Word: hebdomad Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Late Latin hebdomada (“number seven; group of seven; seven days”), hebdomas (“number seven; seven days; seventh day”), from Ancient Greek ἑβδομάς (hebdomás, “group of seven, especially seven days or seven years”), from ἕβδομος (hébdomos, “seventh”) + -ᾰ́ς (-ắs, suffix forming abstract nouns of number from numerals). The word is cognate with French hebdomadaire, hebdo (“weekly periodical”), hebdomadairement (“weekly”), Portuguese hebdomadário (“weekly periodical”), Spanish hebdomadario (“weekly; weekly periodical; hebdomadary”). Pronunciation: /ˈhɛbdəmæd/ 1. A group of seven. Labels: obsolete Example: God was now to deliver them, from the bodily captivity of Babylon: ſo was he alſo after ſeventy hebdomades more, to deliver them from bondage of ſin and prevarication, and that by the anointed Meſſias, which is indeed the Holy of Holies. This (I ſay) may be the reaſon of naming ſeventy Hebdomades, thereby to allude to the number of the ſeventy years of that Babylonicall ſervitude. For that immediately after the Angel appointeth the whole exact number to be threeſcore and nine Hebdomades; that is, ſeven to the building of the City and Temple, and threeſcore and two, from that, to the death of Chriſt, in theſe words. [...] Example: Let us now pass to the other species of the hebdomad, which is comprehended in the decad, and which exhibits an admirable nature no less than the former hebdomad. This, therefore, is composed of one, two, and four, which possess two most harmonic ratios, the duple and the quadruple; the former of which forms the symphony diapason, and the latter the symphony desdiapason. 2. A period of seven days; a week. Labels: historical Example: For that ſaying of our Saviour, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work, is by the moſt judicious underſtood of the works of preſervation and providence: Thoſe of creation being concluded within the firſt Hebdomade, accordingly as is expreſt in the Hiſtory, that God on the ſeventh day reſted from all his works. Example: [page 115] The truth is, "we discover no trace of a Sabbath" even among those oriental nations which had the hebdomade or week: but to the Greeks, the week itself was unknown!—their smallest interval being the decade or period of ten days. [...] [page 121] Making due allowance for the natural exaggeration of an apologist, the substance of this statement expresses a well-recognized fact in Roman history. "The institution of the Hebdomade" (introduced about the date of the Christian era) did travel almost throughout the empire. 3. A group of seven world-creating archons (supernatural beings) often regarded as somewhat hostile; also, a term of address for the Demiurge (“a being sometimes seen as the creator of evil”). Example: When, then, the Great Archon had been orally instructed, and every creature of the Ogdoad had been orally instructed and taught, and [after] the mystery became known to the celestial [powers], it was also necessary that afterwards the Gospel should come to the Hebdomad, in order likewise that the Archon of the Hebdomad might be similarly instructed and indoctrinated into the Gospel. Example: The light came down from the Hebdomad upon Jesus the Son of Mary. That this descent of the light was represented as taking place at the Annunciation, and not merely at the Baptism, is clearly implied in the express reference to the words of the angel in Luke i. 35, "A Holy Spirit shall come upon thee," [...]