Excellency (Hastings' Dictionary)

The verb to 'excel' occurs 13 times in AV, translating just as many difl'erent Heb. and Gr. words, but always distinctly with the sense of 'be pre-eminent over others,' 'surpa.ss.' The idea of pre-eminence is seen even in Ps 103''^'' 'ye his angels that excel in strength,' though the Heb. is rb ■-■i: gibbdrc kCah, lit.

' heroes of strength ' ; for, as Delitzsch says, it is because to the angel hosts belong strength unequalled that they are summoned now to praise God in company with the Church on earth, whose dignity surjiasses every other created thing. Pre-eminence is also the leading thought in the word 'excellency.' 1. Sometimes the quality in which the pre-eminence appears is stated ; thus Gn 49^ ' the excellency of dignity, and the excel- lency of power' (t^ nn;i nxif t-i;), i.e.

says Delitzsch, precedence, both in respect and in power, is due to Reuben above his brethren, because he is the first- born ; Ezk 24*' ' I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength,' i.e. the place of pre- eminent strength (Heb. nriy jW:, RV 'the pride of your power ) ; 1 Co 2' ' 1 . . came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom' (k-afl' vtrtpoxw 'Klryoii fi aoipla^.

' The word v-rvepoxn denotes strictly the act of overhanging, or the thing which over- hangs ; hence superiority, pre, eminence : by Byzantine wTiters it is used in the sense " your Excellency " ' — Go<let); Ph 3' ' the excellency of the knowledge of Christ .Jesus ' (ri virepixov) ; 2 Co 4' ' that the excellency of tlie power may be of Go<i ' (ri uvip^oXij, RV ' exceeding OTeatness,' but ' superi- ority,' ' pre-eminence,' is always the meaning of the word). 2.

More often the ' excellency ' is of no special quality ; but even then the Eng. word, as undnrstciod in 1611, though less precise is not less forcible than its Heb. or Gr. equivalents, for it has always in it the sense of superiority, uniqueness. Cf. Pre/, to AV 1611, 'for the worth and excellency thereof above the rest'; Pr. Bk. I5.'J2 (Keeling, p. 382), 'Forasmuch then as your Ollice is of so great excellency, and of so jjreat dilKculty'; Bacon, Adv. of Learn. II. xxiii. 27 (Selby, p.

149), ' Julius Ca>sar ... at first was an orator or pleader ; but when he saw the excellency of Cicero, Hortensius, Catullus, and others . . he . . transferred his designs to a martial great- ness.'

The two words chieHy translated 'excel- lency ' in AV are : (1) pKJ gA'On (Ex 15', Job 37, of J" ; Ps 47, Am 6" 8', Nah 2-, of ' Jacob ' ; Is 60'" of Zion ; Ezk 24' of the temple ; Is 13'» of the Chal- da-ans), a word which primarily means ' exalta- tion,' hence majesty which is pre-eminent ; (21 m.x; ga'ilirah (I)t 33«- *», Ps 68^^, all of J"), a word of lesslionour than the preceding, being used indeed most frequently of ' [iride ' in a bad sen.

se ; still it is not inaptly translated ' excellency ' in those [lassages, the reference being always to the unique ' dignity ' of .1". (See also Driver, Joel and Amos, 1897, p. 238 f.) In old writers ' excellence ' and ' excellency ' are both In use without difference of meaning. Shaks. uses 'excellence' 10 times, ' excellency * only thrice ; AV has ' excellency ' 2ft times, 'excellence' not once.

'Kxcellency' has now given place to ' excellence,' and the wortl has greatly deteriorated : the only 300 EXCELLENT EXCOMMUNICATION Die of ' excellency ' is as a term of courtesy, your Excellency,' which may be applied to any petty governor ; and excellence * itself haa accepted the va^ue sense of general worth. The deterioration may be partly due to the still greater loss that has befallen the adj. excellent.

In AV excL-lIent' is probably never used without a distinct expression of comparison, ' superior,' • pre-eminent.' Cf. T. Adams, // Peter (163:i), p. 83, ' Jacob gave Reuben a blessing, but added, Thou shalt not be excellent ' ; and p. 83, Cain's outlawed stock were yet excellent in worldly thin^.' But comparisons are odious ; Shaks. has a fondness for usmg it ironically, and in course of time it haa dropped down to merely ' very good.' J, HASTINGS.

EXCELLENT, or rather MOST EXCELLENT, is the regular tr. in RV for the word KpancrTos, used as a title of respect four times, and alwaj-s by St. Luke (Lk 1», Ac SS* 24» 26^). In AV 'most noble ' is substituted in the last two instances. In three of those passages we clearly have the formal address of a person of high rank : ' Claudius Lysias unto the most e. governor Felix ' ; ' most 6. Felix ' ; ' But Paul saith, I am not mad, most e.

Festus'; in the fourth (Lk P) it is used in the address to Theophilus, to whom St. Luke dedicated both his works, and a question of some interest arises as to whether we can assert from the use of the term elsewhere that Theophilus must have been also of high rank and position. So Theophylact, Arg. in Ev. sec.

Luc: 'He WTites to Theophilus, a man of senatorial rank, and also a magistrate ((TvyKKTrriKbn ivra Kal dpxovTa tffws), for the word KpariaTos was used of magis- trates and governors [ipxifTui' xal Tfyeiibvuv), as also Paul says, addressing the governor Festus : " Most e. Festus." ' The authority of a Byzantine commentator would, however, be delusive on such a question, as the meaning of language changes, and the question must be settled by contemporary usage. 1.

