Fame (Hastings' Dictionary)

The Gr. word (pfitiri (from iprnil, to de- clare, say) was used for a divine voice, oracle, and then for a report or common saying. The Lat. word fama, beginning, where 0i)fn) left off, with rumour or report, added to that the meaning of reputation or renown. The Eng. word ' fame,' though it once had all the meaning of Lat. /((»ki, now retains only the sense of renown or celebrity. Thus in modem Eng. ' fame ' is never a fair equi- valent for ^TiM").

That in 1611 'fame' had the meaning (1) of report, and (2) also of renown, is certain. Thus : (1) Sir T. Klyot, The Governoiir, 15;il (Croft's ed. ii. 291), says, 'all (Jreece was in great fear for the fame that was sprad of the commynge of the Persians with an infinite armyo.' So Tindalo's tr. of Mt 24''(ed. of 1534) is, ' Vo shall heare of warres, an<l of the fame of warres ' (Gr. dKois ; Wye. ' openyouns'; Tind. 1526 ' noyse'; Cran. 'tidinges' ; Rhcm. 'bruites' ; Gen., Bish.

, AV, RV 'rumours'). And Bacon {Adv. of Learning, II. xxiii. 19) says, ' General fame is light, and the opinions conceived by superiors or equals are deceitful ; for to such men are more masked ; verior fama e domcidcis i.manat.' Again (2) in Shaks. (TroUut: and Ores- siita, III. iii. 228), Achilles says — ' I see my reputation in at stake ; My fame ij shrewdly jforod ' ; 846 FAMILIAE FAMILY and in Henry V. ill. ii. 13, Pistol sings, ' And sword ftnd shield, In bloody field.

Doth win immortal fame ' ; to which the Boy replies, ' Would I were in an ale-house in London ! I would give all my fame for a pot of ale and safety. ' In AV both meanings appear, bnt the former most frequently. The only manifest examples of the meaning 'renown' are 1 K 4", 1 Ch 14" 22*, Zeph 3'", where the Heb. is shem ' a name.' When the Heb.

U shenia' (Nu 14", 1 K 10>, 2 Ch 9', Job 28'^, Is 66>»), shomn (Jos 6" 9', Est 9», Jer 6^), or shimuah (1 K 10', 2 Ch 9'), the meaning is not very distinctly marked, but the Heb. words are properly report, tidings (lit. 'hearing'); and in Job 2S- (RV ' rumour') as well as in Jer 6* that is mani- festly the sense. It is evident also that in the only remaining OT passage, Gn 45" (where the Heb. is kul, lit. 'voice'), the sense is report. In NT that sense is probably the only one that occurs.

The Gr. words are (1) ^/itj, Mt 9^«, Lk 4", the only examples of the word, which is nearly as rare in LXX (Pr 16^ [for shemuah], 2 Mac i^'\ 3 ilac 3», 4 Mac 4, ), with the verb Sia<f>i]piliu, Mt 9^' (Jie07)^<rai' airrSv, ' they . . spread abroad his fame ' ; Wye. 1380 ' thei . . defameden hym,' 1388 ' thei . . dltiameden hym,' from Vul". dijfnma- verunt eum). (2) dicoi), lit. ' hearing,' Mt 4^ 14', Mk l** (RV always 'report'). (3) ^x"'.

'echo,' Lk 4" the only occurrence of this meaning (KV • rumour '). (4) \4705, ' word,' Lk 5" (RV ' report '), which has this meaning also in Mt 28", Jn 21^ (EV 'saying'). In Apocr., on the other hand, we find only 1 Mac 3-°-'", both with the mod. sense of renown (Gr. ivo/ua, ' name '). RV adds Jer 50" (Heb. shema') for AV 'report.' ' Fame ' is the Wyclifite tr" of 1388 here, ' report ' having come from the Geneva Bible of 1560. J. Hastings.