hebdomad

English
WOTD – 7 July 2019

Etymology

From Late Latin hebdomada (“number seven; group of seven; seven days”), hebdomas (“number seven; seven days; seventh day”), from Ancient Greek ἑβδομάς (hebdomás, “group of seven, especially seven days or seven years”),[1] from ἑπτά (heptá, “seven”) + -ᾰ́ς (-ás, “suffix forming abstract nouns of number from numerals”). The word is cognate with French hebdomadaire, hebdo (“weekly periodical”), hebdomadairement (“weekly”), Portuguese hebdomadário (“weekly periodical”), Spanish hebdomadario (“weekly; weekly periodical; hebdomadary”).

Pronunciation

Noun

hebdomad (plural hebdomads)

  1. (obsolete) A group of seven.
    • 1650, Robert Persons, “That the Service which God Requireth of Man in This Present Life, is Religion. […]”, in A Christian Directory, Guiding Men to Eternall Salvation, Commonly Called the Resolution. […], [London?: s.n.], OCLC 1066851943, page 153:
      God was now to deliver them, from the bodily captivity of Babylon: ſo was he alſo after ſeventy hebdomades more, to deliver them from bondage of ſin and prevarication, and that by the anointed Meſſias, which is indeed the Holy of Holies. This (I ſay) may be the reaſon of naming ſeventy Hebdomades, thereby to allude to the number of the ſeventy years of that Babylonicall ſervitude. For that immediately after the Angel appointeth the whole exact number to be threeſcore and nine Hebdomades; that is, ſeven to the building of the City and Temple, and threeſcore and two, from that, to the death of Chriſt, in theſe words. […]
    • 1829 October 3, Philo; Thomas Taylor, transl., “On the Properties of the Hebdomad, or Number Seven”, in The Mechanics’ Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal, and Gazette, volume XII, number 321, London: Published by M. Salmon, […], published 1830, OCLC 183222409, page 157, column 2:
      Let us now pass to the other species of the hebdomad, which is comprehended in the decad, and which exhibits an admirable nature no less than the former hebdomad. This, therefore, is composed of one, two, and four, which possess two most harmonic ratios, the duple and the quadruple; the former of which forms the symphony diapason, and the latter the symphony desdiapason.
    • 1840, William Rowe Lyall, “Lecture XV. The Proof by which the Institution of the Gospel Covenant was Demonstrated.—(Conclusion.)”, in Propædia Prophetica. A View of the Use and Design of the Old Testament: […], London: Printed for J. G. F. & J. Rivington, […], OCLC 6245014, page 311:
      From the seventh of Artaxerxes to the death of Christ, are exactly seventy hebdomads complete. From the same epoch to the commencement of John's ministry, are exactly sixty-nine hebdomads. […] From the coming of Christ, that is, from the first preaching of the Gospel, to the destruction of Jerusalem, are seven hebdomads; and this event happened exactly at the end of the first half of the seventh hebdomad, which "sacrifice and oblation" visibly ceased.
    • 1848, B[enjamin] W[ills] Newton, “Remarks on the Prophetic Statements of Mr. Fleming”, in Aids to Prophetic Enquiry, London: James Nisbet and Co. […], OCLC 844228959, page 14:
      The word "hebdomad" stands in the same relation to seven, that "decad" does to ten, or our English word "dozen" to twelve. As therefore we can say a dozen of days, or a dozen of months, or a dozen of years, so we can say, a hebdomad of days, (i.e. seven days,) or a hebdomad of months, (i.e. seven months,) or a hebdomad of years, (i.e. seven years.)
    • 1865, W[illiam] B[rown] Galloway, “The Septuagint Version of Daniel ix. 24–27, from the Codex Chisianus, […]”, in The Shadow on the Sundial: A Letter to the Lord Bishop of London, […], London: Bell and Daldy, […]; Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, & Co., OCLC 222836458, page 54:
      Irenæus remarks that half a hebdomad, being three years and a half, applies to the time of Antichrist. But, if so, that brings it into connexion with Daniel's other prophecy of the "little horn," into whose hand the saints were given for "a time and times and the dividing of time." Dan[iel] vii. 25. The fathers interpreted this horn of Antichrist, and rightly so: and St. John has furnished us with various expressions of this period, as 1260 days, or 42 months, which are equivalent to half a hebdomad.
    • 2011, Sarah Klitenic Wear, “In Tim[aeus] Fr[agment] 16”, in The Teachings of Syrianus on Plato’s Timaeus and Parmenides (Ancient Mediterranean and Medieval Texts and Contexts; Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition; 10), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, ISSN 1871-188X, page 147:
      In Platonic Theology V. 4.19 ff., Proclus further relates that Plato divided the Soul into one circle and seven circles—a monad and hebdomad. […] Proclus stresses the relationship between the circles of the monad and hebdomad by explaining that the monad is the whole soul which precedes the hebdomad (In Tim. 267.10–15).
    • 2018, Stephen J. Shoemaker, quoting Khosrow II, “Awaiting the End of the World in Early Byzantium: Shifting Imperial Fortunes and Firm Eschatological Faith”, in The Apocalypse of Empire: Imperial Eschatology in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 77:
      The Babylonian race will hold the Roman state in its power for a threefold cycle hebdomad of years. Thereafter the Romans will enslave the Persians in the fifth hebdomad of years.
  2. A period of seven days; a week.
    • 1662, [Joseph Glanvill], “Daily Creation of Souls is Inconsistent with the Divine Attributes”, in Lux Orientalis, or An Enquiry into the Opinion of the Eastern Sages, Concerning the Præexistence of Souls. […], London: Printed, and are to be sold at Cambridge, and Oxford, OCLC 863494204; republished in Two Choice and Useful Treatises: The One Lux Orientalis; […]. The Other, A Discourse of Truth, […], London: Printed for James Collins and Sam[uel] Lowndes […], 1682, OCLC 801391281, pages 14–15:
      For that ſaying of our Saviour, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work, is by the moſt judicious underſtood of the works of preſervation and providence: Thoſe of creation being concluded within the firſt Hebdomade, accordingly as is expreſt in the Hiſtory, that God on the ſeventh day reſted from all his works.
    • 1853, J[ohn] Newton Brown; W[illia]m B[enjamin] Taylor, “The Abrogation of the Sabbath. Reply to ‘J[ohn] N[ewton] B[rown]’”, in The Obligation of the Sabbath: A Discussion between Rev. J. Newton Brown, and Wm. B. Taylor, Philadelphia, Pa.: A[braham] Hart, late Carey and Hart, OCLC 771308232, pages 115 and 121:
      [page 115] The truth is, "we discover no trace of a Sabbath" even among those oriental nations which had the hebdomade or week: but to the Greeks, the week itself was unknown!—their smallest interval being the decade or period of ten days. […] [page 121] Making due allowance for the natural exaggeration of an apologist, the substance of this statement expresses a well-recognized fact in Roman history. "The institution of the Hebdomade" (introduced about the date of the Christian era) did travel almost throughout the empire.
  3. (Gnosticism) A group of seven world-creating archons (supernatural beings) often regarded as somewhat hostile; also, a term of address for the Demiurge (“a being sometimes seen as the creator of evil”).

Alternative forms

Derived terms

Translations
period of seven days — see week

References
  1. “hebdomad, hebdomade, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1898.

Further reading
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