Greek word · G1471
ἔγκυος
enkyos
pregnant
Pregnant, with child. From en ('in') and the root kyō ('to conceive, carry in the womb'). It is a plain descriptive word and carries no information about the stage of pregnancy.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ἔγκυος, see: ἐνκ-.
ἔνκυoς (Rec. ἐγκ-, see: ἐν), -ον
(κύω, to conceive), [in LXX: Sirach 42:10 * ;]
pregnant, big with child : Luke 2:5.†
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
Pregnant, with child. From en ('in') and the root kyō ('to conceive, carry in the womb'). It is a plain descriptive word and carries no information about the stage of pregnancy.
- Against the English
KJV has 'great with child', BSB 'expecting a child', ESV and NASB 'with child', WEB 'pregnant'. 'Great with child' adds a picture of late pregnancy that the word itself does not carry.
- How it drifted
'Great with child' was ordinary Elizabethan English for being pregnant. Today it sounds like 'heavily, imminently pregnant', which strengthens the popular image of a last-minute arrival.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Common from classical Greek onward: Herodotus, the Hippocratic medical writers, and Koine papyri. It is not frequent in the Greek Old Testament. This is its only New Testament occurrence.
Where it appears
Luke · 1
-
Luke 2:5 ἐγκύῳ.¶ with child.
He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to him in marriage and was expecting a child.
Here: The ordinary Greek word for 'pregnant' (literally 'with [a child] inside'). It appears only here in the New Testament. By itself it does not say how far along she was; verse 6 supplies that the birth came during their stay.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.