ὑποστρώννυμι

From the study of Luke 19:36

Range of meaning

To spread or lay something underneath, such as bedding, a rug or a covering. It is made from stornymi/strōnnymi ("to spread, strew, make a bed") plus hypo ("under"). The weight falls on placing something beneath a person or thing.

Against the English

English versions say "spread", which is accurate but leaves out the "under". The Greek does not just picture cloaks scattered on a road. It pictures them laid down so that the rider passes over them. The imperfect tense (YLT "were spreading", NASB "were spreading") also shows an ongoing, repeated action that the simple past "spread" flattens.

Used elsewhere in the period

This is the only use in the New Testament. In the Greek Old Testament (LXX) the verb is used for spreading sackcloth and ashes under oneself in mourning (Isaiah 58:5; Esther 4:3). The parallel that matters most for this verse is in meaning rather than wording: 2 Kings 9:13, where the officers acclaiming Jehu as king "each took his garment and put it under him" and blew the trumpet, crying "Jehu is king." Josephus retells that scene in Antiquities 9.111. In Greco-Roman sources, Plutarch (Cato the Younger 12.1) describes soldiers spreading their garments under the feet of a beloved commander as he left.