καταναρκάομαι

From the study of 2 Corinthians 11:9

Range of meaning

A very rare verb. It is built on narkē, "numbness", which was also the Greek name for the electric ray (torpedo fish) because it numbs whatever touches it. The related verb narkaō means "to grow numb, stiff". The compound with kata (down, against) seems to mean "to grow numb or sluggish at someone else's expense", that is, to lie on them as a dead weight. In practice it means "to be a burden to, to sponge off". BDAG glosses it "burden, be a burden to".

Against the English

English "burden" (BSB, WEB) catches the sense but flattens the picture. KJV's "chargeable" points correctly to expense, but today it sounds like a legal term ("chargeable offence"). None of the English versions keeps the sense of being a numbing dead weight on someone.

How it drifted

The English is not wrong, only paler than the Greek. "Burden" is now often heard as an emotional burden, while Paul means being kept at someone else's cost.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the New Testament it occurs only in 2 Cor 11:9; 12:13, 14. It does not appear in the Septuagint, and earlier Greek uses are scarce (BDAG cites a medical writer for the simple sense). In his Letter 121 (to Algasia), Jerome lists this word among expressions he thought Paul took from the local speech of his home province, Cilicia. That is an ancient guess, not proof, but it shows the word struck Greek readers as unusual.

From the study of 2 Corinthians 12:14

Range of meaning

Built from κατά ('down, heavily') and ναρκάω ('to grow numb'). The related noun νάρκη means numbness and is also the name of the torpedo fish, which stuns what it touches. In medical writing the verb means to numb or stupefy completely. In Paul it is used figuratively: to weigh heavily on someone, to be a dead weight, to burden them, specifically with the cost of supporting him.

Against the English

'Burden' (BSB, WEB, YLT, NIV, ESV) and 'be burdensome' (KJV) are fair, but modern English 'burden' sounds emotional or social ('I don't want to be a burden'). Paul's word is narrower and concrete: draining their resources by living at their expense.

How it drifted

The English word was never wrong, but its everyday meaning has widened toward feelings and inconvenience. Readers may not notice that the whole context (11:7–12; 12:13–18) is about money and support.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is rare. The New Testament uses it only here, in 2 Cor 11:9 and in 12:13, all in this financial sense. It appears in the Hippocratic medical writings meaning 'to numb'. Jerome (Letter 121 to Algasia) said Paul's κατενάρκησα was a local Cilician expression, one of the 'provincialisms' of his Greek. That claim is ancient but cannot be checked.