There can be no doubt that from the 1st cent, onwards the word was an official title, but there is no proof that it was always so used. For instance in Jos., although in Ant. XVIII. viii. 4, XX. i. 2 we find the technical sense, in Ant. IV. vi. 8 (u> KpaTLaroi i>eaviu>y) it is certainly not so used, whUe in the dedication of the treatise against Apion to Epaph- roditus, who was a freedman and procurator, the variation KpiricrTe afSpdv seems to suggest a dill'erent tone (c. Ap. i. 1 ; Vita, 76).

Cf. 2 Jlac 41-. 2. On the other hand, the usage of St. Luke seems more fixed. In those cases where the word occurs, it is certainly used as an official address, and is probably (we cannot say certainly) so used in the fourth instance. In any case there is cer- tainly a dili'erence in usage between St. Luke and Josephus, which makes it improbable that there is in this case any literary connexion between the two. LrTBRATlTlB. — Otto, D« Epiitola ad Diotjnetiim, 1845, p. 79, ed. ii. p.

61 ; Krenkel, Jotephtu und Lucas, p. 53 ; Ramsav, St. Paui (fit Trav. p. 388. A. C. HeADLAM. EXCEPT The verb occurs only 1 Co 15" ' But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him,' that is, an exception is made in his favour, he is left out of account. This is Coverdale's tr°, and illustrates the oldest meaning of the verb. Cf. Shaks. Jul. Cues. II. i.

281— * Within the bond of marriage, teU me, Brutuo, Is it excepted, I should know do secrets That appertain to youT' In their Preface the translators of AV xise 'except against' for take exception to ; ' men not to be excepted a^'ainst by them of Rome' ; ' none of them feare to dissent from him, nor yet to except against him ' ; ' Tnily (good Christian Reader) wee neuer thought from the beginning, that we should neede to make a new Translation, nor \ct to make of a bad one a good one, (for then the imputation of .

S'i>/n-« had been true in some sort, that our people hail i>ene fed with gall of Dragons in stead of wine, nnth whey in stead of mitke) ; but to make a good one better, or yi\t of many ffood one*, one principall good one, not iustly to be excepted against ; that hath been our indeauour, that ool marke.' Cf. Knox, llist.

447, 'the sincerer sort of the Ministrie in England had not yet assaulted the jurisdiction and Church gouernement (which they did not till the year 1572, at which time they published their first and second admonition to the Parliament), but onely had excepted against superstitious apparell, and some other faulta in the service Booke.' As past ptcp. of the verb to except, we find excepted, as Kingesmyll, Man's Est. v. (1580) 21, 'They eate of the excepted tree'; and Milton, PL XI.

426— * Some to spring from thee, who never toach'd Th' excepted tree.' But more frequently except (as Tindale, Works, L 213, ' Here is no man except, but all souls must obey'), and then very oiten /oUuunng its subst., as Ac 2t)^ Cov. ' these bondes excepte ' ; Bacon, Adv. Learn. L (Selby's ed. p. 62, 1. 8), ' the divine- ness of souls except.' When this pt«p. preceded its subst. it came to be regarded as a prep., though it is obviously hard to say when the change took place.

The earliest examples in Ox/. Eng. Diet. quoted as a prep, are Langland, Piers Plourman (B), ix. 140, ' Alle shal deye . . Except oneliche of eche kynde a couple ' ; Henry, Wallace, v. 10"26, ' Thai entryt in, befor thaim fand no man, Excep wemen.' A little later began its use as a conj., introducing not a subst. but a clause, and being equivalent to 'unless.' In AV and RV it is used both as prep, and as conj., most frequently as conj. Once the conj.

is strengthened by ' that, Mk 13^ ' except that the Lord had shortened those days ' (RV omits 'that'). Cf. Jn 3^ Tind. 'except that a man be boren of water and of the sprete.' The only use of 'except' that is now commended is as a preposition. Hodgson (Errors in the Use 0/ English^, 117 f.) quotes two examples from good modern writers of ita use as a conj., butsaysthat ' «n/e*s would be generally held preferable ' ; Keble, Memoir'^, i.

81, ' Do not trouble yourself about writing to me, except you are quite in the humour for it' ; Miss Mitford, Letters and Li/e, \. 150, ' It has no literary pretensions, except the total absence of all pretension may pass for one in these days of abundant conceit.' The Revisers have been somewhat sharply taken to taak for using ' except ' as a conj. [see esp. Moon, The Revisers' English (1S82), 94-97, and Ecclesiastical Eivjlish (18S6), 205-207].

In this, however, they are at one with previous versions and with the history of the word. In the Canonical Scriptures of AV except occurs 73 times, and 67 times it is a conjunction. The Revisers have made few changes. In Gn 4728 thev prefer ' only,' and in Nu 1613 ■ but ' | twice (2 S 39, 1 Co 147) they turn ' except ' into ' if . . not.' twice (1 Co 148- ») into ' unless,' and once (2 Co 13*) into ' unless indeed.' It is only in connexion with Jn 824 where they cliange ' if . .

not,' and 1 Co 152 where they change 'unless,' into ' except,' that they are open to criticism ; but no doubt both came under the rule of 'uniformity in rendering.' J. HASTINGS.