Greek word · G3814

παιδίσκη

paidiskē

maidservant

Originally 'young girl', but in the period of the New Testament and its Greek Old Testament almost always 'female slave' or 'servant girl' (e.g. Hagar in Gal 4:22–31; the servant girl who challenges Peter in Luke 22:56; Rhoda in Acts 12:13).

Appears 13 times in 12 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

παιδίσκη, -ης, ἡ dimin, of παῖς,

[in LXX for שִׁפְחָה, אָמָה, etc. ;]

1. a young girl, a maiden (נַעֲרָה, Ruth 4:12).

2. Colloq., a young female slave, a maid-servant (see Kennedy, Sources, 40 f.; Deiss., LAE, 186, 332.2): Matthew 26:69, Mark 14:66, 69, Luke 12:45 22:56, John 18:17, Acts 12:13 16:16; of Hagar, Galatians 4:22-23, 30" (LXX) ; id., metaphorically, Galatians 4:31.†

SYN.: see: παῖς (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 16:16

Range of meaning

Originally 'young girl', but in the period of the New Testament and its Greek Old Testament almost always 'female slave' or 'servant girl' (e.g. Hagar in Gal 4:22–31; the servant girl who challenges Peter in Luke 22:56; Rhoda in Acts 12:13).

Against the English

BSB/ESV 'slave girl' and NASB 'slave woman' bring out her status. KJV 'damsel' and WEB 'girl' let a modern reader assume she was a free young woman.

How it drifted

In the 1611 KJV, 'damsel' could mean a young unmarried woman or a maidservant. Today it suggests romance ('damsel in distress') and hides the fact that she was owned.

Used elsewhere in the period

Galatians 4 sets the paidiskē (Hagar, a slave) against the free woman. The papyri regularly use the word for female slaves in sales and contracts.

From the study of John 18:17

Range of meaning

Originally a diminutive of pais ("child"), a young girl. In the period it is regularly a female slave or servant girl (BDAG: "female slave"). In the Septuagint it renders Hebrew shiphchah/amah, e.g. Hagar (Gen 16).

Against the English

"Servant girl" (BSB) and "maid" (WEB, YLT) are fair but can suggest paid domestic help. KJV "damsel" now sounds romantic or fairy-tale. The word points to a slave, owned by the high priest's household.

How it drifted

"Damsel" was an ordinary word for a young woman in 1611; it has since become literary or quaint. "Maid" today mostly means a paid cleaner.

Used elsewhere in the period

All four Gospels have Peter first questioned by a paidiskē (Matt 26:69; Mark 14:66; Luke 22:56). Acts 12:13 has another paidiskē, Rhoda, answering the gate. Galatians 4:22–31 uses it for Hagar the slave woman.

From the study of Galatians 4:23

Range of meaning

In classical Greek, a young girl. By the Hellenistic period, normally a female slave, especially a young household slave. It is the standard word in the Greek Old Testament for Hebrew shiphchah (a female slave belonging to a woman) and sometimes for amah.

Against the English

KJV 'bondwoman' and BSB 'slave woman' keep the legal status. WEB 'servant' and the older 'maidservant' or 'handmaid' can suggest a paid domestic worker, which Hagar was not.

How it drifted

English 'maid' or 'servant' came to mean employed help, while the Greek word, in this setting, means owned property.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 16:1 in the Greek Old Testament: 'an Egyptian παιδίσκη named Hagar'. The same word is used for Bilhah and Zilpah (Genesis 29-30). In the New Testament it describes the slave girl at the high priest's door (Mark 14:66) and the slave girl with a spirit of divination owned by men in Philippi (Acts 16:16).

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 26:69 παιδίσκη servant girl

    Meanwhile, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him. “You also were with Jesus the Galilean,” she said.

    Here: A young female slave of the household. She is one of the lowest-status people present. Her word had almost no legal standing, yet she is enough to break Peter's nerve.

Mark · 2

  1. Mark 14:66 παιδισκῶν servant girls

    While Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the servant girls of the high priest came down

  2. Mark 14:69 παιδίσκη servant girl

    There the servant girl saw him and again said to those standing nearby, “This man is one of them.”

Luke · 2

  1. Luke 12:45 παιδίσκας maid-servants

    But suppose that servant says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk.

    Here: Female household slaves. The word always means an unfree woman in the New Testament (e.g. the servant girl who questions Peter, Luke 22:56). Only Luke mentions both men and women, which makes the steward's abuse of the whole household explicit.

  2. Luke 22:56 παιδίσκη a servant girl

    A servant girl saw him seated in the firelight and looked intently at him. “This man also was with Him,” she said.

John · 1

  1. John 18:17 παιδίσκη servant girl

    At this, the servant girl watching the door said to Peter, “Aren’t you also one of this man’s disciples?” “I am not,” he answered.

    Here: A young female slave of the household. She is about the lowest-status person in the courtyard, which is exactly the point: Peter's first denial is not before a court but before a slave girl.

Acts · 2

  1. Acts 12:13 παιδίσκη a girl

    He knocked at the outer gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it.

  2. Acts 16:16 παιδίσκην a girl

    One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of divination, who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling.

    Here: Strictly 'little girl', but in New Testament times it almost always meant a young female slave. Here that is certain, because she has 'masters' who own the money she brings in.

Galatians · 5

  1. Galatians 4:22 παιδίσκης slave woman

    For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.

    Here: The word the Greek Old Testament uses for Hagar (Gen 16:1; 21:10). She is an enslaved woman owned by Sarah, not a hired maid. The whole argument rests on her legal status as a slave.

  2. Galatians 4:23 παιδίσκης slave woman

    His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise.

    Here: The Greek Old Testament's word for Hagar (Genesis 16:1). In the Koine Greek of Paul's day it means a female slave, someone owned, not a hired maid. Her legal status is the whole point of the contrast.

  3. Galatians 4:30 παιδίσκην παιδίσκης slave woman

    But what does the Scripture say? “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”

    Here: A household slave woman, here Hagar. She is legally property, which is the whole point of the contrast with the 'free woman'.

  4. Galatians 4:31 παιδίσκης of [the] slave woman

    Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

    Here: Hagar, the slave woman of Genesis 16 and 21 (the same word the Greek Old Testament uses for her). In Paul's figure she stands for the Sinai covenant and 'the present Jerusalem', which he says 'is in slavery with her children' (4:24–25). The word has no article: 'a slave woman'.

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