UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: year

Semantic entry: 67.167

Semantic domains: Time

Subdomains: Definite Units of Time: Year, Month, Week, Day, Hour

Definition: a unit of time involving a complete cycle of seasons

Notes: In a number of languages, years are described in terms of repeated seasons. For example, some languages would speak of ‘twelve years’ as being ‘twelve winters’ or ‘twelve summers,’ while in other languages one might have an expression such as ‘twelve rainy seasons’ or ‘twelve returns of the sun.’

Sense 2: a very long time

Semantic entry: 67.94

Semantic domains: Time

Subdomains: Duration of Time without Reference to Points or Units of Time: Time, Spend Time, Always, Eternal, Old, Immediately, Young

Definition: possibly a symbolic temporal expression denoting a very long period of time

Notes: Though most translations render ἔτη τεσσεράκοντα as ‘forty years,’ the expression probably is to be understood as meaning an unusually long period of time. See also discussion at 67.93: ἡμέρα / 67.93: νύξ / 67.93: τεσσεράκοντα / 67.93: τεσσεράκοντα.

Collocations: ἔτη τεσσεράκοντα

Sense 3: some years later

Semantic entry: 67.60

Semantic domains: Time

Subdomains: A Point of Time with Reference to Other Points of Time: Before, Long Ago, Now, At the Same Time, When, About, After

Definition: (an idiom, literally: through years) a point of time subsequent to another point of time after an interval of some years

Collocations: δι᾽ ἐτῶν