Philo Judaeus, De Opificio Mundi, Charles Duke Yonge (Translator), 127

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[127] On which account it appears to me that they also originally gave letters their names, and acting as became wise men, did give the name to the number seven from the respect¹ they had for it, and from regard to the dignity inherent in it. But the Romans, adding the letter S, which had been omitted by the Greeks, show still more conspicuously the correct etymological meaning of the word, calling it septem, as derived from σεμνὸς, venerable, as has been said before, and from σεβασμὸς, veneration.

De Opificio Mundi. Philo Judaeus. Charles Duke Yonge (Translator). Germany. 2023-08-01.

Current edition First1KGreek

On the Creation of the World (English) (The works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus, volume 1. Yonge, C. D., translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.)

Editions (1)

De Opificio Mundi First1KGreek (Philo Judaeus. Opera que supersunt, Volume 1. Cohn, Leonard, editor. Berlin: Reimer, 1896.) — 127 focus

[127] διό μοι δοκοῦσιν οἱ τὰ ὀνόματα τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπιφημίσαντες ἅτε σοφοὶ καλέσαι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἑπτὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ περὶ αὐτὸν σεβασμοῦ καὶ τῆς προσούσης σεμνότητος· Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ καὶ προστιθέντες τὸ ἐλλειφθὲν ὑφ’
Ἑλλήνων στοιχεῖον τὸ Σ τρανοῦσιν ἔτι μᾶλλον τὴν ἔμφασιν, ἐτυμώτερον σέπτεμ προσαγορεύοντες ἀπὸ τοῦ σεμνοῦ, καθάπερ ἐλέχθη, καὶ σεβασμοῦ.

¹²

Notes on the current edition

On the Creation of the World

1. The word used is σεβασμὸς, as if ἐβδομὰς were derived from that; and the Romans formed septem from ἑπτὰ, by the addition of s.

Philo Judaeus De Opificio Mundi 127

Charles Duke Yonge (Translator)

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