Greek word · G3902

παράσημος

parasēmos

figurehead

Literally 'marked alongside'. As an adjective it means 'marked, distinguished'. When it describes a ship, or is used as a noun (to parasēmon), it means the identifying emblem on the bow. Ancient ships often also carried a separate image of a guardian deity (Latin tutela) at the stern.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

παράσημος, -ον

(σῆμα, a mark) [in LXX: 3Ma.2:29 * ;]

1. in cl., marked amiss, spurious, counterfeit. Later,

2. marked at the side, annotated (Plut.).

3. marked with a sign (LXX); as subst., a figure­head : Acts 28:11 (see MM, xix).†

(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 28:11

Range of meaning

Literally 'marked alongside'. As an adjective it means 'marked, distinguished'. When it describes a ship, or is used as a noun (to parasēmon), it means the identifying emblem on the bow. This could be a carved figure or a painted device, often on both sides of the prow, and the ship was usually named after it. Ancient ships often also carried a separate image of a guardian deity (Latin tutela) at the stern.

Against the English

KJV and YLT say 'sign', meaning an ensign or badge. BSB, WEB, NASB, ESV, NIV and NLT say 'figurehead'. 'Figurehead' is a fair rendering, but it calls up a carved figure under the bowsprit of an 18th-century sailing ship. That image is a little too narrow, and it misses that the emblem worked as the ship's name.

How it drifted

'Sign' has drifted in ordinary English toward a signboard or an omen. 'Figurehead' comes from later sailing ships and now also means a leader with no real power.

Used elsewhere in the period

Plutarch and inscriptions use parasēmon for a ship's emblem. Lucian's The Ship (Navigium 5) describes a huge Alexandrian grain ship named Isis, with the goddess's image on both sides of the prow. That is a close parallel to this verse. Casson's study of ancient seamanship collects the evidence for named ships and bow emblems.

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 28:11 παρασήμῳ with a figurehead of

    After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered in the island. It had the Twin Brothers as a figurehead.

    Here: The emblem on the bow that identified the ship, carved or painted, which in practice served as its name. The ship was 'marked with' or 'bore the emblem of' the Dioscuri.

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