Begin

Begin - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

BEGIN', v.i. pret. began; pp. begun. [L.genero,gigno; Heb.to make ready, to adapt,prepare, establish.]

1. To have an original or first existence; to take rise; to commence.

As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began. Luke 1.

Judgment must begin at the house of God. 1 Pet 4.

From Nimrod first the savage race began.

And tears began to flow.

2. To do the first act; to enter upon something new; to take the first step; as, begin, my muse.

Begin every day to repent.

When I begin, I will also make an end. 1 Sam 3.

BEGIN'v.t. To do the first act of any thing; to enter on; to commence.

Ye nymphs of Solyma, begin the song.

And this they begin to do. Gen 11.

2. To trace from any thing, as the first ground; to lay the foundation.

The apostle begins our knowledge in the creatures, which leads us to the knowledge of God.

To begin with, to enter upon first; to use or employ first; as, to begin with the Latin Grammar; to begin business with a small capital.

be-gin': To make the first movement toward a given end (chalal; archomai). Those who interpret it in many passages pleonastically mean by this, that in such passages as "began to teach" or "began to speak," nothing more is intended than to express vividly and graphically the thought of the dependent infinitive. Mt 4:17; Lu 3:23; Ac 1:1 are so understood. For contrary opinion, see Thayer's Lexicon and Winer's Grammar of New Testament Greek.

The noun, arche, "beginning," in the writings of John, is used sometimes in an abstract sense, to designate a previous stage (Joh 1:1,2; 8:25; 1Jo 1:1; 3:8) and, sometimes, the Source or First Cause (Re 3:14; 21:6; 22:13). Often used also, not for the absolute beginning, but, relatively, for the starting-point of some important movement (1Jo 2:7,24; Ac 11:15; Php 4:15).

H. E. Jacobs