Degree (Hastings' Dictionary)
Late Lat. degradus (de down, gradua a step) gave Fr. rft'yr^, whence Eng. 'degree.' So a 'degree' is simply a step, whether up or down, and esp. one of a flight of steps, or the rung of a ladder. Thus Chaucer, Romaunt of Rose, 486 — ' Into that gardyn, wel y-wrought, Who-so that me coude have brought, By laddre, or eiles by depree, It wolde wel have lyked lue.* And Shaks. Jul. Ccesar, II. i. 26 — ' But when he once attains the upmost round.
He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degree By which he did ascend.' This is the meaning of 'degree' in AV wherever it occurs in the plur. : the ref. being either to the degrees of Ahaz^s dial (2 K 20'"'" '"''• ", Is 38"^, see Dial) or to the Songs of Degrees (Ps 120-134 titles, see PsALMS) and the Heb. ij-j;? mndlAh.
DEGllEES, SO^■GS OF DELICACY 587 But from signifying a step literally, ' degree ' soon passed to express also a step in rank, whence 1 Ch 15" 'their brethren of the second d.' (c-jfsn, lit. ' the seconds ') ; 17" ' a man of high degree (ciKn ■"i"i'i:r), Ps OS* ' men of high d.' (tJ-N-'i;) ; 62" ' men of low il.' (c-iij-ir), Sir 11' ' wisdom lifteth up the head of him that is of low d.'
(rarfii'is : so Lk P-, Ja 1'); 1 Ti 3" ' they that have used the otlice of a deacon will purchase to themselves a good d.' (^a9/i6s, lit. ' step,' RV ' standing '). In the last pusaffe the meaning is ^uit« exceptiODAl in the Eng. m in the Greek. The Eng. word is WycUf's, who has been tollowed by all the versions except KV. It is simply a literal tr. ot the Vulg. gradut, itself a literal tr. of the Greek. The Gr. word occurs here onlv in NT. In the LXX it is used either as tr.
o( iTia'uIdh (2 K 209 i.t«. 10 H>. ii) or o( miphtdn (1 S 5»), the (omier being the 'steps' or 'degrees' of Ahaz's dial, the latter the threshold ' of Dagon's temple : it is also found once in Apocr. (Sir 6i) for the ' steps ' of the wise man's door. See further Humphrey's note in loc. (Cainb. Bible), and Hort, EccUtia (1897), p. 202. J. HASTINGS.
This topic also has an entry in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Both articles offer independent scholarly perspectives.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Degree
Degree de-gre' (ma`alah, "a going up" or "ascent," hence, a staircase or flight of steps; "rank": tapeinos, "low"): By derivation it should mean "a step down" (Latin, de, down, gradus, step). It is used, however, of any step, up or down; then of grade or rank, whether high or low. (1) In its literal sense of step (as of a stair), it is used in the plural to translate Hebrew ma`aloth ("steps"), in the parallel passages 2Ki 20:9-11 the King James Version (5 t); Isa 38:8 the King James Version (3 t), where we read of the "degrees" (the Revised Version (British and American) "steps") on the "dial of Ahaz" (Hebrew "steps of Ahaz"). See DIAL OF AHAZ. It seems to mean steps or progressive movements of the body toward a certain place in the phrase "A Song of Degrees" (the Revised Version (British and American) "Ascents"), which forms the title of each of the Ps 120:1-7 through Ps 134:1-3, probably because they were sung on the way up to the great feasts at Jerusalem. See PSALMS (2) The secondary (but now the more usual) sense of rank, order, grade is found in the following passages: (a) 1Ch…
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia