| 释义 |
▪ I. prophet, n.|ˈprɒfɪt|
Forms: α. 2–5 profete, 3 -fiete, 4 -fiȝt, -fet, 4–5 -fett, 5 -ffet, -fyt, 6 -fit(te, 7 -ffit. β. 2–6 prophete, 4– prophet (4 -phyte, -phite, 4–5 -phett, 5 -phytt, 6 Sc. -pheite).
[ME. prophete, -fete, a. F. prophète (11th c. in Littré), ad. L. prophēta (prophētēs), ad. Gr. προϕήτης an interpreter, proclaimer, spokesman, esp. of the will of the deity; an inspired person, a prophet; f. πρό forth, before, for + -ϕητης speaker, f. ϕάναι to speak.]
I.
1. a. One who speaks for God or for any deity, as the inspired revealer or interpreter of his will; one who is held or (more loosely) who claims to have this function; an inspired or quasi-inspired teacher.
In popular use, generally connoting the special function of revealing or predicting the future. (Hence sense 5.)
The Greek προϕήτης was originally the spokesman or interpreter of a divinity, e.g. of Zeus, Dionysus, Apollo, or the deliverer or interpreter of an oracle, corresponding generally to the Latin vātēs. By the LXX it was adopted to render the Heb. nābī', in the O.Test. applied indiscriminately to the prophets of Jehovah, of Baal and other heathen deities, and even to ‘false prophets’, reputed or pretended soothsayers. In the N.T. it is used in the same senses as in the LXX, but mainly applied to the Hebrew prophets of Jehovah, also to John the Baptist, as well as to certain persons in the Early Church, who were recognized as possessing more or less of the character of the old Hebrew prophets, or as inspired to utter special revelations and predictions; also applied historically to Balaam, and by St. Paul, in the old Greek sense, to Epimenides the Cretan, while ‘false prophets’ are frequently mentioned. The Greek word was adopted in L. as prophēta chiefly in post-classical times, and largely under Christian influences; and this is the regular rendering in the Itala, Vulgate, and Christian Fathers. From Ecclesiastical Latin it has passed down into the Romanic and Teutonic languages. In English the earliest uses are derived from the Scriptures; but the word is currently used in all the ancient senses and in modern ones derived from them.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 5 Þa hit wes ifullet þet ysaias þe prophete iwiteȝede. c1200Vices & Virtues 31 For ði sade Dauið, ðe profiete. c1200Ormin 5195 Helyas wass an haliȝ mann & an wurrþfull prophete. a1300Cursor M. 7287 (Cott.) Prophet he was, sir samuel. c1315Shoreham iii. 60 Al he foluelþ þe lawe of gode, And prophetene gestes. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 74 Elisee þe profete. 1382― Exod. vii. 1, Y haue ordeyned thee the god of Pharao; and Aaron, thi brother, shal be thi prophete. 1382― 1 Kings xviii. 19 The prophetis of Baal foure hundrid and fifti, and the prophetis of mawmet wodis foure hundrid, that eten of the bord of Jezebel. 1382― Acts xiii. 1 Ther weren in the chirche that was at Antioche, prophetis and doctours. 1382― Tit. i. 12 The propre prophete of hem [1388 her propre profete], seide, Men of Crete ben euermore lyeris. c1400Destr. Troy 4403 Of whom the proffet of prise plainly can say, Þere was no sterne in astate stode hym aboue. a1450Myrc Festial 110 Euer þay were lettyd by drede of þe pepull; for þe pepull heldyn hym a profyt. 1483Cath. Angl. 292/1 A Profett (A. Profite), propheta,..vates;..vaticinus, vatidicus; Christus. 1526Tindale Acts xiii. 6 A certayne sorserer, a falce prophet which was a iewe, named Bariesu. 1534― Matt. xiii. 57 A Prophet is not with out honoure, save in hys awne countre, and amonge his awne kynne. 1559Bp. Scot in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. App. vii. 13 Almyghtie God said by the profitte. 1648Assembly's Shorter Catech. Q. 23 Christ as our Redeemer executeth the Offices of a Prophet, of a Priest, and of a King. 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iii. 61 Plato tels..The God..useth these ministers, and messengers to deliver his oracles, and divine Prophets. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 558 In the Carpathian Bottom makes abode The Shepherd of the Seas, a Prophet and a God. 1757Gray Bard 21 With a Master's hand, and Prophet's fire. 1838Thirlwall Greece II. 28 He [Epimenides] was a poet too as well as a prophet, and the descriptions given of his works attest the fecundity of his genius. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. I. ii. 80 Suleymán is the Prophet of God. 1850Robertson Serm. iv. xxv. (1882) 185 A prophet was one commissioned to declare the will of God—a revealer of truth; it might be of facts future, or the far higher truth of the meaning of facts present. 1874H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. iii. iii. 194 The true Nabi..is the mouthpiece, the interpreter of God to man. This is unquestionably the true significance of the word ‘prophet’.
