EXEGESIS
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌɛksᵻˈdʒiːsɪs/ , U.S. /ˌɛksəˈdʒisᵻs/ Etymology: < (i) post-classical Latin exegesis exposition (1537 in a British source; 1589 in specific mathematical use by F. Viète),
or its etymon (ii) ancient Greek ἐξήγησις statement, narrative, explanation, interpretation < ἐξηγεῖσθαι to interpret ( < ἐξ- ex- prefix2 + ἡγεῖσθαι to guide, lead: see hegumen n.) + -σις -sis suffix.
Compare French exégèse (1705), Italian esegesi (1797), and also Dutch exegese (1799 as exegése; < French), German Exegese (1528 in Luther, in early use with Latin inflectional endings).
†1. Chiefly with reference to scripture: a phrase, sentence, etc., which paraphrases or explains another. Also: the action or practice of using such a phrase, sentence, etc. Obs.
1600 Abp. G. Abbot Expos. Prophet Ionah xix. 415 The next verse as an Exegesis to the former, doth explane the difficultie.
a1638 J. Mede Christian Sacrif. v, in Wks. (1672) ii. 364 Κλάσις τοῦ ἄπτου and προσευχαὶ, Breaking of Bread and Prayers, are to be referred to κοινωνίᾳ Communion, as the Exegesis thereof.
1650 E. Leigh Annot. New Test. 217 The reason of the gemination, is not barely by way of exegesis; but to shew that not onely the Jewes, but the Syrians, the Greeks, and Latines, should call God Father.
1658 W. Parker Revindication 93 At the tenth and eleventh verses by way of exegesis he declares what that righteousness of Christ is which he so much longeth for.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word), Where we meet with Abba Pater, two Words the first Syriac, and the second Greek or Latin, but both signifying the same Thing; the second is only an Exegesis of the first.
1838 Methodist Mag. Jan. 106 These heavenly beings are ‘flames of fire’ as well as ‘spirits’. And one part of this passage cannot be taken as an exegesis of the other.
1866 J. S. Stone Christian Sacraments iv. 282 The phrase, ‘of Water and the Spirit’, is an exegesis of ἄνωθεν.
2. a. An explanation or interpretation of a text, esp. of scripture or a scriptural passage. Also more generally: a critical discourse or commentary.
1627 S. Kenrick Tell-Troth’s Reqvitall 6 This argument may bee illustrated with a two-fold Exegesis.
1657 A. Petrie Compend. Hist. Catholick Church iii. 167 At this time was published an Exegesis or Commentary, on thirteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul.
1706 J. Scott Diary 6 Mar. in J. Stevenson Two Cent. Life in Down (1920) vii. 160, I delivered before ye Presbytery..an Exegesis on De Sabbati Sanctificatione.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word), The Word Exegesis is also used for a whole Discourse by way of Explication, Comment, or Esclaircissement on any Thing.
1791 in Acts Gen. Assembly Church of Scotl. (1843) 27 Students shall..deliver in the Divinity Hall..an Exegesis in Latin on some controverted head in Divinity.
1832 M. Stuart Comm. Epist. Romans p. iv, I have taken an extensive range in consulting..exegeses contained in theological essays and systems.
1856 Rep. Joint Special Comm. Census of Boston 1855 64 It is not our intention here to give an exegesis on health.
1948 Philos. & Phenomenol. Res. 8 472 A brilliantly written exegesis of the New Testamental texts on Christian love in general and love of neighbor in particular.
1990 Dancing Times Oct. 36/2 We must..digest a long exegesis on Gorsky’s failures.
2012 G. T. Gilkes in G. Yancy Christology & Whiteness iii. 59 Wright, with an exegesis informed by black liberation theology, provided an iconoclastic, scholarly, and gritty approach [to John 4].
b. Explanation or interpretation of a text, esp. of scripture or a scriptural passage; spec. this as an academic discipline (cf. exegetics n.). Also more generally: critical discourse or commentary.
1770 W. Hooper tr. J. F. von Bielfeld Elements Universal Erudition I. i. iii. 33 By the word Exegesis they mean, that science which teaches clearly to investigate the true sense of the original text of the holy scriptures.
