pseudepigrapha

[ soo-duh-pig-ruh-fuh ]

noun

, (used with a plural verb)

1. certain writings (other than the canonical books and the Apocrypha) professing to be Biblical in character.

Pseudepigrapha

/ ˌsjuːdɛpɪˈɡræfɪk; ˌsjuːdɪˈpɪɡrəfə /

plural noun

1. various Jewish writings from the first century bc to the first century ad that claim to have been divinely revealed but which have been excluded from the Greek canon of the Old Testament Also called (in the Roman Catholic Church)Apocrypha

Derived Forms

• Pseudepigraphic, adjective

Other Words From

• pseud·ep·i·graph·ic [soo-dep-i-, graf, -ik], pseudep·i·graphi·cal pseude·pigra·phous pseude·pigra·phal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pseudepigrapha¹

1685–95; < New Latin < Greek, neuter plural of pseudepíigraphos falsely inscribed, bearing a false title. See pseud-, epigraph, -ous

Word History and Origins

Origin of pseudepigrapha¹

C17: from Greek pseudepigraphos falsely entitled, from pseudo- + epigraphein to inscribe

Example Sentences

Pseudepigrapha—or documents falsely ascribed to illustrious authors—frequently crop up in the work of biblical scholars and other experts in antiquity.

From Salon

He gathered a team of 20 scholars, got a grant from Manhattan's Littauer Foundation, and began translating into English the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha, a series of ancient noncanonical writings closely connected to the Bible.

From Time Magazine Archive

Dr. Charles Francis Potter, Manhattan Humanist and Bible expert, has worked for years, will work for years more, on a psychological study of Jesus in which the pseudepigrapha will figure.

From Time Magazine Archive

Its source material is seed-small: the four Gospels, the New Testament apocrypha, the histories of Josephus, the pseudepigrapha.*

From Time Magazine Archive

Deane's Pseudepigrapha: Books that Influenced our Lord and His Apostles does not suggest that the Messiah obtained his ideas from the literature of the Rabbis, much less from Greek or other sources; indeed, the New Testament suggests that in the earliest years he showed a genius for divine things.

From Project Gutenberg