Greek word · G4498
Ῥόδη
rodē
Rhoda
A woman's name meaning "Rose" (from ῥόδον, rose).
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
a rose-tree, rose-bush , (Archilochus Lyricus) (ML)
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 woman's name meaning "Rose" (from ῥόδον, rose).
- Against the English
"Rhoda" is the Latinized form. English readers lose the meaning "Rose," which first hearers would have caught at once.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Flower names were typical for slaves and freedwomen in the Greco-Roman world. A Rhoda appears as the Roman owner (by then a freedwoman, it seems) of the slave Hermas in the Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 1.1.1. The name is found in inscriptions.
Where it appears
Acts · 1
-
Acts 12:13 Ῥόδη· Rhoda;
He knocked at the outer gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it.
Here: A Greek name meaning "Rose," common among slaves and freedwomen. It fits her status as a household slave.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.