ἐντιμοτέρους

ἐντῑμοτέρους, ἔντιμος

in honour: masc acc comp pl

ἐντῑμοτέρους, ἔντιμος

in honour: masc acc comp pl

πρότερος, α, ον (Hom.+; cp. πρό)

① pert. to a period of time preceding another period of time, earlier

ⓐ adj. (Hom. et al.) former, earlier ἡ πρ. ἀναστροφή Eph 4:22. οἱ πρ. (sc. λίθοι) Hs 9, 4, 3. τάς χρόας τὰς προτέρας 9, 4, 5; τὰ πρ. ἁμαρτήματα 2 Cl 13:1; Hm 12, 6, 2; Hs 9, 23, 5. ἡ πρ. ἁμαρτία m 4, 1, 11; pl. v 2, 3, 1; m 4, 3, 3; Hs 6, 1, 4; 8, 11, 3; αἱ ἁμαρτίαι αἱ πρ. m 4, 3, 1. τὰ πρ. ἀγνοήματα Hs 5, 7, 3f. τὰ πρ. παραπτώματα m 4, 4, 4. ἡ πρ. ὅρασις v 4, 1, 1. αἱ πρ. λύπαι 3, 13, 2. τὰ πρ. ὁράματα 4, 2, 2. τὰ πρ. χαλεπά 1, 4, 2 v.l. πρῶτα. οἱ πρ. χρόνοι Hs 9, 20, 4. ἡ ζωὴ ἡ πρ. 9, 16, 2.

ⓑ the neut. πρότερον as adv. earlier, formerly, in former times (Pind., Hdt.+).

α. without art.; opp. νῦν (Ael. Aristid. 33, 16 K.=51 p. 576 D.; Procop. Soph., Ep. 88) νῦν καὶ οὐ πρότερον now and not in former times Dg 1. πρότερον … ἔπειτα (Ps.-Clem., Hom. 7, 6; cp. Artem. 2, 39 p. 144, 27f πρότερον … εἶτα) Hb 7:27. Oft. the time which is later than the one designated by πρ. is not expressed, but is understood fr. the context earlier, beforehand, previously (oft. Pind., Hdt. et al.) J 7:50 v.l., 51 v.l.; 2 Cor 1:15; 1 Ti 1:13 v.l.; Hb 4:6.—Schwyzer I 533f.

β. w. art. and functioning as an adj. former (Hdt. 6, 87; Aristoph., Equ. 1355; Diod S 17, 69, 3) αἱ πρότερον ἡμέραι Hb 10:32. αἱ πρότερον ἐπιθυμίαι 1 Pt 1:14.—W. the art. simply adverbially τὸ πρότερον before, once, formerly (X., Mem. 3, 8, 1; Menand., Dyscolus 15; Hero Alex. I, 190, 19; TestAbr A 18 p. 100, 9 and 11 [Stone p. 48]; ApcMos 9; Jos., Ant. 20, 173) J 6:62; 7:50; 9:8; 1 Ti 1:13; Hv 3, 3, 5. The first time Hv 3, 12, 1; Hs 9, 1, 3. So prob. also Gal 4:13. Naturally the transl. once is also prob., but from a linguistic point of view it is not poss. to establish the thesis that Paul wished to differentiate betw. a later visit and an earlier one.

② prior to someone/someth. else in importance, superior, preferable, more prominent (Pla., Lach. 183b πρότεροι ἡμῶν; Aristot. Cat. 14b, 5ff εἰώθασι δὲ καὶ οἱ πολλοὶ τοὺς ἐντιμοτέρους καὶ μᾶλλον ἀγαπωμένους ὑπʼ αὐτῶν προτέρους φάσκειν εἶναι=ordinary people are accustomed to say that those who are especially esteemed and held in affection by them enjoy priority in their thinking; Wsd 7:29) ἄλλοι σου πρότεροί εἰσιν others are superior to you Hv 3, 4, 3.—As equivalent of an ordinal numeral τῆς Ἰωάννου προτέρας ἐπιστολῆς the first letter of John Papias (2:17),—DELG. M-M.