Greek word · G6090

ὠτάριον

ōtarion

ear

Grammatically a 'diminutive', the 'little' form of ous, 'ear'. In everyday Greek of the period many such forms had lost any sense of smallness and simply meant the body part.

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

What it means

ὠτάριον, -ου, τό

= ὠτίον (which see),

the ear: Mark 14:47, John 18:10.†

(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 John 18:10

Range of meaning

Grammatically a 'diminutive', the 'little' form of ous, 'ear'. In everyday Greek of the period many such forms had lost any sense of smallness and simply meant the body part.

Against the English

All versions say 'ear', which is correct. A few older interpreters pressed the 'small' form to mean only the earlobe.

Used elsewhere in the period

Mark 14:47 also has ōtarion. Matthew 26:51 has ōtion, another 'small' form. Luke 22:50 uses the ordinary ous for the cut and ōtion for the healing (22:51). The fact that the Gospels move freely between these forms for one event shows the 'small' sense had faded. Greek papyri from the period also use ōtarion for an ordinary ear (Moulton–Milligan; BDAG). The Latin Vulgate's auriculam is likewise a 'small' form used for 'ear'.

Where it appears

Mark · 1

  1. Mark 14:47 ὠτάριον. ear.

    And one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

John · 1

  1. John 18:10 ὠτάριον ear

    Then Simon Peter drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

    Here: Grammatically a 'small' form of the word for ear, but by this period such forms usually just meant 'ear'. Luke uses the ordinary word for the same incident (22:50).

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