hermeneutical

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἑρμηνευτῐκός (hermēneutĭkós, “of or for interpreting”), from ἑρμηνευτής (hermēneutḗs, “an interpreter”), from ἑρμηνεύω (hermēneúō, “translate, interpret”); see hermeneutics.

Pronunciation

enPR: hûr′-mə-n(y)o͞o′-tĭ-kəl

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌhɜː.məˈn(j)uː.tɪ.kəl/

  Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌhɜɹ.məˈn(j)u.tɪ.kəl/

  Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌhɜː.məˈn(j)ʉː.tɪ.kəl/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌhøː.məˈn(j)ʉː.tə.kəl/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˌhɛɹ.məˈn(j)ʉ.tɪ.kəl/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˌhɜːʳ.meˈn(j)uː.ʈi.kal/

• Rhymes: -uːtɪkəl
• Hyphenation: her‧me‧neu‧ti‧cal

Adjective

hermeneutical (not comparable)

2. Of or pertaining to hermeneutics (the study or theory of the methodical interpretation of text, especially holy texts).

   Alternative form: hermeneutic

   Near-synonyms: exegetical, exegetic

   • 1991, The Classical Review‎^[1], volume 41, D. Nutt, page 97:

     Meditation on reader-response and meaning seems tedious by comparison, and not always free from jargon: do we need to speak of a reader's 'ideational activity'? (p. 173); why do we need to 'actualize ourselves as a second and extratextual audience'? (pp. 110f.). Do we have to be told that ‘Eliciting the hermeneutical activity of characters and readers alike, oneirography like pictorial descriptions invites the inferential walk’? (p. 81).

Derived terms

• hermeneutically
• nonhermeneutical

Related terms

• hermeneut
• hermeneutician
• hermeneuticist
• hermeneuticize
• hermeneutics

Translations

concerning hermeneutics — see hermeneutic

Further reading

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “hermeneutical”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “hermeneutical”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.