In antiquity, in general use, the term "lord" was a courtesy title for social superiors, but its root meaning was "ruler". Kings everywhere were styled "Lord" and often considered divine beings so the word acquired a religious significance. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek in the Septuagint at least two centuries before Christianity, "Kurios" was used for the divine tetragrammaton YHVH which was no longer read aloud but replaced with "adonai", a special form of the Hebrew "adon" = "lord".