septuagint

See also: Septuagint

English

Etymology

From Latin septuaginta (“seven tens, 70”), chiefly under the influence of the Septuagint and the story of its team of translators, q.v.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /sɛpˈtuəd͡ʒənt/, /sɛpˈtjuəd͡ʒənt/, /ˈsɛpʃəwəˌd͡ʒɪnt/, /ˈsɛpt͡ʃəwəˌd͡ʒɪnt/, /ˈsɛptəwəˌd͡ʒɪnt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛptjʊəd͡ʒɪnt/, /ˈsɛptʃʊəd͡ʒɪnt/

Noun

septuagint (plural septuagints)

1. (now rare) A group of 70 people or a collection of 70 things.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 14: Oxen of the Sun]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 376:

     This tenebrosity of the interior, he proceeded to say, hath not been illumined by the wit of the septuagint nor so much as mentioned for the Orient from on high which brake hell’s gates visited a darkness that was foraneous.

References

• “Septuagint, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.