Greek word · G2253
ἡμιθανής
hēmithanēs
half-dead
'Half-dead': near death, barely alive, possibly unconscious. Formed from ἡμι- ('half') and the root of θνῄσκω ('to die').
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
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
'Half-dead': near death, barely alive, possibly unconscious. Formed from ἡμι- ('half') and the root of θνῄσκω ('to die').
- Against the English
Every major English version has 'half dead', which is accurate.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Used only here in the New Testament. In 4 Maccabees 4:11 Apollonius, struck down in the temple, falls 'half-dead' (ἡμιθανής). It also occurs in other Hellenistic Greek writers for someone beaten or wounded close to death (BDAG).
Where it appears
Luke · 1
-
Luke 10:30 ἡμιθανῆ half dead
Jesus took up this question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
Here: Used only here in the New Testament. He is alive but close to death, and probably unconscious, so to anyone passing he might look like a corpse. That ambiguity sets up the priest and the Levite in vv. 31–32.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.