MASTER (Lat. magister from root of magnus = ‘great.’ Hence ‘master’ corresponds to rabbi, which is from רַ?ב ‘great’; and in Authorized Version ῥ?αββεί is frequently translation ‘master,’ e.g. Matthew 26:25, Mark 9:5, John 4:31, though in all such cases Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 retains ‘rabbi’).—The word most generally rendered ‘master’ is διδάσκαλος, which strictly means teacher; and this meaning is given in every case as an alternative reading in (Revised Version margin), e.g. Matthew 8:19, Matthew 22:16, Mark 5:35, Mark 10:17, Luke 3:12, Luke 8:49, John 11:28, John 13:13-14. In Luke 8:24, Luke 9:33 the Gr. word for ‘master’ is ἐ?πιστάτης, a word generally used in the sense not of ‘teacher’ but of ‘chief’ or ‘overseer.’ in Matthew 23:10 καθηγητής, rendered ‘master,’ is more correctly translation ‘leader’ or ‘guide.’ ‘Master’ was the ordinary title of courtesy and respect paid to a religious teacher. See art. Rabbi.
Dugald Clark.