̣ο ̣κα τὸ ἴσον κ ̣[(αὶ ) ἔ ]χω τὴν αὐθε [ν ]τικὴν ἀποχὴν παρ᾽ ἐμα ̣υτῷ . The subst. is found P Lips I. 33 ii. 6, .7, .28 (A.D. 368), BGU II. 669.18 (Byz.) ἰδίᾳ αὐθεντίᾳ ὄργανον ἔστησεν εἰ [ς ] τὸν αὐτὸν λάκκον . For αὐθεντίζω , ";take in hand,"; see Chrest. I. ii. p. 160. The noun produces ultimately the common MGr ἀφέντης (Effendi) ";Mr.";
[Supplemental from 1930 edition]
For αὐθεντικός cf. further P Hamb I. p. 76, n.4.
Copyright © 1914, 1929, 1930 by James Hope Moulton and George Milligan. Hodder and Stoughton, London.
Derivative Copyright © 2015 by Allan Loder.
