Greek word · G4358
προσορμίζω
prosormizō
to moor/anchor
To bring a ship into anchorage; to put in at a shore; to moor. It comes from hormos, 'anchorage, roadstead' (whence hormizō, 'to anchor'), with pros, 'toward'. In the passive or middle it means 'to come to anchor, to put in'.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
προσ-ορμίζω
(ὅρμος, an anchorage),
to bring a ship to anchor at; usually in mid., to come to anchor near, and so pass. in late writers (Ael., Dio Cass.): Mark 6:53.†
(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
To bring a ship into anchorage; to put in at a shore; to moor. It comes from hormos, 'anchorage, roadstead' (whence hormizō, 'to anchor'), with pros, 'toward'. In the passive or middle it means 'to come to anchor, to put in'.
- Against the English
'Moored the boat' (BSB), 'moored to the shore' (WEB), 'drew to the shore' (KJV, YLT), 'anchored there' (NIV). All capture the sense. 'Drew to the shore' is a little vaguer than the Greek, which is a technical sailing term.
- Used elsewhere in the period
It occurs only here in the New Testament. It is a standard nautical term in Greek prose from classical historians onward, and Mark's audience would have known it as boat talk. Matthew's parallel (14:34) leaves it out.
Where it appears
Mark · 1
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Mark 6:53 προσωρμίσθησαν. drew to shore.
When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and moored the boat.
Here: A sailor's word, found only here in the New Testament: 'they put in, they tied up'. The form is passive but means 'they came to anchor'. It is the precise sailing word for securing the boat at the shore.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.