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Old & New Testament Greek Lexical Dictionary Greek Lexicon
Strong's #2903 - κράτιστος
- Thayer
- Strong
- Mounce
- mightiest, strongest, noblest, most illustrious, best, most excellent
- used in addressing men of prominent rank or office
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did not use
this Strong's Number
κρᾰτιστ-ος, η, ον,
κάρτ- (as always in Hom.),
1. isolated Superl. from κρατύς, strongest, mightiest, Il. 1.266, etc.; θεῶν κ., i.e. Zeus. Pi. O. 14.13; κ. Ἑλλήνων, i.e. Achilles, S. Ph. 3: in Prose, εἰ τοὺς κ. ἐνικήσαμεν Th. 7.67; Λημνίων τὸ κ. the best of their men, Id. 5.8; τὸ δυνάμεως κ. the strength or flower of.., X. Cyr. 6.1.28, etc.; of things, καρτίστην.. μάχην fiercest fight, Il. 6.185; δεσμὸς κ. Ti.Locr. 99a.
2. generally, best, most excellent, as Sup. of ἀγαθός, Pi. I. 1.17, S. Ant. 1050, etc.: colloquially, "" ἄνδρα κ. εἰπών Thphr. Char. 5.2; οἱ κράτιστοι the aristocracy, X. HG 7.1.42, v. ἀγαθός 1; τὰ κ. τῆς χώρας ib. 3.4.20. as a title or mode of address, κράτιστε Θεόφιλε Luke 1:3; esp. = Lat. egregius, ὁ κ. ἡγεμών PFay. p.33 (i A.D.); ὁ κ. ἐπίτροπος BGU 891 (ii A.D.); ἡ κ., of a woman of the equester ordo, IG 14. 1346; also, = Lat. clarissimus, of Senators, ὁ κ. ἀνθὐπατος ib.9(1).61; ὁ κ. συγκλητικός IGRom. 3.581, etc.; ἡ κ. βουλή POxy. 2108.6 (iii A. D.). with modal words added, κ. τὴν ψυχήν Th. 2.40; πάντων πάντα κ. best of all in.., X. An. 1.9.2; ἔν τινι Id. Mem. 3.4.5; εἴς τι Pl. Phlb. 67b; περί τι Id. Plt. 257a; πρός τι X. HG 3.4.16: c. inf., best at doing, Th. 2.81, Pl. Phdr. 267d, X. Mem. 1.4.1, etc.: c. part., τῶν ἡλίκων κ. εἶναι ἀκοντίζων καὶ τοξεύων Id. Cyr. 1.3.15.
3. neut. folld. by inf., φυγέειν κάρτιστον to flee were best, Od. 12.120, cf. E. El. 379, Ar. Eq. 80, etc.: in pl., κράτιστα.. ἑλεῖν E. Med. 384: abs., ὅπερ κ. the main point, Th. 1.143.
4. Adv. usages, ἀπὸ τοῦ κρατίστου in all good faith, Plb. 8.17.4; κατὰ τὸ κ. D.H. 2.22: neut. pl. κράτιστα as Adv., X. HG 3.4.16, Ages. 1.25. — The Comp. in use is κρείσσων (q.v.).
κράτιστος, κρατίστη, κράτιστον, superlative of the adjective κρατύς (κράτος) (from (Homer) Pindar down), mightiest, strongest, noblest, most illustrious, best, most excellent: vocative κράτιστε used in addressing men of conspicuous rank or office, Acts 23:26; Acts 24:3; Acts 26:25, (Otto, De ep. ad Diognetum etc. Jena 1845, p. 79ff, and in his Epist. ad Diognet. Leips. edition, p. 53f, has brought together examples from later writings). Perhaps also it served simply to express friendship in Luke 1:3 (as in Theophrastus, char. 5; Dionysius Halicarnassus, de oratt. 1; Josephus, Antiquities 4, 6, 8), because in Acts 1:1 it is omitted in addressing the same person. Cf. Grimm in Jahrbb. f. deutsche Theol. for 1871, p. 50f.
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κράτιστος , -η , -ον ,
superl, of κρατύς (Hom.),
1. strongest, mightiest (Hom.).
2. noblest, best (cf. κρείσσων ), most excellent (find., Soph., al.): voc., κρατίστε , as title of honour and respect (DCG, ii, 727a), Luke 1:3, Acts 23:26; Acts 24:3; Acts 26:25.†
Copyright © 1922 by G. Abbott-Smith, D.D., D.C.L.. T & T Clarke, London.
κράτιστος (egregius) is very common as an honorific title in addressing persons of exalted rank, much as we use ";Your Excellency,"; e.g. P Fay 117.5 (A.D. 108)—a prefect, P Tebt II. 411.5 (ii/A.D.)—an epistrategus, P Oxy X. 1274.10 (iii/A.D.)—a procurator, al. [By the end of the third century the title was applied to persons of less importance, e.g. a ducenarius in P Oxy XIV. 1711.4 : see the editors’ note on ib. 1643.2.] This corresponds with the usage in Acts 23:26; Acts 24:3; Acts 26:25, and possibly Luke 1:3, though in this last case the word may be simply a form of courteous address. If, however, it is regarded here also as official, it is very unlikely that Theophilus was at the time a Christian, ";since,"; as Zahn (Introd. iii. p. 42) has pointed out, ";there is no instance in the Christian literature of the first two centuries where a Christian uses a secular title in addressing another Christian, to say nothing of a title of this character."; On the title as applied to the βουλή of Antinoë in BGU IV. 1022.1 (A.D. 196) see Wilcken in Archiv iii. p. 301, and cf. the introd. to P Strass I. 43. The adj. is never found as a true superlative in the NT, but is so found in literary books of the LXX (cf. Thackeray Gr. i. p. 185) : cf. BGU IV. 1118.11 (B.C. 22) τῶν ὄντων ἐν τῶι κήπωι τὰ κράτιστα καὶ βέλτιστα.
Copyright © 1914, 1929, 1930 by James Hope Moulton and George Milligan. Hodder and Stoughton, London.
Derivative Copyright © 2015 by Allan Loder.
