Bible Lexicons

On the ground of Phrynichus’ statement, supported by Lobeck’s citations (Lob. Phryn. p. 198), that the ";multitude,"; as distinguished from Attic writers, use λόγιος of the man who is ";skilful and lofty"; in speech (ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ λέγουσιν ἐπὶ τοῦ δεινοῦ εἰπεῖν καὶ ὑψηλοῦ), Moulton (Cambridge Essays, p. 498 f.) prefers the AV rendering ";eloquent"; (Vg eloquens) to the RV ";learned"; (marg. ";eloquent";) in Acts 18:24, laying it down as ";a fair working rule that a meaning condemned by these modistes of literature, Phrynichus and his company, may be accepted as probably intended by the New Testament writer."; Field (Notes, p. 129) takes the same line. The papyrus and inscriptional evidence, which is unfortunately for the most part late, does not help us much. Thus P Oxy VI. 902.1 (c. A.D. 465) τῷ λογιωτάτῳ σχολαστικῷ may be either ";to the most learned"; or ";to the most eloquent advocate,"; and similarly with the same phrase in P Flor III. 377.18 (vi/A.D.) and BGU III. 836.7 (time of Justinian). In P Oxy I. 126.6 (A.D. 572) a woman refers to her father as τ [οῦ σ ]οφωτάτου σχολαστικοῦ, and her husband as τοῦ λογιω [τά ]του μου συμβίου, where the latter adj. is probably to be taken in a somewhat general sense, as perhaps also in OGIS 408.5 (ii/A.D.) ἐπ᾽ ἀγαθῷ Φιλοπάππου τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ Μαξίμου Στατιλίου ἰδίου λόγου, τῶν λογιωτάτων καὶ φιλτάτων. On the other hand on Cagnat IV. 77 λογίω πρυτάνιος, the editor notes : ";inter prytanes, qui senatui civitatis quoque anno per vices praeerant, is vocabatur λόγιος cui mandata erat rationum cura."; Cf. Michel 1170 (i/A.D.) ἄρχοντος Πυρράκου τοῦ λογίου. Perhaps some such general phrase as ";a man of culture"; best gives the sense in the Acts passage (cf. Bartlet. ad. l. in the Century Bible, and Moffatt). For λογιότης as a title of address see P Lips I. 37.24 (A.D. 389) ἐπιδίδωμι τῇ σῇ λογιότητι τούσδε μου τοὺς λιβέλλου [ς : cf. BGU II. 401.12, .21 (A.D. 618). In MGr λόγιος = ";learned,"; ";a scholar.";