Bible Lexicons

This old and once common word is unexpectedly rare in papyri. P Strass I. 52.5 (.14) (A.D. 151) concerns 25/6 arourae of ";catoecic land,"; ἃς καὶ παρα ̣[δώσει ἡ δεδανισμ ]ε ̣νη κατ᾽ ἀγρὸν σπ [ορί ]μας, ";will transfer these as they lie in good condition for sowing,"; as the edd. render the same formula in P Ryl II. 164.5 (A.D. 171) : Preisigke, ";in einem land-wirtschaftlich brauchbaren Zustande, saatfähig."; The same connotation of ";agricultural land"; appear in a few instances we can quote. P Amh II. 68.57 (i/A.D.) τῆς νυνεὶ κατ᾽ ἀγρὸν θεωρίας. Ib. 134.5 (ii/A.D.) ὄντα ἐν ἀγρῷ μετὰ τῶν θρεμμάτων, ";in the fields with the cattle";; and as late as iv/A.D., ib. 143.4 ὁ γὰρ ἀγρὸς Ἀβίου ἐξῆλθεν εἰς σπ [ο ]ράν. In P Oxy III. 506.42 (A.D. 143) ἀπογράφεσθαί τινα ἐπὶ τῶν ἀγρῶν, ";register any one as owning those lands"; : ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀγροῦ has apparently been erased. Ib. VI. 967 (ii/A.D.) καλῶς δὲ ποιήσεις ἐπιστείλασα εἰς ἀγρὸν ἄρξασθαι τῶν εἰς τοὺς ἀμπελῶνας ποτισμῶν. P Eleph 13.6 (B.C. 223–2), περὶ δὲ τοῦ οἰναρίου Πραξιάδης οὔπω εἰσελήλυθεν ἐξ ἀγροῦ : this resembles the ἀπ᾽ ἀγροῦ (";from field labour"; probably) in Mark 15:21. Apart from one Byzantine document, the two instances quoted are the only occurrences of ἀγρός in P Oxy I.–X., and in the indices to P Fay, P Hib, P Tebt, P Grenf and the Revenue Law it never appears at all, nor in vols. III. and IV. of BGU. It is not worth while to present the scattered instances that are found in some other collections. Crönert’s remark that ἀγρός is obsolete in MGr, except in Cyprian, having been progressively supplanted by χώρα and χωρίον, falls into line with its relative infrequency in the papyri. It is, however, very common throughout the LXX, and in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 16:1-28, Mark 8:1-38, Luke 9:1-62). In Acts it only comes once, and it may be significant that Luke has χώρα (Luke 12:16; Luke 21:21) or χωρίον (Acts 1:18 f. , Acts 4:34; Acts 5:3; Acts 5:8; Acts 28:7) where ἀγρός might have been expected. So also John 4:35; John 4:5, James 5:4. It is difficult to draw a clear inference, but it looks as if for some reason ἀγρός was a favourite word with translators from Hebrew or Aramaic. We shall meet with other words, rare or comparatively rare in vernacular documents, which have secured a good deal of space in bibl. concordances in this way.

 

άγρια αγροί αγροίς αγρον αγρόν άγρον ἀγρόν ἀγρὸν αγρος αγρός ἀγρός ἀγρὸς αγρου αγρού άγρου ἀγροῦ αγρους αγρούς ἀγρούς ἀγροὺς αγρω αγρώ ἀγρῷ αγρων αγρών ἀγρῶν agro agrō agrôi agrō̂i agron agrón agròn agrôn agrōn agrō̂n agros agrós agròs agrou agroû agrous agroús agroùs