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”), 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

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛbdəmæd/

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• Hyphenation: heb‧do‧mad

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, 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, “On the Properties of the Hebdomad, or Number Seven”, in Thomas Taylor, transl., The Mechanics’ Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal, and Gazette, volume XII, number 321, London: Published by M. Salmon, […], published 1830, →OCLC, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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. (historical or Christianity) 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; 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, 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, 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”).
   • 1868, Hippolytus of Rome, chapter XIV, in J. H. MacMahon, transl., edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, The Refutation of All Heresies, by Hippolytus: […] (Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325; VI (Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome)), volume I, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, […]; London: Hamilton & Co.; Dublin: John Robertson & Co., →OCLC, book VII (Of the Refutation of All Heresies), page 284:

     When, then, the Great Archon had been orally instructed, and every creature of the Ogdoad had been orally instructed and taught, and [after] the mystery became known to the celestial [powers], it was also necessary that afterwards the Gospel should come to the Hebdomad, in order likewise that the Archon of the Hebdomad might be similarly instructed and indoctrinated into the Gospel.

   • 1877, Fenton John Anthony Hort, “Basilides”, in William Smith, Henry Wace, editors, A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines: […], volumes I (A–D), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, →OCLC, page 273, column 1:

     The light came down from the Hebdomad upon Jesus the Son of Mary. That this descent of the light was represented as taking place at the Annunciation, and not merely at the Baptism, is clearly implied in the express reference to the words of the angel in Luke i. 35, "A Holy Spirit shall come upon thee," [...]

Alternative forms

• hebdomade

Derived terms

• hebdomadal
• hebdomadally
• hebdomadary
• hebdomadic
• hebdomadiversary

 

Translations

period of seven days — see week

group of seven world-creating archons

term of address for the Demiurge

Further reading

• hebdomad (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia