Duke

VIEW:43 DATA:01-04-2020

DUKE.—The title of ‘duke’ in the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] has a very general meaning. It is an inheritance from the Eng. of earlier versions, in which (after Vulg. [Note: Vulgate.] dux) ‘duke’ meant any leader or chief. Latimer calls Gideon a duke, and Wyclif uses this title of Christ, as in his Works (iii. 137), ‘Jesus Christ, duke of oure batel.’ The title of ‘duke’ is confined in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] to the chiefs of Edom, with the exception of Jos_13:21 ‘dukes of Sihon,’ and 1Ma_10:65 (applied to Jonathan Maccabæus).
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

dūk: The rendering in the King James Version in Gen_36:15; Exo_15:15, and 1Ch_1:51 of אלּוּף, 'allūph (the American Standard Revised Version and the English Revised Version, margin ?chief?), and in Jos_13:21 of ם, neṣı̄khı̄m (?dukes,? the Revised Version (British and American) ?princes?). It occurs also, as the rendering of stratēgós, in 1 Macc 10:65 (the Revised Version (British and American) ?captain?). Elsewhere neṣı̄khı̄m is translated ?princes? or ?principal men.? The fact that with two exceptions the term is applied in English Versions of the Bible only to the chiefs of Edom has led to the impression that in the family of Esau the chiefs bore a special and hereditary title. But 'allūph was a general term for tribal chief or prince (compare Zec_9:7; Zec_12:5, Zec_12:6; the Revised Version (British and American) ?chieftains,? the King James Version ?governors?).
Moreover, at the time the King James Version was made the word ?duke? was not used as a title in England: the term had the same general force as dux, the word employed in the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 ad) So Sir T. Elyot (died 1546) speaks of ?Hannibal, duke of Carthage? ( The Governour, II, 233); Shakespeare, Henry V, III, 2, 20, ?Be merciful, great duke, to men of mould? (compare Midsummer Night's Dream, I, 1, 21); Sylvester (1591) Du Bartas, ?The great Duke, that (in dreadful aw) (Upon Mt. Horeb learn'd th' eternal law.? In a still earlier age Wycliff uses the word of the Messiah (Mat_2:6); and in Select Works, III, 137, ?Jesus Christ, duke of oure batel.?
Yet in all probability the Hebrew word was more specific than ?chief? or ?duke? in the broad sense. For if 'allūph is derived from 'eleph, ?thousand,? ?tribe,? the term would mean the leader of a clan, a ?chiliarch? (compare Septuagint, Zec_9:7; Zec_12:5, Zec_12:6). the American Standard Revised Version has eliminated the word ?duke.? See CHIEF.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Duke
(from the Latin dux, a leader) stands in our version for two Hebrews terms: אִלּוּ(see a dissertation on this word by Sprenger, in the Zeitschr. f. deutsch. nmorgen. Gesellschvft, XII, 2:316), alluph', a leader, which, besides its ordinary sense of guide or friend, is used technically of the phylarch, or head of a tribe or nation, especially of the Edomitish chieftains (Gen_36:15-43; Exo_15:15; 1Ch_1:51-54), rarely of the Jews ("governor," Zec_9:7; Zec_12:5-6), and once of chiefs in general ("captain," Jer_13:21); also נָסַיךְ, nasik', one anointed (usually in poetry), spoken of the magnates of Sihon, perhaps by a paraphrase for that king himself (Jos_13:21), elsewhere of other "princes" (Psa_83:11; Eze_32:30; Dan_11:8; "principal men," Mic_5:5).

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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