Kohen definition

kōən
kohanim kohen
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A male Jew belonging to a patrilineal line claiming descent from Aaron. Kohanim served as priests in ancient Judaism, and present-day Kohanim are accorded special status in Orthodox Judaism.
noun
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
kohen
Plural:
kohanim

Origin of kohen

  • Hebrew kōhēn priest Aramaic kāhnā Ugaritic khn

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Kohen Sentence Examples

  • The theologians of the Greek and Latin churches expressly found the conception of a Christian priesthood on the hierarchy of the Jewish temple, while the names by which the sacerdotal character is expressed - iEpEbs, sacerdos - originally designated the ministers of sacred things in Greek and Roman heathenism, and then came to be used as translations into Greek and Latin of the Hebrew kohen.

  • Kohen, iEpEbs, sacerdos, are, in fact, fair translations of one another; they all denote a minister whose stated business was to perform, on behalf of the community, certain public ritual acts, particularly sacrifices, directed godwards.

  • Here we find magic and soothsaying closely intertwined with priestly functions as, we shall see, was the case in early Hebrew pre-exilian days with the Kohen.

  • That this was what actually happened may be inferred from the fact that the Canaanite and Phoenician name for a priest (kohen) is identical with the Arabic kahin, a " soothsayer."

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