Library Eusebius of Caesarea On Ecclesiastical Theology
Book 2, Chapter 13: In how many ways the meaning of the term “Word” is understood
The expression that signifies “word” (λόγος), when brought forward in the Greek tongue, suggests a many-sided consideration from itself. (1) For “word” is also the name of that which has been laid down in the rational soul, according to which reasoning is present to us. (2) And besides this there is another: that which through tongue and articulate voice signifies something. (3) And in a third way, that which has been composed through writing by the writer. (4) And we are already accustomed to call “word” also the seminal or vegetative principle, according to which, in potentiality, things not yet grown lie stored in the seeds, about to come into the light in actuality presently. (5) And besides these they are accustomed in yet another way to name “word” that which is scientific, able to grasp some art or science and all such theorems—for example the medical, or the architectural, or the geometrical.
Greek: Erich Klostermann, Eusebius Werke IV (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906), pp. 60–182. Digital Greek via Open Greek and Latin / Interlinea (CC BY-SA 4.0). English: study translation by Claude Opus 5.5 for BWAB Library—not the copyrighted CUA Press (Spoerl/Vinzent 2017) text. Technical terms and contested passages may be revised.