θεά, θεᾶς, ἡ (feminine of θεός) (from Homer down), a goddess: Act_19:27, and Rec. also in 35, 37.

θεά thea 1x a goddess, Act_19:27

* θεά , -ᾶς , ἡ ( fem . of θεός , q.v. ), a goddess: Act_19:27 .†

θεά [page 284] Ἡ θεά ( Act_19:27 ), and not ἡ θεός as generally in Attic prose (cf. Act_19:37 ), is the usual form in Ptolemaic papyri, e.g. P Par 37 .27 (B.C. 163) εἰσέλθοντες εἰς τὸ τῆς θεᾶς ἄδυτον , ib. 51 .28 (B.C. 160) (= Selections , p. 20) θεὰ θεῶν (of Isis), P Grenf II. 15 .10 (B.C. 139) Κλεοπάτρας τῆς μητρὸς θεᾶς ἐπιφανοῦς , and other exx. in Mayser Gr. p. 254 f. : cf. from Imperial times P Oxy VIII. 1117 .2 ( c. A.D. 178) Ἀθη [νᾶς ] τῆς καὶ Θοήριδος θεᾶς μεγίστης . The same form is also common in the inscrr., e.g. Magn 47 .13 (a decree of Chalcis not after B.C. 199) τήν τε τῆς θεᾶς ( sc . Ἀρτέμιδος Λευκοφρυηνῆς ) ἐ̣πιφάνειαν . On the other hand it is noteworthy that the classical ἡ θεός is frequently found in Magnesian inscrr. proper as a kind of technical term to describe this goddess as the great goddess of the city, e.g. ib. 100 a .28 τὴν ἐπιβάλλουσαν τιμὴν καὶ παρεδρείαν ποιούμενοι τῆς θεοῦ . Accordingly it is rightly put by Luke into the mouth of the town clerk in Act_19:37 (cf ver. 27) : see further Thieme, p. 10 f., Nachmanson, p. 126, and cf. Proleg. pp. 60, 244.

θεά fem. of θεός, "a goddess", Hom. ; often with another Subst., θεὰ μήτηρ Il. :— τὰ θεά in dual are Demeter and Persephone (Ceres and Proserpine) Soph. ; αἱ σεμναὶ θεαί the Furies, id=Soph.

θεά, -ᾶς, ἡ (fem. of θεός, which see), a goddess: Act.19:27.† (AS)