†b. In vaguer sense: rendering L. vātēs or poēta, an ‘inspired’ bard. Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 13 So saiþ the prophete Satiricus [Higden poeta satiricus; Hart. tr. the poete Satiricus: i.e. Horace, Ars Poet. 304], ‘I fare as the whetston þat makeþ yren sharpe and kene.’ 1593Queen Elizabeth Boeth. iii. met. xii. 72 The Tracian profit wons His wives funeralz wailing. [1780Cowper Table T. 500 In a Roman mouth, the graceful name Of prophet and of poet was the same. 1840Carlyle Heroes iii. (1858) 244 Poet and Prophet differ greatly in our loose modern notions of them. In some old languages the titles are synonymous; Vates means both Prophet and Poet.]
c. Sometimes applied to those who preach or ‘hold forth’ in a religious meeting, by those who take them to represent the ‘prophets’ of the Apostolic Church. Also, the official name of a grade of ministers in the ‘Catholic Apostolic’ or Irvingite Church.
Founded upon the references to prophets and prophesying in 1 Cor. xiv. e.g.: 1526 Tindale 1 Cor. xiv. 29 Lett the prophetes speake two atonce, or thre atonce, and let other iudge... For ye maye all prophesy one by one, thatt all maye learne, and all maye have comforte.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 130 At this same tyme the chiefest Prophet amonges them, for that name they doe vsurpe to themselues, Iohn Mathewe commaunded them. 1832E. Irving in Mrs. Oliphant Life (1862) II. v. 278 After I have preached, I will pause a little, so that then the prophets may have an opportunity of prophesying if the Spirit should come upon them; but I never said that the prophets should not prophesy at any other time. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. II. 27 Of what use, said he, would learning be henceforth? They had now among them the divine prophets of Zwickau, Storch, Thomä, and Stübner, who conversed with God, and were filled with grace and knowledge without any study whatsoever. 1854W. Wilks E. Irving 187 The Albury School of Prophets. 1883R. H. Story E. Irving in Scottish Divines 269 On..Friday, April 5 [1833] the apostle, laying his hands on Irving's head, ordained him ‘Angel of the Church’. At the same time elders and deacons were set apart, and the functions of prophet and evangelist were more exactly defined than hitherto.
d. fig. (In non-religious sense.) The ‘inspired’ or accredited spokesman, proclaimer, or preacher of some principle, cause, or movement.
1848R. I. Wilberforce Doctr. Incarnation xiv. (1852) 407 These [Newton and Milton] and such prophets of humanity have opened to us secrets, which..ordinary faculties..would have been unable to discover. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 6 Durandus himself, the prophet of symbolism. 1893Liddon, etc. Life Pusey I. iii. 41 Byron was in a sense the prophet of the disappointed, and, as such, he threw a strange spell over Pusey as a young man.
2. spec. the Prophet:
a. Muhammad, the founder of Islam; a rendering of the Arabic title al-nabiy; often used by writers on Islam. (Sometimes put for another Arabic title, al-rasūl, ‘the apostle’, or ‘messenger’, esp. in the formula ‘There is no god but God [Allah]; Muhammad is the messenger of God’, often rendered ‘Muhammad is his prophet’.)
By Christians sometimes designated ‘the False Prophet’.
