περάτης

• περατής (peratḗs)

From περάω (peráō, “to cross, pass over”) (from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to cross, go beyond”)) + -της (-tēs). Unrelated to πειρατής (peiratḗs, “pirate”), despite similarity in form.

περάτης • (perátēs) m (genitive περάτου); first declension

1. ferryman, transporter

   (rare) one who conveys across a boundary or passage

   • Suda:

     περάτης· πορθμεύς

     perátēs; porthmeús

     Ferryman

2. wanderer, sojourner, emigrant

   (biblical, philosophical) one who has crossed over from another land

   • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Septuagint, Genesis 14.13:

     παραγενόμενος δὲ τῶν ἀνασωθέντων τις ἀπήγγειλεν Ἀβραμ τῷ περάτῃ

     paragenómenos dè tôn anasōthéntōn tis apḗngeilen Abram tōî perátēi

     Then one of the survivors came and told Abram the sojourner

   • Philo, Migration of Abraham 20–21:

     —περάτης γὰρ ὁ Ἑβραῖος ἑρμηνεύεται—

     —perátēs gàr ho Hebraîos hermēneúetai—

     For “Hebrew” is interpreted as emigrant

• περάτης (perátēs) denotes a person defined by crossing or passage, either literally (e.g. a ferryman) or figuratively (e.g. a migrant or sojourner).
• In biblical and philosophical Greek, it is used to interpret Hebrew עִבְרִי (ʿiḇrî, “Hebrew”) as one who has crossed over.

• “περάτης”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “περάτης”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers