A Lexical Study of the Septuagint Version of the Pentateuch

een created as technical terms.
There are however some clear cases of formations that are
likely to have been confined to the Biblical vocabulary.
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θυσιαστήριον 'altar 1
, and ιλαστηριον subst., of the lid on the
ark of the covenant, were clearly coined as technical terms.
Other possible examples of the same kind are όλοκάρπωσις,
όλοκάρπωμα, θηριάλωτος, παράθεμα, άγ ιαστηρι,ον.
In a number of instances it seems fairly clear that the
formation has been created on the spot by the translators to
meet a particular need. So e.g. άποκιδαρόω 'take the κίδαρις
off Le. 10.6, 21.10, σκληροκαρδία 'hardness of heart' De. 10.16
Some words of this type are plainly 'nonce-formations' unlikely
to occur again: e.g. περάτης translating nay Ge. 14.13,
πρωτοτοκεύω 'grant rights of first-born' (to) De. 21.16.
Finally there are a number of loan-words from Hebrew or
Aramaic: the familiar σαββατα and πάσχα, and a few others such
as γειώρας, γομορ, and χερουβ.
In this survey I have tried to bring into perspective all
parts of the Pentateuch vocabulary. It has been possible only
to consider a selection of examples, but these do give a fair
indication of the various elements in it. It is clear that a
very considerable part of the vocabulary is made up of well-
attested words and uses, whether new in the Koine or surviving
from Classical Greek. Although there are undoubtedly numerous
words and uses peculiar to Biblical Greek, they must be con­
sidered in relation to the vocabulary as a whole. They in fact
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form only a small proportion of the total vocabulary.
28. On this word see esp. Daniel, Recherches 367f.
29. For what it may be worth, an estimate of their extent may
be given. I have counted roughly 450 words and uses unattested
outside Biblical and related literature. Of these not more than
half could be considered peculiar to the Biblical vocabulary.
(The total number of words and uses in the vocabulary must be
well over 6,000.)