Greek word · G3194

Μελίτη

melitē

Malta

A Greek place name. Several places were called Melite, most importantly Malta (Latin Melita) south of Sicily and the island now called Mljet off the Dalmatian coast in the Adriatic.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

Μελίτη (Rec., R, txt.), Μελιτήνη (WH, R, mg., see WH, App., 160),

Melita, Melitene (mod. Malta) : Acts 28:1.†

(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 Acts 28:1

Range of meaning

A Greek place name. Several places were called Melite, most importantly Malta (Latin Melita) south of Sicily and the island now called Mljet off the Dalmatian coast in the Adriatic.

Against the English

KJV/YLT "Melita" (the Latin form) and modern versions "Malta" refer to the same place, if the majority identification is right.

Used elsewhere in the period

Diodorus Siculus (5.12) and Cicero describe Malta (Melite) as a prosperous island first colonized by Phoenicians. A Greek inscription from Malta (IG XIV 601) names a "first man of the Melitans". Luke uses the same title, πρῶτος (prōtos, "first man"), for Publius in 28:7, which strongly supports the identification. The island's Punic (Phoenician-dialect) population explains why Luke calls the locals βάρβαροι (barbaroi, non-Greek speakers) in 28:2.

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 28:1 Μελίτη Malta

    Once we were safely ashore, we learned that the island was called Malta.

    Here: The Greek and Latin name for Malta. Most scholars identify the island as Malta, south of Sicily. The KJV keeps the Latin form "Melita".

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