Greek word · G5326

φάντασμα

phantasma

ghost

From phainō, 'to appear'. It means 'an appearance': an apparition, phantom, spectre or vision, especially a night-time one. The word can mean a ghost of the dead, a dream-figure, a portent sent by a god, or a mere illusion.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

φάντασμα, -τος, τό

(φαντάζω), [in LXX: Job 20:8 A (חִזָּיוֹן), Isaiah 28:7 A, Wisdom of Solomon 17:15 * ;]

= φάσμα, an appearance, apparition (Æsch., al.): Matthew 14:26, Mark 6:49 (see DCG, i, 111b).†

(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 Matthew 14:26

Range of meaning

From phainō, 'to appear'. It means 'an appearance': an apparition, phantom, spectre or vision, especially a night-time one. The word can mean a ghost of the dead, a dream-figure, a portent sent by a god, or a mere illusion. What all these share is something that is seen but is not a real, solid body.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV and NASB have 'ghost'. KJV has 'spirit'. YLT has 'apparition', the most exact choice. 'Ghost' is close but narrower: it implies the soul of a dead person, while phantasma can mean any uncanny apparition.

How it drifted

In 1611 'spirit' was an ordinary word for a ghost or apparition (as in 'evil spirits', 'spirits of the dead'). Today readers of the KJV may hear a spiritual being in general, or even think of the Holy Spirit, which is not the point at all.

Used elsewhere in the period

Plato (Phaedo 81d) speaks of 'shadowy phantasmata of souls' seen around tombs. Wisdom of Solomon 17:15 (Greek Old Testament) describes the Egyptians in the plague of darkness as tormented by 'portents of phantasmata'. Greek Job 20:8 uses the related word phasma for a 'night vision' that disappears. In the New Testament phantasma appears only here and in the parallel Mark 6:49. In Luke 24:37 the frightened disciples think the risen Jesus is a pneuma ('spirit'), and Codex Bezae reads phantasma there.

Similar words

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 14:26 φάντασμά A ghost

    When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and cried out in fear.

    Here: Something that appears but is not solid flesh: a spectre, a night-phantom, possibly a ghost of the dead. It is their name for an eerie figure that should not be there.

Mark · 1

  1. Mark 6:49 φάντασμά a ghost

    but when they saw Him walking on the sea, they cried out, thinking He was a ghost—

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