Greek word · G776

ἀσιτία

asitia

fasting

Literally 'without grain/food' (a- 'not' + sitos 'grain, food'). It means going without food, lack of appetite, or not eating, for whatever reason. Greek medical writers use it and the related adjective for loss of appetite and for patients who cannot or will not eat.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἀσιτία, -ας, ἡ

(ἄσιτος),

fasting, abstinence from food: Acts 27:21.†

SYN.: νηστεία (MM, ut infr.) (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 Acts 27:21

Range of meaning

Literally 'without grain/food' (a- 'not' + sitos 'grain, food'). It means going without food, lack of appetite, or not eating, for whatever reason. Greek medical writers use it and the related adjective for loss of appetite and for patients who cannot or will not eat.

Against the English

KJV 'long abstinence' and YLT 'long fasting' can sound like a chosen religious discipline. BSB 'gone a long time without food' and WEB 'long without food' describe the situation better.

How it drifted

In church English, 'fasting' and 'abstinence' now mean a religious practice. In 1611 'abstinence' could simply mean going without food, but today's readers hear self-denial for spiritual reasons.

Used elsewhere in the period

The noun appears only here in the New Testament. The adjective asitos ('without food') comes in 27:33. Both are common in Hippocratic medical writings for not eating or loss of appetite. Luke uses a different word, nēsteia, for the religious Fast (the Day of Atonement) in 27:9. That shows he can tell the two apart.

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 27:21 ἀσιτίας time without food

    After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete. Then you would have averted this disaster and loss.

    Here: Literally 'no-grain' or 'no-food'. It means going without meals, not a religious fast. On a ship tossed for days, people go without food because of seasickness, soaked provisions, no way to cook, and fear.

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