1791 Analyt. Rev. May 105 We must refer to the work itself, which we presume few, who make biblical exegesis their study, will fail to read.
1832 Biblical Repository July 550 Such a species of polemics, connecting itself with exegesis, and arising from the Scripture texts, cannot be altogether condemned.
1847 R. W. Hamilton Revealed Doctr. Rewards & Punishments 524 The exegesis of Scripture is conducted by instituting inquiry into what certain parties understood.
1857 W. E. Gladstone in Q. Rev. July 259 That most wretched consummation which reduces all exegesis to a profane and deluding art.
1873 M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma vi. 156 A very small experience of Jewish exegesis will convince us.
1918 J. F. Woodhull Teaching of Sci. ix. 161 The syllabus..like all codes of law, is capable of many interpretations and may by exegesis be made to justify all practices.
1952 M. McCarthy Groves of Academe (1953) x. 212 The true attitude of Eliot..was manifest in his disciples, who in all their voluminous New Criticism had given Joyce scarcely a word of exegesis.
2006 R. Chazan Jews of Medieval Western Christendom 103 Nahmanides was a major figure in both talmudic and biblical exegesis.
- Math. In full numeral exegesis. A procedure formerly used in the numerical solution of algebraic equations. Cf. exegetic adj. 3. Now hist. and rare.Quot. 2000 is a modern translation of a post-classical Latin MS text by N. Torporley (died 1632).
[1668 J. Glanvill Plus Ultra iv. 33 At length appears Vieta, who by..enriching the Analytical Art, by the Accessions of his Exegetice Numerosa, and Logistice Speciosa, he hath contributed infinite helps to Geometry.
1668 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 3 689 The Author declineth the Exegesis numerosa of Vieta, which following Writers use for the finding of the Roots of Æquations.]
?1683 Proposal printing Treat. Algebra by J. Wallis (R. Davis, Printer) 2 He [sc. Vieta] introduceth his Numeral Exegesis of affected Equations, extracting the Roots of these in Numbers. Which had before been applied to single Equations..but had not been applied to Equations affected.
1727 P. Ronayne Treat. Algebra i. xii. ii. 187, I must refer such Equations to be evolved by the numeral Exegesis, the converging Series, or by the Trisection of an Angle.
1867 C. Knight Eng. Cycl.: Arts & Sci. IV. 963 The exegesis was abandoned by Raphson and others, in favour of Newton’s form of operation.
2000 Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 54 472 First a treatise on surds… If it is useless to the numerical exegesis, why mention it? And if mentioned, it is not useless, so why omit it?
2007 M. Seltman & R. Goulding Thomas Harriot’s Artis Analyticae Praxis 22 Relying on the dexterity of his arithmetic, Harriot set about reshaping the Exegesis chiefly through two discoveries of his.
ALLEGORESIS
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌalᵻɡəˈriːsɪs/ , U.S. /ˌæləɡəˈrisᵻs/
Etymology: < ancient Greek ἀλληγορεῖν to interpret allegorically ( < ἀλλο- allo- comb. form + ἀγορεύειν to speak in public < ἀγορά agora n.1) + -sis suffix, after German Allegorese (mid 19th cent. or earlier), itself probably after Exegese exegesis n.
Explanation and exposition of allegorical meanings; allegorical interpretation. Also: this as a discipline or genre.
1870 T. L. Kingsbury tr. F. Delitzsch Comm. Epist. Hebrews II. (xi. 10) 239 The obscuring breath of philosophic speculation and allegoresis.
1953 W. R. Trask tr. E. R. Curtius European Lit. & Lat. Middle Ages xi. 205 Allegory becomes the basis of all textual interpretation… Here lie the roots of that which may be called medieval ‘allegorism’… Homeric allegoresis [Ger. Homerallegorese] had come into existence as a defense of Homer against philosophy.
1965 P. Dronke Medieval Lat. & Rise European Love Lyric v. 270 There is no trace of theological allegorêsis here.
1970 M. E. Goldsmith Mode & Meaning of ‘Beowulf’ ii. 35 Allegoresis provided a valuable means of extracting spiritual and moral nourishment from unpromising texts.
