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Bible Lexicons
Old & New Testament Greek Lexical Dictionary Greek Lexicon
Strong's #540 - ἀπάτωρ
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- whose father is not recorded in the genealogies
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ἀπάτωρ [πᾰ], ορος, ὁ, ἡ, (πατήρ)
1. without father, of deities, αὐτοπάτωρ, ἀ. Orph. H. 10.10; ἀ... ἀμήτωρ Nonn. D. 41.53, cf. Hebrews 7:3; fatherless, orphan, ἀοίκους ἀπάτοράς τε S. Tr. 300; ἀμήτωρ ἀ. τε E. Ion 109 (lyr.); ἀ. πότμος Id. IT 864 (lyr.), cf. Vett.Val. 103.35: neut. pl., ἀπάτορα τέκεα E. HF 114 (lyr.); disowned by the father, Pl. Lg. 929a: also c. gen., ἀ. ἐμοῦ not having me for a father, S. OC 1383.
2. of unknown father, like σκότιος, Plu. 2.288e, PGrenf. 2.56.3 (ii A. D.).
ἀπάτωρ, ἀπατορος, ὁ, ἡ (πατήρ), a word which has almost the same variety of senses as ἀμήτωρ, which see; (from Sophocles down); (without father i. e.) whose father is not recorded in the genealogies: Hebrews 7:3.
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* ἀπάτωρ , -ορος , ὁ , ὴ
(< ἀ - neg., πατήρ );
1. fatherless.
2. without father (MM, VGT, s.v.), i.e., with no recorded genealogy: Hebrews 7:3.†
Copyright © 1922 by G. Abbott-Smith, D.D., D.C.L.. T & T Clarke, London.
The word is common in papyri in such a formula as BGU I. 88.4 (ii/A.D.) Χαιρή (μων) ἀπάτωρ μητ (ρὸς) Θασῆτος, ib. III. 971.13 (ii/A.D.) Θερμουθάριον ἀπάτορα μ (ητρὸς) [Θερμουθαρίου ]. Krebs (Aus den Papyrus d. Königlichen Museen, p. 160) renders BGU II. 410.13 (A.D. 159–60) Ἰσάρι [ο ]ν ἀπάτωρα μητρὸς Τανεφ [ρ ]έμμεως, as ";the illegitimate daughter of Tanephremmis,"; and ib. 392.10 (A.D. 208) Πᾶις ἀ (πάτωρ) μητ (ρὸς) Τελβάβε ̣ω ̣ς, as ";Pais, father unknown"; (p. 175). The editors translate similarly in P Fay 39.5 (A.D. 183) and in P Tebt II. 397.11 (A.D. 198). Without the mother’s name we have P Ryl I. 12.2 (A.D. 250) Δημῶτος ἀπάτορος, and P Lond 1170.339 (iii/A.D.) (= III. p. 98) Πολυδεύκους ἀπάτορος, also 496 Σ ̣ω ̣τήριδος ̣ [ἀπ ]άτορος —in a long list of names in which the rest have the father’s name given : we must assume the same sense. It does not seem to be used for ";fatherless."; See Archiv ii. p. 97. Deissmann (LAE p. 39 f.) has drawn attention to the fact that so far back as 1808 W. Sturz (in his De Dialecto Macedonica et Alexandrina Liber, Lipsiae, p. 146 f.) made use of the Charta Borgiana (the first papyrus ever brought to Europe, in 1778) to explain the use of ἀ. in Hebrews 7:3. That a word meaning ";father unknown"; should be available for use in a passage where the thought is so far from the beaten track, is quite natural; the ἀμήτωρ following, which by association shares its special sense, protected ἀπάτωρ from its common implication.
Copyright © 1914, 1929, 1930 by James Hope Moulton and George Milligan. Hodder and Stoughton, London.
Derivative Copyright © 2015 by Allan Loder.
