Kurios (also at times spelled kyrios or kuros, Greek κύριος) is a Greek word that may apply to God, lord, master, or guardian. In ancient Greece, a woman could not enter into a contract herself and arrangements were made by her guardian or Kurios.[1] For an unmarried woman the Kurios would be her father, and if dead, brothers an uncle or relative would be the Kurios.[1]
In some cases, when reading the Hebrew Bible the Jews would substitute Adonai (my Lord) for the Tetragrammaton (the written representation of the Name of God), and they may have also substituted Kurios when reading to a Greek audience (as in the Septuagint translation). Origen refers to both practices in his commentary on Psalms (2.2).[2] The practice was due to the desire not to overuse the name of God. Examples of this can be seen in Philo.[2] In The Jewish War (7.10.1) Josephus remarked that Greek speaking Jews refused to call the emperor Kurios for they reserved that word for God.[2]