16-05-2003, 16:22
<b>Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, <i>A Greek-English Lexicon</i></b><p><small><font color="blue"><b>oikoumen-ê</b> (sc. gê), hê, <i>inhabited region</i>, v. oikeô A. 1 ; then <i>the Greek world</i>, opp. <i>barbarian lands</i>, D.7.35 ; pasa hê oi. Id.18.48 ; in Arist.Mete.362b26, hê oi., = <i>the inhabited world</i> (including non-Greek lands, as Ethiopia, India, Scythia), as opp. possibly uninhabited regions, cf. Cleom.2.1 ; in Arist.Mu.392b26, hêde hê oi., = our <i>world</i> (= Asia, Libya, Europe); oikoumenai <i>worlds</i>, ib.31 ; hê philia perichoreuei tên oi. Epicur.Sent.Vat.52 ; sou (i.e. Ptolemy 11 or 111) tês oi. pasês basileuontos PSI5.541.7 , cf. LXX 1 Es.2.3 ; loosely, <i>the whole world</i>, Hyp.Eux.33 (prob.), Antiph.179, PMag.Lond.121.704, Luc. Halc.3, Ath.8.350a : so perh. in some passages cited under 11. <p>II. <i>the Roman world</i>, ho agathos daimôn (etc.) tês oi., i.e. the Emperor, OGI666.4,668.5, POxy.1021.5 (i A.D.), CIG2581-2,4416,Ev.Luc.2.1, Act.Ap.17.6, 24.5, Sammelb.176.2 (ii A.D.), Gal.10.7, Luc.Macr. 7.<p>III. hê oi. hê mellousa <i>the world</i> to come, i.e. the kingdom of Christ, Ep.Hebr.2.5.</font></small><p><br>Didier.<br>P.S. Tolkien commente effectivement ce mot (comme sens à donner à Middle-earth) dans ses lettres, notamment n°211 p. 283<br><font color="blue">"[Middle-eath] is a modernization or alteration ... of an old word for the inhabited world of Men, the <i>oikoumene</i>"</font>