Word of the Day
ἀγάπη
Agápē
Ancient Greek
Greek pronunciation/aˈɣa.pi/English (theological)/ˈæɡəpeɪ/
“The Greeks had at least four words for love. Agape was the one that meant loving someone who had done nothing to earn it.”
Agápē in classical Greek was not a common word. It appeared rarely before the New Testament, where it became the defining term for divine love. The translators of the Septuagint — the Greek Old Testament, produced in the third century BCE — chose agápē where Hebrew had ahavah (love). The word was available but obscure. Christianity filled it with specific meaning: love that is unconditional, sacrificial, and not dependent on the qualities of the beloved.
4 stops · from Alexandria, Egypt to Global (Christian)