Greek word · G3881
παραλέγω
paralegō
to sail past
A sailor's word: to sail past or along a coast, to coast along. Unrelated in meaning to λέγω 'to say'. It comes from a different root meaning 'to lay alongside'.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
παρα-λέγω
to lay beside; mid.,
(a) to lie beside (Hom.);
(b) later, of sailors, to sail past: with accusative, Acts 27:8, 13.†
(AS)
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
A sailor's word: to sail past or along a coast, to coast along. Unrelated in meaning to λέγω 'to say'. It comes from a different root meaning 'to lay alongside'.
- Against the English
KJV/YLT 'sailed close by', WEB/ESV 'sailed along'. Accurate. The imperfect tense ('were sailing along') is usually flattened to a simple past.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Used in nautical descriptions by Greek writers. In the New Testament only in Acts 27:8 and 27:13, both of coasting along Crete. This fits the precise seafaring vocabulary of the 'we' narrative in Acts 27–28.
Where it appears
Acts · 2
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Acts 27:8 παραλεγόμενοι coasting along
After we had moved along the coast with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.
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Acts 27:13 παρελέγοντο they were coasting along
When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had their opportunity. So they weighed anchor and sailed along, hugging the coast of Crete.
Here: 'They were coasting along'. The verb is a nautical term for sailing along a coastline; the ongoing past tense pictures the voyage underway and going well, just before the interruption in verse 14. Luke used the same verb in verse 8.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.