presbytern.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin presbyter elder, Jewish or Christian elder (Vetus Latina, Vulgate: see note below) < Hellenistic Greek πρεσβύτερος elder, (in New Testament) elder of the Jewish council or Sanhedrin, elder of the apostolic church, use as noun of ancient Greek πρεσβύτερος (adjective) older, elder < πρέσβυς (ancient Greek (Cretan) πρεῖγυς ) old man ( < an ablaut variant (e -grade) of the Indo-European base of πρός (see prosody n.); perhaps comparable to Sanskrit purogava leader) + -τερος , comparative suffix (see other adj.). Compare Anglo-Norman presbiter priest (end of the 14th cent. or earlier; French presbytre priest in the early Christian church (1869 in Littré; mid 17th cent. as †presbyter ; rare)), Spanish presbitero priest (13th cent. or earlier), Italian presbitero priest in the early Christian church, in later use also priest in general (a1536), and also Old Frisian presbiter (West Frisian presbyter ), all rare learned borrowings < post-classical Latin. With sense 2 compare earlier Presbyterian n.The Vulgate regularly renders Greek πρεσβύτερος , πρεσβύτεροι by Latin senior , (plural) seniores , except in Acts 20:17, 22:5, where it has majores natu , and in Acts 14:23, 15:2, 1 Timothy 5:17, 19, Titus 1:5, James 5:14, where the Greek form is retained as presbyter , presbyteri . The same men who in Acts 15:2 are called apostoli et presbyteri , are called in verses 4, 6, 22, 23 apostoli et seniores ; the Greek having uniformly ἀπόστολοι και πρεσβύτεροι . The Wycliffite Bible variously renders these Latin equivalents by (1) (singular) elder man , (plural) eldre men , eldere men , and (in the book of Revelation) senyoures , (2) the more thorw birth , the more in birth , the grettest men of birthe , and (3) prestis ; especially in the book of Revelation, the translations in particualr passages sometimes differ between the earlier and later versions. The 16th- and 17th-cent. English versions from the Greek, and the Revised Version, uniformly have elder , elders , in every instance. The Rheims New Testament (1582) has priest wherever the Vulgate has presbyter ; in other places regularly auncients ; but, from 1 Peter onward (18 places), senior , seniors . Despite the prevalence of Latin senior in the Vulgate, presbyter became the official post-classical Latin name of the ecclesiastical order. It entered the Romance languages in forms showing regular phonological development, and thence was borrowed into all the Germanic languages: see foreign-language forms and discussion at priest n. In Presbyter John n. at Compounds ultimately after post-classical Latin Presbyter Johannes (see Prester John n., and compare the Romance forms cited at that entry). The word was evidently reborrowed in the 16th cent., and there is no continuity of use with the Old English.