Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• προφάτας ‎(prophátas) Doric, Boeotian

Noun

προφήτης • ‎(prophḗtēs) m ‎(genitive προφήτου); first declension

1. one who speaks for and interprets the will of a god: prophet, seer
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 19

     Διὸς προφήτης δ᾽ ἐστὶ Λοξίας πατρός

     But Loxias is the spokesman of Zeus, his father.

2. one of the keepers of the oracle at Branchidae
3. priest at an Egyptian temple
4. one who interprets the ravings of an μάντις ‎(mántis, “oracle”)
   • 360 BCE, Plato, Timaeus 72.a

     ὅθεν δὴ καὶ τὸ τῶν προφητῶν γένος ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐνθέοις μαντείαις κριτὰς ἐπικαθιστάναι νόμος

     Wherefore also it is customary to set the tribe of prophets to pass judgement upon these inspired divinations.

5. interpreter, proclaimer
   • 405 BCE, Euripides, The Bacchae 211

     ἐπεὶ σὺ φέγγος, Τειρεσία, τόδ᾽ οὐχ ὁρᾷς, ἐγὼ προφήτης σοι λόγων γενήσομαι

     Since you do not see this light, Teiresias, I will be your interpreter.

6. (Christianity) prophet
   • New Testament, First Epistle to the Corinthians 14.32

     καὶ πνεύματα προφητῶν προφήταις ὑποτάσσεται

     The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

7. herbalist
   • Ps.-Dsc. 1.10

Inflection

Derived terms

Synonyms

• προφήτωρ ‎(prophḗtōr)

Descendants

• English: prophet
• Gothic: 𐍀𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍆𐌴𐍄𐌴𐍃 ‎(praufētēs)
• Greek: προφήτης ‎(profítis)
• Latin: prophēta

References

• προφήτης in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• προφήτης in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• «προφήτης» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• “G4396”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English-Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • diviner idem, page 244.
  • exponent idem, page 295.
  • interpreter idem, page 452.
  • prophet idem, page 653.

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek προφήτης ‎(prophḗtēs).

Noun

προφήτης • ‎(profítis) m ‎(plural προφήτες)

1. prophet

Declension

Derived terms

• προφητεία f ‎(profiteía, “prophecy”)
• προφητεύω ‎(profitévo, “to predict”)
• προφητικός ‎(profitikós, “prophetic”)

External links

• προφήτης on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el