Greek word · G221
Ἀλεξανδρεύς
alexandreus
Alexandrian
'An Alexandrian by birth or origin.' Genos means family, descent, stock or nation, and here it marks the place he comes from.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
'An Alexandrian by birth or origin.' Genos means family, descent, stock or nation, and here it marks the place he comes from.
- Against the English
WEB says 'by race' and YLT says 'by birth'. Modern 'race' suggests a biological category that the Greek does not mean here. BSB 'native of Alexandria' is closest.
- How it drifted
In modern English 'race' carries ideas of biology and skin colour that ancient genos, meaning origin or lineage, did not.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The same formula appears in Acts 4:36 (Barnabas, 'Cypriot by birth') and 18:2 (Aquila, 'Pontian by birth'). Philo (Against Flaccus 55) says Jews filled two of Alexandria's five districts. The status of Alexandrian Jews as citizens was bitterly disputed, as Claudius's letter to the Alexandrians of AD 41 shows.
Similar words
Where it appears
Acts · 2
-
Acts 6:9 Ἀλεξανδρέων Alexandrians
But resistance arose from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. They disputed with Stephen,
Here: Jews from Alexandria in Egypt, home of the largest and most educated Greek-speaking Jewish community of the age (Philo; later Apollos, Acts 18:24).
-
Acts 18:24 Ἀλεξανδρεὺς of Alexandria
Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the Scriptures.
Here: A man of Alexandria in Egypt. That city was home to the largest and most learned Jewish community outside Judea, the place where the Jewish Scriptures had been translated into Greek.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.