A Lexical Study of the Septuagint Version of the Pentateuch

would be superfluous to illustrate this well-known, basic
element at any length.
There are also a large number of less common words and uses
that are attested first in Classical Greek. The later attesta­
tion of these varies greatly from word to word. Frequently the
only post-Classical examples so far recorded are in Koine writers,
sometimes two or three centuries later than the Pentateuch. This
is the case for example with αγροικος, Ar., Pl., et al., then
D.H. (i B.C.);"'" δασύτιους, Cratin. and other comic poets, Arist.,
then Babr. (ii A.D.), Plin. (i A.D.), Eutecnius (?) ; λιμαγχονέω,
Hp., Antisth., then Gal. (ii A.D.); μετάφρενον, Horn., Pl.,
Arist., then Luc, Ruf. (both ii A.D.), Hid. (iii A.D.).
In other instances there is evidence from authors closer
in time to the Pentateuch, but as yet nothing from papyri or
inscriptions. So for example with θεραπεία in the sense of
'retinue', Hdt., X., then Plb. (ii B.C.) (also NT, Ph., J.);
σποδιά, Horn., etc., then Call, (iii B.C.), and later writers.
It is common also to find that what evidence there is from
papyri and inscriptions comes from much later than iii B.C.
Examples are αναιδής, Horn., Ar., etc. in Classical Greek, Diph.
(iv/iii B.C.), then in an inscription of i A.D. and a papyrus of
ii A.D.; θαυμάσιος, Horn., Hes., etc., papyri and inscriptions of
i A.D. and later (also Aristeas, Ph.); χΰμα, Horn., etc., Thphr.,
Luc. and other Koine writers, papyri of ii A.D. and later (also
Aristeas, Ph., J.).
There are also some instances of a word or use apparently
not attested elsewhere at all in post-Classical Greek, though
such examples are uncommon. Thus e.g. ληνός in the sense of
'trough' (for watering cattle) has been found apart from the
Pentateuch only in h. Merc.; ο'ικε'τις in the sense of 'household
slave' only in Hp., S., Ε.; τερατοσκόπος only in Pl., Arist.
Unless there is a special reason for thinking otherwise,
examples of this kind ought to be assumed to have formed part of
the vocabulary of third century Greek. Though they may not have
been in everyday use (some certainly were not), there is every
likelihood that they were part of the Greek vocabulary of that
1. The exact references are to be found in LSJ and Bauer.