1986 N. & Q. Mar. 12/2 This allegoresis has the force of a riddle rather than of a solution to an allegorical problem.
2009 P. Marcinkiewicz Rhetoric in City i. 75 Quilligan claims that true allegorical narratives resist allegoresis, because they contain their own interpretation.
EISEGESIS
Pronunciation: /aɪsɪˈdʒiːsɪs/
Etymology: < Greek εἰς in, into + -egesis of exegesis n.
The interpretation of a word or passage (of the Scriptures) by reading into it one’s own ideas.
1892 N.Y. Evangelist 3 Mar. 4/4 (Funk), Dr. Elliot..held firmly to the doctrine that exegesis, and not ‘eisegesis’, is the province of the student of the Scriptures.
1924 H. E. Fosdick Mod. Use Bible iii. 87 The reformers..could use eisegesis instead of exegesis on many a passage which they thought they were literally interpreting.
1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Jan. 10/1 Fully aware of the perils of eisegesis, Dr. Grant pronounces quite firmly against any such reverence for philosophy or theology as would empty history of meaning.
EPEXEGESIS
Pronunciation: /ɛˌpɛksɪˈdʒiːsɪs/
Etymology: < Greek ἐπεξήγησις, < ἐπεξηγεῖσθαι , < ἐπί in addition + ἐξηγεῖσθαι to explain: see exegesis n.
The addition of a word or words to convey more clearly the meaning implied, or the specific sense intended, in a preceding word or sentence; a word or words added for this purpose.
1621 R. Montagu Diatribæ Hist. Tithes 163 The latter part of the Apostles assertion is an epexegesis, or explication, of the former.
a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) ii. 130 Primarily and literally, not Princes, but Prophets, which is an epexegesis of Anointed.
1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 4 Oct. 3/1 The above may be very sound epexegesis.
1889 M. B. Betham-Edwards in A. Young Trav. France (new ed.) p. xxxiii, These jottings of old age, interesting as they are, err on the side of redundancy and epexegesis.
PERIEGESIS
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌpɛrɪəˈdʒiːsɪs/ , U.S. /ˌpɛriəˈdʒisᵻs/
Forms: 16 periégesis, 18– periegesis.
Etymology: < Hellenistic Greek περιήγησις the action of leading about as a guide, a description such as that given by a guide, especially in work titles, already in ancient Greek denoting an outline < ancient Greek περι- peri- prefix + Hellenistic Greek ἥγησις leading ( < ancient Greek ἡγεῖσθαι to lead (see hegumen n.) + -σις -sis suffix; compare exegesis n.), after ancient Greek περιηγεῖσθαι to lead round. Compare post-classical Latin periegesis (6th cent.; already in classical Latin as a Greek word).
- A description of a place or region; a survey. Also in extended use. rare before 19th cent.
1627 B. Jonson in M. Drayton Battaile Agincourt sig. a1v, In thy admired Periégesis, Or vniversall circumduction Of all that reade thy Poly-Olbyon.
1857 J. W. Donaldson Christian Orthodoxy 228 The book of Joshua..actually mentions (xviii. 9) a periegesis of the Holy land ‘described by cities into seven parts in a book’.
1869 W. H. D. Adams Queen of Adriatic 29 (note) Scymnus..of Chios, wrote a Periegesis, or description of the earth, referred to and quoted by Stephanus and other writers.
1902 Cambr. Mod. Hist. I. 65 His [sc. Francis Bacon’s] own vast survey of knowledge..he modestly described as a coasting voyage or periegesis of the ‘New Intellectual World’.
1959 Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 79 155 He might have included the temple in the first stage of his periegesis of the agora.
2000 Jrnl. Rom. Stud. 90 186 Topographical texts like the periegesis of Greece by Pausanias.
†2. A journey or progress, a tour. Obs. rare.
1820 C. Lamb Two Races Men in Elia (1903) ii. 24 In his periegesis, or triumphant progress throughout this island.