Priority of LXX for NT meaning

FRED HALTOM (haltom@cbcag.edu)
Fri, 15 Nov 1996 10:02:26 -0500

The discussion about semantic domains has raised a question in my mind
that's been lurking there for some time. Does anyone know of any
comparative research on the influence of the LXX on NT word meaning?
Should it have priority over classical usus loquendi. For example,
the meaning of KEFALH, head, seems to borrow from the Hebrew metaphor
of ROSH as "source" in Eph 4:15. Cervin, in an article in 1989
(JAAR) writes "the meaning 'source' is indeed very rare." He sites
four examples in the classics (but in the plural, not singular).
If the meaning "source" is rare in the classics, it seems the LXX
has influenced it's use in the Eph 4:15 especially in the light that
the author has just quoted Psalms 68:18 within the context (v.8).