1. There can be no doubt that from the 1st cent, onwards the word was an official title, but there is no proof that it was always so used. For instance in Jos., although in Ant. XVIII. viii. 4, XX. i. 2 we find the technical sense, in Ant. IV. vi. 8 (u> KpaTLaroi i>eaviu>y) it is certainly not so used, whUe in the dedication of the treatise against Apion to Epaph- roditus, who was a freedman and procurator, the variation KpiricrTe afSpdv seems to suggest a dill'erent tone (c. Ap. i. 1 ; Vita, 76). Cf. 2 Jlac 41-.
2. On the other hand, the usage of St. Luke seems more fixed. In those cases where the word occurs, it is certainly used as an official address, and is probably (we cannot say certainly) so used in the fourth instance. In any case there is cer- tainly a dili'erence in usage between St. Luke and Josephus, which makes it improbable that there is in this case any literary connexion between the two.
LrTBRATlTlB. — Otto, D« Epiitola ad Diotjnetiim, 1845, p. 79, ed. ii. p. 61 ; Krenkel, Jotephtu und Lucas, p. 53 ; Ramsav, St. Paui (fit Trav. p. 388. A. C. HeADLAM.
EXCEPT The verb occurs only 1 Co 15" ' But
when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him,' that is, an exception is made in his favour, he is left out of account. This is Coverdale's tr°, and illustrates the oldest meaning of the verb. Cf. Shaks. Jul. Cues. II. i. 281—
* Within the bond of marriage, teU me, Brutuo, Is it excepted, I should know do secrets That appertain to youT'
In their Preface the translators of AV xise 'except against' for take exception to ; ' men not to be excepted a^'ainst by them of Rome' ; ' none of them feare to dissent from him, nor yet to except against him ' ; ' Tnily (good Christian Reader) wee neuer thought from the beginning, that we should neede to make a new Translation, nor \ct to make of a bad one a good one, (for then the imputation of .S'i>/n-« had been true in some sort, that our people hail i>ene fed with gall of Dragons in stead of wine, nnth whey in stead of mitke) ; but to make a good one better, or yi\t of many ffood one*, one principall good one, not iustly to
be excepted against ; that hath been our indeauour, that ool marke.' Cf. Knox, llist. 447, 'the sincerer sort of the Ministrie in England had not yet assaulted the jurisdiction and Church gouernement (which they did not till the year 1572, at which time they published their first and second admonition to the Parliament), but onely had excepted against superstitious apparell, and some other faulta in the service Booke.'
As past ptcp. of the verb to except, we find excepted, as Kingesmyll, Man's Est. v. (1580) 21, 'They eate of the excepted tree'; and Milton, PL XI. 426—
* Some to spring from thee, who never toach'd Th' excepted tree.'
But more frequently except (as Tindale, Works, L 213, ' Here is no man except, but all souls must obey'), and then very oiten /oUuunng its subst., as Ac 2t)^ Cov. ' these bondes excepte ' ; Bacon, Adv. Learn. L (Selby's ed. p. 62, 1. 8), ' the divine- ness of souls except.' When this pt«p. preceded its subst. it came to be regarded as a prep., though it is obviously hard to say when the change took place. The earliest examples in Ox/. Eng. Diet. quoted as a prep, are Langland, Piers Plourman (B), ix. 140, ' Alle shal deye . . . Except oneliche of eche kynde a couple ' ; Henry, Wallace, v. 10"26, ' Thai entryt in, befor thaim fand no man, Excep wemen.' A little later began its use as a conj., introducing not a subst. but a clause, and being equivalent to 'unless.' In AV and RV it is used both as prep, and as conj., most frequently as conj. Once the conj. is strengthened by ' that, Mk 13^ ' except that the Lord had shortened those days ' (RV omits 'that'). Cf. Jn 3^ Tind. 'except that a man be boren of water and of the sprete.'
The only use of 'except' that is now commended is as a preposition. Hodgson (Errors in the Use 0/ English^, 117 f.) quotes two examples from good modern writers of ita use as a conj., butsaysthat ' «n/e*s would be generally held preferable ' ; Keble, Memoir'^, i. 81, ' Do not trouble yourself about writing to me, except you are quite in the humour for it' ; Miss Mitford, Letters and Li/e, \. 150, ' It has no literary pretensions, except the total absence of all pretension may pass for one in these days of abundant conceit.' The Revisers have been somewhat sharply taken to taak for using ' except ' as a conj. [see esp. Moon, The Revisers' English (1S82), 94-97, and Ecclesiastical Eivjlish (18S6), 205-207]. In this, however, they are at one with previous versions and with the history of the word. In the Canonical Scriptures of AV except occurs 73 times, and 67 times it is a conjunction. The Revisers have made few changes. In Gn 4728 thev prefer ' only,' and in Nu 1613 ■ but ' | twice (2 S 39, 1 Co 147) they turn ' except ' into ' if . . . not.' twice (1 Co 148- ») into ' unless,' and once (2 Co 13*) into ' unless indeed.' It is only in connexion with Jn 824 where they cliange ' if . . . not,' and 1 Co 152 where they change 'unless,' into ' except,' that they are open to criticism ; but no doubt both came under the rule of 'uniformity in rendering.' J. HASTINGS.