Greek word · G6084
Τιτίος
titios
Titius
Τιτίος renders the Latin nomen (family name) Titius. Ἰοῦστος renders the Latin cognomen (surname) Justus. Romans of citizen status typically had three names: a personal name, a family name and a surname.
Appears once in 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
Τιτίος renders the Latin nomen (family name) Titius. Ἰοῦστος renders the Latin cognomen (surname) Justus. Romans of citizen status typically had three names: a personal name, a family name and a surname.
- Against the English
The BSB's "Titus Justus" follows a different manuscript reading. Titus is a personal first name, and English readers may confuse this man with Paul's companion Titus (Galatians 2:1; 2 Corinthians 8:23), who is never connected with this house. The KJV's "Justus" alone follows the majority of later manuscripts.
- How it drifted
This is a manuscript difference, not word drift. The "Ti" letters repeated in ΟΝΟΜΑΤΙΤΙΤΙΟΥ made it easy for a copyist to drop or shorten the name.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Metzger's Textual Commentary explains the omission and the change to "Titus" as copying slips caused by the run of repeated letters. That is why the critical text prints Τιτίου Ἰούστου.
Where it appears
Acts · 1
-
Acts 18:7 Τιτίου Titius
So Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titus Justus, a worshiper of God.
Here: A Roman family name (the Titii). It is not the same as "Titus", which was a personal first name. It suggests a man with Roman citizen naming, which fits Corinth as a Roman colony.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.