Bible Lexicons

(1) The following may serve as exx. of this very common word = ";a child";—P Amh II. 35.55 (B.C. 132) ὑπέρ τε τοῦ βα (σιλέως) καὶ τῶν βα (σιλι)κῶν τέκνων, P Tor II. 11.11 ἕτερα τέκνα, ";a second family,"; BGU IV. 1097.23 (time of Claudius/Nero) τὴν ̣ μητέρα καὶ Δη ̣μη ̣τ ̣ριν καὶ τὰ τέ [κ ]να αὐτοῦ ἀσπάζ ̣ο ̣υ ̣, BGU I. 234.34 (c. A.D. 70–80) ὥσπερ ἰδ [ί ]ων τέκνων, P Lond 897.28 (A.D. 84) (= III. p. 207) μέλει σοι πολλὰ περὶ ἐμοῦ μελ [ήσε ]ι σοι δὲ ὡς ὑπὲρ ἰδίου τέκνου, P Oxy II. 237viii. 36 (A.D. 186) ἡ δὲ κτῆσις μετὰ θάνατον τοῖς τέκνοις κεκράτηται, ";but the right of ownership after their death has been settled upon the children"; (Edd.), and BGU II. 419.15 (A.D. 276–7) οὐκ ἐπελεύσομα [ι ] περὶ αὐτῶν το [ύτ ]ων οὐδὲ οὐδεὶς τῶν παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ οὐδὲ τέκνον τ [έ ]κνου. As showing the oppression of the Egyptian middle-class, we may note the case of a certain Pamonthius, whose children had been seized by his creditors—οἵτινες οἱ ἀνελεήμονες ἐκε ̣ῖνοι καὶ ἄθεοι ἀπέσπασαν τὰ πάν ̣τ ̣α τὰ ἑαυτοῦ τέκνα νήπια κομιδῇ, ";who, those pitiless and godless men, carried off all his children, being yet quite in their infancy"; (Bell) (P Lond 1915.28—A.D. 330–340).

(2) Τέκνον is also used as a form of kindly address, even in the case of grown-up persons—P Oxy I. 33i. 11 (late ii/A.D.) τρέχε, τέκνον, τελεύτα, P Giss I. 12.5 (letter to a strategus— ii/A.D.) παρακαλῶ σε οὖν, τέκνον, . . . ἐντυπήν (";pattern";) μοι πέμψον, similarly ib. 21.20 (time of Trajan) ἔρρωσο τέκ ̣ν ̣ο ̣ν, and P Oxy VII. 1063.1 (ii/iii A.D.) χαίροις, τέκνον Ἀμόι, ";greeting, my son Amoïs!";

(3) Schaeffer ad P Iand 13.8 has brought together various exx. of τέκνον and υἱός, e.g. P Gen I. 74.1 ff. (iii/A.D.) Ἡραῒς Ἀγριππ [ί ]νῳ τῷ υἱῷ πλεῖστα χ (αίρειν). πρὸ μὲν πάντων εὔχομαί σε ὑγειαίνειν καὶ προκόπτειν. γείνωσκε, τέκνον, ἀπεληλυθέναι ἐμέ, P Amh II. 136.1 f. (iii/A.D.) Ἀπίων Ὡρίωνι τῶι υἱῶι χαίρειν. . . . 4 γράφω σοι, τέκνον, and P Oxy VI. 930.18 (ii/iii A.D.) ὥστε οὖν, τέκνον, μελησάτω σοι, and on the verso Πτολεμαίῳ υἱῶι.

(4) For the Hebraistic idiom underlying the use of τέκνον with genitives of quality, as in Ephesians 5:8 τέκνα φωτός, see Deissmann BS p. 161 ff., and s.v. υἱός.