1615G. Sandys Trav. i. 55 Some shaking their heads incessantly,..perhaps in imitation of the supposed trances..of their Prophet. a1618Raleigh Mahomet (1637) 16 The title of Prophet which he had obtained. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 153 Their is one God, the great God and Mahomet is his Prophet. 1728Pope Dunc. iii. 97 His conqu'ring tribes th' Arabian prophet draws. 1731tr. Boulainvilliers' Life Mahomet 256 He says that the Prophet exhorting one day his soldiers [etc.]. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. l. (1790) IX. 289 The flight of the prophet from Mecca to Medina has fixed the memorable æra of the Hegira. 1813Byron Giaour 679 He called the Prophet, but his power Was vain against the vengeful Giaour. 1824Morier Adv. Hajji Baba (1835) I. v. 33, I swear by the beard of the Prophet, that if you do not behave well, I'll burn your father. 1868FitzGerald Omar Khayyam (ed. 2) lxv, If but the Vine and Love-abjuring Band Are in the Prophet's Paradise to stand.
b. Applied by (or after) the Mormons to the founder of their system, and his successors.
1844in The Mormons vii. (1851) 171 On hearing of the martyrdom of our beloved Prophet and patriarch, you will doubtless need a word of advice and comfort. 1851Ibid. i. 16 The remarkable career of Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Mormons. 1874J. H. Blunt Dict. Sects 347/1 The Prophet, his brother Hyram, and other leading Mormons, were seized. 1893Gunter Miss Dividends 121 ‘Don't you know..that the prophet up there’, he nods his head in the direction of Brigham Young's private residence, ‘and some of the other leaders of the Church are beginning to be afraid of Tranyon?’
3. a. pl. The prophetical writers or writings of the Old Testament.
By the Jews the Scriptures of the O.T. are divided into the Law (hat-tōrāh), the Prophets (hann'bīīm), and the Writings or Hagiographa (hak-k'thūbīm). The Prophets are divided into the Former Prophets, including the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and the Later Prophets, incl. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets, Hosea to Malachi. A compendious name for the O.T. Scriptures, often used in the N.T., was the Law and the Prophets or Moses and the Prophets. In Christian usage, the Prophets or Prophetical Books are the Later Prophets of the Jews, with Daniel (which by the Jews is placed among the Hagiographa). The terms Minor Prophets and (to a certain extent) Major Prophets are also in current use.
1382Wyclif Matt. xxii. 40 In these two maundementis hangith al the lawe and prophetis. 1382― Luke xvi. 29 Thei han Moyses and the prophetis; heere thei hem. 1526Tindale Acts xiii. 15 After the lectur of the lawe and the prophetes, the ruelers of the synagoge sent vnto them. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 3 Saue onely out of the Prophets. Ibid., 2 Macc. xv. 9 Comforting them out of the law, and the prophets. 1652J. Mayer (title) A Commentarie upon all the Prophets. 1860Pusey (title) The Minor Prophets.
b. Liturgics. The Old Testament or Prophetic lesson at Mass.
1832Palmer Orig. Liturg. I. 127 The liturgy of Milan is found to consist of the following parts... The anthem called ‘Ingressa’—‘Kyrie eleison’—‘Gloria in excelsis’—the Collect—the Prophet—the Psalm—Epistle—Alleluia—Gospel and Sermon [etc.]. Ibid. 128 The Prophet and Psalm were only more frequently used at Milan than Rome.
†4. pl. Applied to certain actors (? personifying prophets) in the church plays before the Reformation: see quots. Obs.
1519Churchw. Acc. S. Stephen, Wallbrook (MS. Guildh. Lib.) §v. lf. 2 b, Item for hyere of a borde for a proffyt on palme sondaye ij d... [Item for] dressyng of the proffyttes. 1524–5Rec. St. Mary at Hill 327 Paid..for the fframe ouer þe North dore of the chirche, þat is for þe profettes on palmesonday..iii d. 1536–7Ibid. 373 Item, paid to Wolston ffor makyng of y⊇ stages ffor y⊇ prophettes vj d. 1539–40Ibid. 382 Payed for bred & drynke for the prophettes on palme sondaye j d ob.
