Nag Hammadi Library
- proper noun
:
biblioteca de Nag Hammadi
- Scholars have studied the Nag Hammadi Library to gain insights into early Christian beliefs.
Examples
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The discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library was a turning point in the study of Gnosticism.
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The Nag Hammadi Library was discovered in 1945.
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Many texts in the Nag Hammadi Library were previously unknown to historians.
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Many scholars study the Nag Hammadi Library for its historical significance.
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Many texts in the Nag Hammadi Library were previously unknown to historians.
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Scholars have studied the Nag Hammadi Library to gain insights into early Christian beliefs.
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The discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library was a turning point in the study of Gnosticism.
Synonyms
A collection of thirteen ancient books found in Egypt in 1945 that contain early Christian and Gnostic writings
Surface Forms
Morphology
Nag + Hammadi + library
The headword contains the common noun 'library', so a learner who knows the constituents would infer it denotes a collection/place associated with Nag Hammadi (a place or name), which follows a transparent Place + institution pattern. However, the specific historical sense — that it is a set of ancient papyrus codices containing early Christian/Gnostic texts discovered in 1945 — is specialized and cannot be derived from the parts, so the overall meaning is only partially predictable.
Etymology
Nag Hammadi Library gets its name from a small town, Nag Hammadi, in Egypt where farmers broke open a jar and found 13 very old books in 1945. Because these books were one important set of early Christian and 'Gnostic' writings, the name now refers to that collection of ancient texts.
