ἀνωτερικός

From the study of Acts 19:1

Range of meaning

ἀνωτερικός is formed from ἀνώτερος ('higher'), which comes from ἄνω ('up, above'). It means 'situated higher, upper'. In geography 'up' means away from the sea, into the interior: the upland or inland districts. With μέρη ('parts, regions') the phrase means 'the upland regions, the interior'.

Against the English

KJV 'upper coasts', WEB and NASB 'upper country', BSB 'interior', ESV 'inland country', NIV 'the interior'. All are defensible. 'Upper' alone can mislead a modern reader who reads maps with north at the top.

How it drifted

In 1611 'coasts' meant borders or districts (as in Matthew 2:16, 'all the coasts thereof'), not shorelines. Today 'upper coasts' sounds like a northern seashore, which is nearly the opposite of what Luke means: Paul was in the highlands and only reached the coast at Ephesus.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is rare. Outside Acts it turns up mainly in medical writers (Hippocratic and Galenic texts), where it refers to the 'upper' parts of the body or to remedies that act upward. Greek writers had long used 'up' for inland and 'down' for seaward. Xenophon's Anabasis ('The Going Up') is named for a march from the Aegean coast into the Persian interior. BDAG glosses Acts 19:1 as 'the upper (i.e. inland) country'.