Etymology
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From Middle English [Term?] , calqued from Latin Vetus Testāmentum . Old refers to ancientness, not to obsolescence. Equivalent to a retronym , by comparison with the New Testament .
Pronunciation
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Audio (Mid-Atlantic) (file )
Proper noun
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the Old Testament
( religion , chiefly Christianity ) The first major part of the Christian Bible , covering events before the coming of Christ , corresponding roughly to the Jewish Tanakh . Usually subdivided into the categories of law , history , poetry (or wisdom books), and prophecy .
Coordinate term: New Testament
The Old Testament says that eating shellfish is a sin.
Usage notes
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Old Testament is the most common English term used by Christians to refer to the first major part of the Christian Bible. Old means “ancient”, “having great(er) age” here, not “superseded” or “obsolete”.
In Biblical scholarship the term Hebrew Bible is preferred nowadays.
The use of this term is considered offensive by some Jews , based on the misconception that Old suggests that the Tanach has been superseded by Christian scriptures.
The corresponding adjective is vetero-testamentary .
Derived terms
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Translations
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first half of the Christian Bible
Afrikaans: Ou Testament (af)
Albanian: Besëlidhja e Vjetër (sq)
Arabic: اَلْعَهْد اَلْقَدِيم m ( al-ʕahd al-qadīm )
Armenian: Հին կտակարան ( Hin ktakaran )
Asturian: Vieyu Testamentu (ast) m , Antiguu Testamentu (ast) m
Belarusian: Стары Запавет m ( Stary Zapavjet )
Burmese: ဓမ္မဟောင်းကျမ်း ( dhamma.haung:kyam: )
Catalan: Antic Testament m
Cebuano: Daang Tugon , Daang Saad
Chinese:
Cantonese: 舊約聖經 / 旧约圣经 ( gau6 joek3 sing3 ging1 ) , 舊約全書 / 旧约全书 ( gau6 joek3 cyun4 syu1 ) , 舊約 / 旧约 ( gau6 joek3 )
Mandarin: 舊約聖經 / 旧约圣经 ( Jiùyuē Shèngjīng ) , 舊約全書 / 旧约全书 (zh) ( Jiùyuē Quánshū ) , 舊約 / 旧约 (zh) ( Jiùyuē )
Cornish: Testament Koth m
Czech: Starý zákon (cs) m
Dutch: Oude Testament (nl) n
Esperanto: Malnova Testamento
Finnish: Vanha testamentti (fi)
French: Ancien Testament (fr) m
Galician: Antigo Testamento (gl) m
Georgian: ძველი აღთქმა ( ʒveli aɣtkma )
German: Altes Testament (de) n
Greek: Παλαιά Διαθήκη (el) f ( Palaiá Diathíki )
Ancient Greek: Παλαιὰ Διαθήκη f ( Palaià Diathḗkē )
Hausa: Attaura
Hindi: पुराना नियम m ( purānā niyam )
Hungarian: Ószövetség (hu) , Ótestamentum (hu)
Icelandic: Gamla testamentið n
Ido: Anciena Testamento
Indonesian: Perjanjian Lama (id)
Irish: An Sean-Tiomna m
Old Irish: fetarlicc f
Italian: Antico Testamento m
Japanese: 旧約聖書 (ja) ( きゅうやくせいしょ, Kyūyaku Seisho )
Korean: 구약 성서(舊約聖書) ( Guyak Seongseo )
Latin: Vetus Testāmentum n
Latvian: Vecā Derība f
Macedonian: Стар за́вет m ( Star závet )
Malay: Perjanjian Lama
Maltese: It-Testment il-Qadim
Maori: Kawenata Tawhito
Persian: عهد عتیق ( 'ahd-e 'atiq )
Polish: Stary Testament (pl) m
Portuguese: Antigo Testamento (pt) m
Romanian: Vechiul Testament (ro) n (The Old Testament)
Russian: Ве́тхий Заве́т (ru) m ( Vétxij Zavét )
Scottish Gaelic: an Seann Tiomnadh m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: Ста̑ри за́вет m , Ста̑ри за́вјет m
Roman: Stȃri závet m , Stȃri závjet m
Shan: ၵျၢမ်းၵဝ်ႇ ( kjáam kào )
Slovene: Stara Zaveza f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: Stary Testament m
Spanish: Antiguo Testamento m , veterotestamentario m ( attributive )
Swahili: Agano la Kale (sw)
Swedish: Gamla testamentet
Tagalog: Lumang Tipan
Telugu: పాత నిబంధన ( pāta nibandhana )
Ukrainian: Старий Завіт m ( Staryj Zavit ) , Старий Заповіт m ( Staryj Zapovit )
Urdu: عَہَد نامَہ قَدِیم m ( ʻahad nāma qadīm )
Vietnamese: Cựu Ước (vi)
Volapük: Diatek Vönik
Welsh: Hen Destament (cy) m
See also
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