Septuagint

American  

[sep-too-uh-jint, -tyoo-, sep-choo-] / ˈsɛp tu əˌdʒɪnt, -tyu-, ˈsɛp tʃu- /

noun

1. the oldest Greek version of the Old Testament, traditionally said to have been translated by 70 or 72 Jewish scholars at the request of Ptolemy II: most scholars believe that only the Pentateuch was completed in the early part of the 3rd century b.c. and that the remaining books were translated in the next two centuries. Sept.; LXX

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Septuagint British  

/ ˈsɛptjʊəˌdʒɪnt /

noun

1. the principal Greek version of the Old Testament, including the Apocrypha, believed to have been translated by 70 or 72 scholars

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Other Word Forms

• Septuagintal adjective

Etymology

Origin of Septuagint

First recorded in 1555–65, from Latin septuāgintā “seventy”

Example Sentences

The Greek Septuagint version suggested that 2,242 years elapsed between the dawn of time and the biblical flood.

From Slate • Oct. 12, 2012

It contains the first printing of the Septuagint, or Old Testament Scriptures in Greek.

From New York Times • Jun. 12, 2010

The Bible approved by Cushing contains a translation of the Apocrypha�the 15 Old Testament books found in the Greek Septuagint but not in the Hebrew Bible, twelve of them accepted by Catholics as canonical.

From Time Magazine Archive

Older than the Masoretic Bible is the Septuagint, a pre-Christian Greek translation which has been thought to be less authoritative than the Masoretic because of the difficulties of translating Hebrew terms into Greek.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Septuagint has rendered "Asherah" by "Astarte," in 2 Chron. xv.

From Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism With an Essay on Baal Worship, On The Assyrian Sacred "Grove," And Other by Inman, Thomas