Greek word · G2866

κομψότερον

kompsoteron

better

The adjective κομψός means "neat, elegant, refined, smart" (of clothes, speech or manners), sometimes "clever." With the verb ἔχω ("to have / be in a state"), the adverb κομψῶς was a set everyday phrase: "to be doing nicely," said of someone's health.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

κομψός, -ή, -όν

(κομέω, to take care of),

well-dressed, elegant, fine; compar. neut., κομψότερον ἔχειν (cf. κόμψως ἔχειν, Epict., and colloq. Eng., "to be doing finely"): John 4:52.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of John 4:52

Range of meaning

The adjective κομψός means "neat, elegant, refined, smart" (of clothes, speech or manners), sometimes "clever." With the verb ἔχω ("to have / be in a state"), the adverb κομψῶς was a set everyday phrase: "to be doing nicely," said of someone's health. The comparative κομψότερον ἔχειν means "to be doing better, to be improving."

Against the English

English versions all render it plainly: "got better" (WEB, NIV), "began to amend" (KJV), "became better" (YLT), "had recovered" (BSB). BSB's "had recovered" reads like a completed recovery and somewhat smooths over the father's more tentative wording.

How it drifted

There is no real drift. The point is register: this is ordinary conversational Greek, not religious or medical vocabulary, and English versions rightly translate it plainly.

Used elsewhere in the period

It appears only here in the NT and never in the Septuagint. Its use for health is attested in everyday Koine: in Epictetus (Discourses 3.10.13) a doctor tells a patient "you are doing nicely" (κομψῶς ἔχεις), and similar phrases turn up in papyrus letters asking after or reporting on someone's health (collected in Moulton–Milligan).

Where it appears

John · 1

  1. John 4:52 κομψότερον better

    So he inquired as to the hour when his son had recovered, and they told him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”

    Here: An everyday idiom for a sick person improving, like our "he's doing better." It appears only here in the New Testament. The father's word suggests he expected a gradual recovery.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.