GENTILE  , in the

English Bible, the term generally applied to those who were not of the Jewish race . It is an adaptation of the Lat. gentilis, of or belonging to the same gens, the clan or family; as defined in Paulus ex Festo " gentilis dicitur et ex eodem genere ortus et is qui simili nomine; ut ait Cincius, gentiles mihi sunt, qui meo nomine appellantur." In post-Augustan Latin gentilis became wider in meaning, following the usage of gens, in the sense of race, nation, and meant "national," belonging to the same race . Later still the word came to mean " foreign," i.e. other than Roman, and was so used in the Vulgate, with genies, to translate the Hebrew goyyim, nations, LXX. fOvi, the non-Israelitish peoples (see further JEws) .