II.
5. a. One who predicts or foretells what is going to happen; a prognosticator, a predictor. (Without reference to divine inspiration.)
a1225Ancr. R. 212 Summe iuglurs beoð þet..makien cheres, and wrenchen mis hore muð.{ddd}Þeos beoð hore owune prophetes forcwiddares. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xxxi. (Arb.) 76 The disorders of that age, and specially the pride of the Romane Clergy, of whose fall he [Langland] seemeth to be a very true Prophet. 1605Shakes. Lear v. iii. 71 Iesters do oft proue Prophets. 1683Pennsylv. Archives. I. 72 My Friend Braithwait was a true Proffit. 1769H. Walpole Let. 31 Jan., I protest, I know no more than a prophet what is to come. 1898A. J. Balfour in Daily News 30 Nov. 6/3 They prophesied, and they were subject to the weakness of all prophets—the event contradicted them.
b. Of things: An omen, a portent.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 32 Now shine it [a torch] like a Commet of Reuenge, A Prophet to the fall of all our Foes. 1847Tennyson Princ. iv. 257 The mystic fire on a mast-head, Prophet of storm.
c. slang. One who predicts the result of a race, etc.; a tipster.
1843Ainsworth's Mag. III. 220 What's to win the Derby?.. What say the prophets? 1862Times 31 Dec., Prophets, tipsters and welshers—the parasites of the ring. 1884Pall Mall G. 3 May 1/2 The skilful arguments of the ‘prophet’ of a daily or weekly newspaper. 1894F. Lockwood Sp. at Cambr. (Daily News 4 June 3/4), He remembered a prophet in a north of England town. He did not mean a racing prophet. He meant a real prophet, a sort of man who foretold the end of the world once a week.
III. 6. attrib. and Comb. a. Appositive (= ‘that is a prophet’), as prophet-bard, prophet-king, prophet-painter, prophet-poet, prophet-preacher, prophet-romancer, prophet-statesman, etc. b. Of or pertaining to a prophet, as prophet-eye, prophet-mantle, prophet-mind, prophet-soul, prophet-speech, prophet-story, prophet-voice. Also c. prophet-bearing, prophet-like, prophet-tongued adjs.
1824Pierpont Hymn, O thou to whom in ancient time v, The lyre of *prophet bards was strung. 1855Bailey Mystic (ed. 2) 6 The preview clear of prophet-bard.
1733Arbuthnot Harmony in Uproar Misc. Wks. 1751 II. 19 Further than Mahomet ever flew on his *Prophet-bearing Ass.
1821Byron Juan iv. xxii, That large black *prophet eye seem'd to dilate.
1860Pusey Min. Proph. 556 The prophecy..was framed to prepare the Jews to expect a *prophet-king.
1857G. H. Lewes Biogr. Hist. Philos. (ed. 2) ii. 319 Now grave, *prophetlike, and impassioned.
1906Dublin Rev. Apr. 411 Aristotle in Mohammed's *prophet-mantle.
1832Tennyson ‘Of old sat Freedom’ 6 Self-gather'd in her *prophet-mind.
1903Humanitarian Mar. 104 An honoured place among the *prophet-poets of democracy.
1875W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 393 No eminent *prophet-preacher is so self-contradictory as Carlyle.
a1861Clough Relig. Poems iii. 71 Is there no *prophet-soul..To dare, sublimely meek..The Deity to seek?
1814Scott Ld. of Isles iii. ii, When that grey Monk His *prophet-speech had spoke.
1871R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 325 Hark..what *prophet-story the Sesters Open surely to thee.
▪ II. † ˈprophet, v. Obs. rare.
pa. tense (in 5) prophet.
[ad. late L. prophēt-āre to prophesy, f. prophēt-a a prophet: so OF. propheter.]
intr. To prophesy.
Hence † ˈpropheting ppl. a.
c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 2966 How cuthbert prophet, þis is taught. Ibid. 3023 As cuthbert prophet. 1582Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 93 Nor propheting Helenus..Forspake this burial mourning. |