Exegetical Terms from the Appendix of Old Testament Exegesis
Popularity (by total correct streak): 829
Popularity (by number of users): 27
| acrostic | composed alphabetically, successive verses beginning with successive Hebrew letters | |
| anacoluthon | grammatical non sequitur in which the first part of a thought is not completed as expected | |
| antithetical | describing poetic parallelism characterized by the pairing of an assertion and its contrast | |
| Aquila | translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek literalistically around AD 140; included in Hexapla; replaced parts of the LXX | |
| Aramaism | word or idiom used in Hebrew, supposedly Aramaic in origin, therefore late in date (almost all have proved to be Semitism, not late, and therefore not properly used for dating OT books late) | |
| assimilation | replacement of an original text reading by a reading from another document | |
| asyndeton | absence of conjunctions or other linking/coordinating words - the reader must figure out the relationship of the concepts expressed | |
| autograph | the original, first copy of a biblical book or portion | |
| bifid | organized into two discrete parts | |
| chiasm | (chiasmus, inverted parallelism) a pattern of words or concepts in which the first and last are similar, the second and next to last are similar, and so forth, making memorization easy. The middle of a chiasm is not necessarily more important than the others. | |
| codex | an ancient manuscript in book (bound pages) form | |
| collate | to compare manuscripts of a given text in order to reconstruct the original | |
| colon | a single verse unit of poetry | |
| colophon | title or other summary at the end or beginning of a unit of text | |
| conflation | combining two variant readings, producing a reading not the same as either of the originals | |
| daughter translation | a translation of a translation, usually referring to a translation of the LXX into another language | |
| deuterograph | secondary writing/rewriting | |
| dittography | copy error repeating something accidentally | |
| doublet | a supposedly parallel narrative, allegedly resulting from retelling in oral tradition | |
| formula | a set or words commonly used in a particular kind of context | |
| hapax legomenon | a word or term that occurs only once in the OT | |
| haplography | the loss of something during copying | |
| hendiadys | expressing a single concept by two or more words or expressions linked by "and" | |
| Hexapla | Origen's six-column OT containing: 1. Hebrew, 2. Hebrew transliterated into Greek, 3. Aquila, 4. Symmachus, 5. the LXX, 6. Theodotion | |
| homoioarchton | similar beginnings in two words | |
| homoioteleuton | similar endings in two words | |
| inclusio | literary device in which the end and the beginning of a passage are similar, thus sandwiching the rest | |
| Kethib | inferior reading that the Masoretes included in the text by writing only its consonants | |
| Qere | superior reading that the Masoretes imposed over the Kethib consonants by using only its vowels | |
| lacuna | a physical gap in a manuscript | |
| meter | the pattern of accents and/or total syllables in a passage of poetry | |
| metonymy | a word substitution | |
| paleography | study of ancient writing/penmanship | |
| parallelism | the logical balances and correspondences between lines of poetry | |
| paronomasia | a pun or a play on words or word roots | |
| Peshitta | the most common Syriac version of the OT | |
| prostaxis | the tendency to start all the clauses in a language in the same way (Hebrew uses prostactic וְ) | |
| Qinah meter | supposedly a three-accent + two-accent pattern used in dirges | |
| rîb form | a literary form (ריב) by which a nation is imagined to be taken to court, usually to be tried and found guilty | |
| Septuagint | Greek translation of the Hebrew OT originally made between about 250 and 100 BC, modified often | |
| Symmachus | independent, freestyle translation of the OT into Greek around AD 175; influenced Vulgate | |
| synecdoche | a part used for the whole, or vice versa | |
| synonymous | describing poetic parallelism in which the same essential concept is conveyed by two different wordings that are parallel to each other | |
| synthetic | describing poetic parallelism in which the first half of a complete assertion is paralleled and completed by the second half | |
| Talmud | huge Jewish rabbinical teaching collection: Mishnah (traditions) and Gemara (commentary on Mishnah), third to fifth centuries AD | |
| Targum | Aramaic translation of the OT (there are various sections, produced at various times, probably second to fifth centuries AD) | |
| terminus a quo | the earliest possible date for something | |
| terminus ad quem | the latest possible date for something | |
| Theodotion | Greek revision of the LXX toward the Hebrew, around AD 175; replaced the LXX in most Daniel manuscripts | |
| variant | a different reading | |
| Vulgate | free translation of the OT in Latin by Jerome, completed AD 405; replaced the older and often better Old Latin |
Quisition is a browser-based flashcard system that repeats old cards and introduces new ones at optimal time intervals. You can create your own card packs or use those developed by others.
