Greek word · G4981

σχολή

scholē

lecture hall

Leisure or free time. Then the use of leisure for lectures and learned discussion. Then a lecture or the place for it: a hall, or a school in the sense of a philosophical circle. It is the root of English "school" and "scholar."

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

σχολή, -ῆς, ἡ

[in LXX: Genesis 33:14 (κατὰ σ., אַט), Proverbs 28:19, Sirach 38:24 * ;]

1. leisure.

2. Later (from Plato on),

(a) that for which leisure is employed, a disputation, lecture;

(b) the place where lectures are delivered, a school: Acts 19:9 (for the later sense of employment, see MM, xxiv).†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Acts 19:9

Range of meaning

Leisure or free time. Then the use of leisure for lectures and learned discussion. Then a lecture or the place for it: a hall, or a school in the sense of a philosophical circle. It is the root of English "school" and "scholar."

Against the English

KJV/WEB/YLT "school" suggests a building for children's education. BSB "lecture hall" and NIV "lecture hall" are more accurate.

How it drifted

English "school" now means mainly a children's institution. In Greek cities a scholē was a place where adults heard lectures and argued philosophy or rhetoric.

Used elsewhere in the period

Aristotle uses it of leisure as the condition for learning (Politics). Later writers such as Plutarch and Epictetus use it of a lecture or school of philosophy. LSJ lists the shift from "leisure" to "lecture" to "lecture place."

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 19:9 σχολῇ lecture hall

    But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

    Here: Originally "leisure." The word came to mean what educated people did with leisure (lectures and discussion) and then the room where it happened. Here it is a hall used by teachers or philosophers.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.