*geiwri/sai.
This is the aorist active infinitive of an otherwise unattested verb
geiwri/zw, formed from the Hebrew word for proselyte, used as a borrowing in Greek, with the suffix
izw. The related noun
geiw/ras (see
gamma 218) is a borrowing of the technical term גר ("ger") in Hebrew. In Biblical Hebrew, גר means "sojourner", but it comes to mean someone not born Jewish but converted to Judaism (
Philo 1.417,
Isaiah 14.1), leading to the technical term גיור ("giur", conversion).
Hesychius defines the plural as "neighbors joined to Israel from another race, proselytes" (his gamma282, cf. the use by
Moses at
Exodus 12.19 (cf. 49), to distinguish them from those "born in the land"). The term is discussed in commentaries on
Isaiah 14.1 by
Eusebius (1.68.4) and Theodoret (5.206f.), and appears in the name of
Simon son of (the) Gioras. The word gradually gives way to the Greek synonym,
prosh/lutos, as in
Matthew 23.15, where Jesus seems to imply discrimination when he attacks the "scribes and Pharisees, ... for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves" (KJV).
Robert Dyer (Altered translation to reflect etymology and use, added note, raised status) on 18 December 2002@04:13:57.
Robert Dyer (Cosmetic) on 18 December 2002@04:18:21.
Raphael Finkel (Added Hebrew references.) on 18 December 2002@10:29:51.
Ross Scaife ✝ (removed malformed betacode for the noun form) on 18 December 2002@11:00:41.
Raphael Finkel (Fixed translation. Raised vetting level.) on 19 December 2002@11:59:45.
David Whitehead (x-ref; another keyword; cosmetics) on 7 June 2012@04:21:10.
David Whitehead on 28 September 2015@03:16:51.
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